CIS-245 FINAL REVIEW

FORM DESIGN GUIDELINES Provide meaningful title Organize fields logically Use appealing form layout Include familiar field labels Be consistent with terminology and

abbreviations

FORM DESIGN GUIDELINES – 2 Allow for convenient cursor movement Prevent and correct errors Include explanatory messages for fields

USING FORMS Bound form has a Record Source

Displays data from fields in record source Unbound forms

Do not have record sourceDesigned to help users navigate through

database

SUBFORMS Subform is a form embedded in another

form Primary form (called main form)

Usually has one-to-many relationship with data in subform

Main form and subform linked Subform displays only records that related

to current record in main form

COMMAND BUTTONS Command buttons

Users click to perform common tasksCan contain Text, Icons, Graphics

CreateUsing Command Button Wizard By adding button to form then setting

properties Be consistent when creating command

buttonsLocation on formOrder

TAB ORDER AND TAB STOP Form created with form tool or Form

Wizard Places fields in order they appear in table

design After fields are rearranged for more

logical data entry, correct tab order Test each form!

PARAMETER QUERIES Way to change query ‘on the fly’ Can use prompt for user Can get information from form controls

Forms!FormName!ControlName

USING LISTS List controls: set rowsource

ListboxCombobox

Forms: set recordsource Reports: set recordsource Remember to requery!

Find right event to respond to

REPORTS Grouping: When RecordSource has all of

the data needed, and all needed records are included

Sub-reports: When need data that’s not part of RecordSource OR RecordSource wouldn’t include all records

Use CanGrow, CanShrink

REPORT EVENTS Limited number Most deal with laying out and formatting

data Use NoData instead of showing an

empty report

DOMAIN FUNCTIONS Also called Domain Aggregate Functions Allows creation of summary information

without a queryDCountDSumDMax

DOMAIN FUNCTION SYNTAX Need a field to work with Need to specify where the field is found

(table or query) Can optionally add a ‘where’ clause to

limit the records included

DCount(“PatientID”,”Visits”,”Total<100”)

EVENT-DRIVEN APPLICATIONS Have to choose which event to respond

to Events can be generated by the user or

changes in data or objects

VISUAL BASIC FOR APPLICATIONS Many commands start with ‘DoCmd’ Code is organized into procedures

Property Procedures Functions Subroutines

Procedures can use arguments to pass data Use With … End With when referring to an

object several times

BANG & DOT OPERATORS Two methods to reference “owned”

objects Use ! (bang) if referring to a control in a

query In code, can use both ! (bang) and .

(dot) If referring to fields in a recordsource, use ! If referring to controls can use either

USING VARIABLES Scope: How long a variable lasts and

where it can be accessed Forcing declaration: Option Explicit Objects: Can represent more than just

basic data, can create object variables Need to create an instance – New keyword Use Set to make an assignment

COLLECTIONS Most objects are members of some

group A collection is a group of like objects

Forms collection holds all formsA form’s controls collection holds all

controls that belong to that form

DECISION-MAKING Branching (what’s next?)

If-ThenSelect Case

Loops (repeating a task)For … NextFor .. EachDo WhileDo Until

WHERE CONDITION Optional argument for many commands When opening a form or report, can limit

the records to be used, even if the recordsource is a table

DoCmd.OpenForm “frmName”,,,”field=1”

ERROR HANDLING Logic errors

Runs but doesn’t give the right results Syntax errors

Compiler can’t process your code Run-time errors

Problem happens during executionUse On Error to respond to

DATA MODELS ADO: ActiveX Data Objects

For working with dataNot hierarchical

ADOX: ADO ExtensionsFor working with databaseFor security and database

DAO: Data Access ObjectsFor working with dataUsed in Forms, Reports by AccessHierarchical (must know how each item fits

in relation to others)

ADO PRINCIPAL OBJECTS Connection: ‘pipe’ for moving data Command: what data to work with Recordset: local copy of data from a

table or query