CREATING AN APPEND QUERY IN MICROSOFT ACCESS (1)

1
MICROSOFT ACCESS DATABASE NEXT GENERATION OF
SPREADSHEETS
Bringing your Microsoft Access database
application into the current online digital age
started with the need for this integral tool for
small and medium sized businesses way back in
the 1990s. WordPerfect, Lotus 123, and dBase
are the three software products that dominated
the software market for a long period in the
history of personal computing. WordPerfect is
used for word processing Lotus 123 is a
spreadsheet program from Lotus Software and
dBase is a database management system for
microcomputers. During the early days of
personal computing, spreadsheets and databases
coexisted because there was a clear designation
of responsibility between the two models. During
those times, the use of spreadsheets were mainly
for financial modelling. While databases were
intended for everything organization-related. Sp
readsheets and word processors offered the
benefits of simplicity and direct
manipulability. Databases were never as
manageable as word processors and spreadsheets.
The main drawback in using databases was in the
technical implementation complexity of the
software. As a result, average users began using
spreadsheets as provisionaldatabases. After
many consultations with dozens of Excel clients,
it became clear that almost all of them were
using the product not for the purpose of
financial modelling but as a conventional tool
for making tables instead. At this point in
time, the office productivity perspective had
also shifted from a multiplayer market to one
subjugated by Microsoft, which put down Lotus 1
23 and dBase with its own Excel and Access
database products. The growing grey area between
spreadsheets and databases gave an internal
provocation to the product and marketing teams on
those two products.
2
Microsoft drew a line between the two which
consequentially made a self- fulfilling
prophecy. Databases could have become more
convenient to use and more spreadsheet-like
rather than conversely. But in the documentation
of Excel 2003, it was stated that Excel lists
had a database-like functionality. The problem
was, the spreadsheet was concurrently pulled in a
totally different path by a vocal minority of
number-crunching power users. The resulting
product gradually suffered from split
personality. Simple tasks such as inputting
lengthy notes into a cell involves
incomprehensible key combinations to add new
lines and results in expanded rows that make the
spreadsheet difficult to navigate. Microsoft
Access Database Next Generation of
Spreadsheets The solution A real database that
is as comprehensible as a spreadsheet. What
users really need is a software product that
integrates the fast and flexible features of a
spreadsheets interface into the structure of a
true relational database. By concentrating on
organisational use cases, this lightweight
database would not trade-off design
sophistication for the sake of number-crunching
capabilities. It would be a real database with a
seemingly spreadsheet interface, rather than a
spreadsheet with quasi-database
potentialities. This is easier said than done,
though. Principal database concepts such as
multiple views, many-to-many relationships, and
forms must be made accessible in a re-imagined
design that feels instantly instinctive to
users. A recent article called building access
databases versus Excel, which to choose
highlights the pros and cons to help add clarity
to the key features of the two powerful
applications. This database-with-spreadsheet-inte
rface would fill the necessities of minor teams
whose highly specific use cases are not composite
or sensitive enough to justify a formal IT
initiative. It would eliminate the technical
complexities of old-style databases setting up
a hosting server, generating and keeping indexes
for performance, and so on. But these databases
for the citizen developer should also provide an
API (Application Program Interface), so if a
solution develops and finally rationalizes IT
resources, it can be programmatically accessed
and shared with other teams and services rather
than be isolated and remain as a departmental
silo.
3
To bring utmost value to users, the product needs
to be built upon contemporary collaboration
models that reflect new work styles and consumer
behaviours. In other words, it must exist in the
cloud, support real-time collaboration, and be
functional from mobile devices. Cloud-based and
collaborative A cloud-based product can sustain
rapid sharing and syncing of data while removing
much of the complexity of database creation.
Since the software is cloud-based, neither
configuration nor server maintenance is
needed. There are no conventional database
products that can equal Google Docs typical
collaboration set. The word processor and
spreadsheet products made by Google deliver both
cloud-based experience and real-time
collaboration. Google Docs took user experience
into a different level. Using the software,
users can edit their works instantaneously as if
they are simultaneously working on the same
computer. Google Docs had changed the way people
think about their work deliverables. Documents
have evolved from stationary handworks that need
to be printed, into an advanced online document
that could be edited simultaneously and with
revision history that keeps track of the changes
made by the user. From a design perspective,
each potential interaction in the software
product should consider the collaborative result
instead of focusing firmly on the one- user
setup. The product must reflect real-time
changes, apparent revision history, and allow
contextual specific conversations. The technical
architecture of the product should be engineered
in such a way that it can allow real-time
synchronization. The resulting product must be
capable of managing any multiuser issues such as
merge conflicts and handling undo complexities.
An example scenario is when two users are making
changes to the same document where user A wants
to undo his last activity without affecting user
Bs recent edits. These issues are more
complicated in a relational databases context
than in a word document or in a spreadsheet,
where merge conflicts can be handled in an
understandable method.
4
Mobile Responsiveness The unbelievable growth of
digital devices such as mobile phones and tablets
has compelled a thorough reconsidering of
old-fashioned interface designs for the touch
paradigm. Even though these technologies dominate
the present day, desktop should have equal
importance since it plays a vital role in data
entry and data processing. The ideal productivity
application should not only accommodate mobile
gadgets but each distinct device as
well. Traditional spreadsheets were perfect for
the keyboard and mouse age, but this application
was never suitable for touchscreens. The software
application is not easy to navigate when using
touch technologies and users often face the most
common troubles mistapping and formatting
difficulties. Waking up the beast and make it
mobile too Microsoft came to realize the need for
a product that will give users hassle- free
access to data and easy data manipulation. In
this regard, Microsoft access tutorial has been
developed. MS Access is a database application
that is designed specifically to eliminate the
burden of keeping file-based records in your
company. It is a tool for creating browser-based
database applications quickly. With Access
Mobile Database Client, you can now have a direct
access to all the tables in your MS Access
database without installing any third party
software. One important feature of this product
is it makes it easy for the users to search
using customizable queries through its advanced
query builder. Another key feature is it enables
sharing through mail, apps, and file system. You
can save the data for later use by exporting and
sharing it with your co- workers. However, you
still need to master the design concepts and
principles of Microsoft Access database (even
with the desktop version) and have a good
database plan ready to implement. To help build
your product and start the journey, one will
need to immerse themselves into some education
hence my eBook bundle and utilities.
5
For more information - https//accessdatabasetutor
ial.com/microsoft-access-vba- programming/