access forms

funny thing. i have managed to avoid access for all but perhaps exporting data (which is not really using access). i mean... i have used it. written a query or two. perhaps a lame report. but i have never used access.

things changed today. i was helping a new co-worker out. telling her she didn't have to print so much paper. turns out she had printed a stack of forms that were to be manually filled out by folks in the field offices. and she was going to store them for use later.

so onto the change. i got her started by showing her a couple of things. she created a worksheet type table. she input some data. she even modified a query to pull back data.

i looked her form over during our staff meeting, and figured out how her data needed to be broken up. i got back to my desk and fired up access. i am using 2003, and it has some pretty neat features.

table.field:
input mask - i found that access has an input mask that allows you to define what is allowed as input. this was great for phone numbers, employee numbers, a FIRMS code (A123) etc.
caption - now i thought this was pretty neat. you define your field name, ramp_loc in my case, and you add a caption of Ramp Location. now when i build a form or report Ramp Location is in the header instead of ramp_loc. this is very nice if you are going to be using access as the front gui (although i am sure there is a way to get this as meta for use in any application).

using access as a database is not bad. but i have always dreaded writing an interface in access. since this is being used for 1 person, i figured i would kick the tires (this is for a new employee who has never used access before and is not a programmer). the first form i made i just ran the wizard and viola. everything was pretty neat.

and then i had to go and get all complicated. i know what i want to do and i am about 75% there. of course at this time tomorrow, i could have built the entire thing using a web language, but hey... it's another tool in the toolbox.... right?