How to get Started Using Microsoft Access Even if You've Never Used it Before by Paul Barnett - HTML preview

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HINTS AND TIPS FOR CREATING ACCESS DATABASES

When adopting a strategy in designing your Access Database it is worth considering a few important points

• Using the in built Wizards you can create quick simple solutions. Wizards are very powerful in MS Access. For more powerful customisable solutions you should think about using VBA programming code.

• Try not to embed too many photos in your database. If possible do not embed any at all. They will bloat your table and database. The best way to show images on your forms are to provide a link to them. Store them on your hard drive or server and link to them.

• If you want to show a lot of text the best data type to choose is 'Memo'. Use these sparingly though. I tend to have a field called 'Notes' on my forms and bind it to a table field with data type of 'Memo'.

• Try to give your object meaningful names. It will make maintenance easier in the long run. For example try not to name tables as table1 or queries as JohnsQuery or Query1 etc. The same goes for any object type.

• Indexes can speed up searches on your tables, but can also slow updates so use indexes sparingly.

 

• Normalise your tables so that there are no repeating records. You will increase the efficiency of your database .