This Tutorial

- Introduction

- The Microsoft Access database

- Using SQL to create a Microsoft Access database

- Using SQL to access Microsoft Access databases

- Creating tables

- Using SQL to describe Microsoft Access database tables

Related Pages

Microsoft Access Workgroup tutorial

Microsoft Access Database Splitter tutorial

Microsoft Access Build Your Own Database manual

- SQL tutorial for MySQL

- SQL tutorial for SQL Server

SQL database comparisons

- Comparison of the commands and operators used in WHERE clauses in Oracle, Microsoft Access, MySQL and SQL Server, and how to limit the number of rows returned

- Comparison of useful functions in Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft Access and SQL Server

Useful links

Microsoft Access

ASP Free site has a series of articles for beginners. Novices should start with the "Getting to Know ... " articles..

Alan Browne's tips contains tutorials suitable for all levels of expertise from casual users to Access developers.

Microsoft: This link will take you to the Microsoft Access Developer Center, from which you can find code samples, tutorials and tips.

MySQL

Download the MySQL database from the MySQL AB site.

Knowledge base articles and user manual are also available from the MySQL AB site..

The PHP MySQL Tutorial site covers the basic procedures for new PHP-MySQL programmers.

Structured Query Language (SQL) tutorial

The Microsoft Access database

The Access database consists of the following:

• A collection of tables to store the data. This is the heart of any database.
• A collection of queries designed to extract information from the data: You can create queries using the Query BY Example interface, or directly using SQL statements in the SQL Window.
• A collection of forms and reports designed to present the information in a user-friendly manner. Forms may also be used to enter the information.

SQL and the Access database

All components of an Access database are accessible from the tabbed Database Window.  Each category of objects has its own tab.  So, for example, all tables in the database can be opened from the Tables tab of the Database Window. 

Since this course deals with queries, you will need to work mainly from the Queries tab.  However, you may need to open some of the tables to check that your queries have given the correct result.

You will not be dealing with Forms, Reports, Data Access Pages, Macros or Modules during this course.

The Query tab

This tab contains all the queries that have been written for the database:

You can create a query in Design View or SQL View.  You can also switch between these two views.  This course covers queries designed in the SQL  View.  SQL queries are much more powerful than queries written using the query grid.  Some queries can only be written using SQL.

Opening the SQL editor

To open the SQL Window,

• Switch to the Queries tab of the Database Window
• Select Create query in Design view
• Click Design (see figure below). The query grid will be displayed, with a list of tables that can be selected for the query:

We will be adding tables directly to the query through SQL statements, so do not need to add them quite yet.

• Click Close to close the Show Table dialog box.  The query grid will remain open.  You will also see a button labeled SQL near the top left of your screen:

• Click this button to display the SQL editor:

You should enter all SQL statements into this window.

Running a query

Once you have entered a query into the SQL window, you can see the answer to your query by clicking the Run button, .