A Painless Introduction to MS Access Databasing

(1)

Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center http://lane.stanford.edu

A Painless Introduction

to MS Access Databasing

Yannick Pouliot, PhD

Bioresearch Informationist [email protected]

Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center

4/20/07

(2)

Preliminaries

 Launch MS Access

 Open Simple1.mdb

 File/Open

 Using the Help  don’t neglect it!

 Exercise: ask the Office Assistant for “select

syntax”

(3)

Lane Medical Library &

Knowledge Management Center http://lane.stanford.edu

3  Familiarization with MS Acces

 Understanding a simple database

 Basics of SQL querying

 Creating a simple database

 Loading database via MS Excel

 Tools for running SQL queries

 Installation (Windows)

 Selected databases

 Resources & cheat sheet

(4)

Resources – MS Access

Available as eBook

(5)

5 Resources – Excel/MS Query

In Lane catalog

(6)

Resources – MS Access

Free Online Training Resources

 Using an Access database to store and information (2 min)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011709681033.aspx

 Creating a database from Excel (5 min):

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA012013211033.aspx

 Creating tables in Access (50 min):

http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC061183261033

 Writing queries (50 min): http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?

AssetID=RC010776611033

(7)

7

Why Bother with MS

Access?

(8)

Why MS Access?

 More: http://office.microsoft.com/en-

us/access/HA010429181033.aspx

(9)

9

Definitions,

Definitions…

(10)

Definitions

 Database: Collection of tables 

 Table

 Collection of records that share a common fundamental characteristic

 E.g., patients and locations can each be stored in their own table

 Schema

 A view that inter-relates tables to each other

 Record

 Basic unit of information in a relational table

 E.g., 1 record per person

 A record is composed of fields

 Query

 Set of instructions to a database “engine” to retrieve, sort and format returning data.

 E.g., “find me all patients in my database”

 Database engine

 Software application that stores the data and enables querying

(11)

11 Table and Field Definitions

How It Looks In Access…

(12)

Main Relational Database Engines

 Oracle

 MS Access

 MS SQL Server

 Filemaker

 MS SQL Server

 MySQL

 Postgress

 Sybase

(13)

13

Understanding Relational

Databases

(14)

Understanding the Relational Principle: A Simple Database

 Every patient gets ONE record in the Patients table

 Every visit gets ONE record in the Visits table

 Rows in different tables can be related one to another using a shared key (identifier  number unique to table)

 There can be multiple visits records for a given patient

 There can be multiple tissue records for a given patient

“join”

(15)

15 The Relational Principle in Action

 Related records can be found using a shared key

 Shared key = identifier that is:

 unique to each table

 Can be referenced by another table

 Example: Patients.ID = Visits.PatientID

(16)

The Database Schema: Your Roadmap For Querying

 The schema describes all tables and all fields

 Describes relationships between tables

 Crucial in enabling retrievall of desired data

 Simple example:

 Very important

 Must understand schema for accurate querying

 Wrong understanding = wrong results

(17)

17 Example: The Schema for SRI’s

BioWarehouse System

(18)

Querying MS Access

or any relational database…

(19)

19 How Relational Databases Are Queried

 Querying = extracting information out of the database

 … and into something, e.g., Excel

 This is done using the Structured Query

Language (SQL)

(20)

Introducing The SQL Select Statement

 Good news: This is the only SQL statement

you need to understand for querying

 Exercise: run

SuperSimpleQuery1 in Simple1 database

SELECT LastName, FirstName

FROM Patients

(21)

21 Basic Syntax of Select Statement

SELECT field_name FROM table

[WHERE condition]

Example:

Select LastName,FirstName From Patients

Where Alive = ‘Y’;

Important: Everything is MS Access is case sensitive

 LastName ≠ lastName

[ ] = elective

(22)

Realistic

Querying With

the MS Access

Query Builder

(23)

23 A More Complete Description of Select Statement

SELECT [DISTINCT|COUNT] field_list FROM table_list

[WHERE conditions]

[GROUP BY field_list]

[ORDER BY field_list [ASC | DESC] ]

more : http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HP010322651033.aspx?

pid=CH010410171033

Includes examples and descriptions of each

SELECT operator (e.g., “group by”)

(24)

Meaningful Queries in Acces

Exercises - Database: Simple2.mdb

1. Returning ordered records

2. Counting records

 LifetimeNumberFAQs1

 Exercise: how many FAQs per day?

 LifetimeNumberFAQs2

 Demo: creating Pivot Tables

3. Generating averages

 Querying from a query!

4. Change order of columns

5. Change sorting of rows

(25)

25

Uploading

Data in MS

Access

(26)

Importing Data Into Acces From Access

Important

 Column headers in Excel file must match those of columns in Access target table

 No spaces, weird characters

 Must ensure that data in Excel columns is of correct type (text, number, date)

 Blanks (not empty cells!) are nasty

 Exercise: Loading data via Excel

 File: LoadingData.xls

 Demo: http://office.microsoft.com/en-

(27)

27 Creating an Access DB from Excel

 One table per Excel worksheet

 Demo: http://office.microsoft.com/en-

us/access/HA012013211033.aspx

(28)

Cool Things You Can Do In Access

 Store entire files in records

 Excel, Word, sounds, pictures anything

(29)

29

Extras

(30)

Creating Forms Using MS InfoPath

 Really the easiest way to create interfaces to

Access

 10 min of work

 Probably 30 for you 

 More:

http://office.microsoft.com

/en- us/access/HA011199501

(31)

31 Querying With MS Excel

 MSQuery, an unknown hero

 Free

 Facilitates writing of a SQL query  graphical

 First, need to find it!

 Search for “MSQRY32.EXE” using “Search for Files or Folders”

 Search hidden files and folders

 On my disk, it is located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11

 Once you find it, create a shortcut to it and rename it e.g.

MSQuery

 move the shortcut to a desired location

 Also needed: creating a data source name

(32)

To Conclude…

 If using Excel is a headache, use MS Access

 Access can work very well on its own

 reasonably easy to learn/use..

 Lots of free resources to quickly learn how to use it

 MS Access + Excel = dynamite

(33)

33 Yannick Pouliot, PhD

[email protected]

(34)

The Nitty-

Gritty Details

(35)

35 How to Query Using MS Query

Steps

1. Make sure you have the requisite driver ^(next

slide)

2. Create a Data Source Name (Windows only) 3. Write your query

4. Get the results back into Excel!

See Lane videorecorded class

Managing Experiment Data Using Excel and Frie nds: Digging Out from Under the Avalanche

for lots more details.

(36)

Step1: Getting Drivers

Essential for SQL Querying

 A driver is a piece of software that lets your operating system talk to a database

 Installed drivers visible in ODBC manager

 “data connectivity” tool

 Each database engine (Oracle, MySQL, etc) requires its own driver

 Generally must be installed by user

 Drivers are needed by Data Source Name

tool and querying programs

(37)

37 MySQL Driver: Needed to Query MySQL Databases

 Windows: Download MySQL Connector/ODBC 3.51 here

 Must be installed for direct querying using e.g. Excel

 Not necessary if you are using the MySQL

Query Browser

(38)

Oracle Driver: Needed to Query Oracle Databases

 Installing “client” software will also install driver

 Windows: Download 10g Client here

 Mac: Download 10g Client here

 Free Oracle user account required to download

 Must be installed if you are querying

using MS Query or any other query

(39)

39 Step 2: Creating a Data Source Name

 A Data Source Name (DSN) tells programs on your PC where and how to query a

database

 Populating the fields:

 Data Source Name: Unique name of your choice

 Description: anything

 Server: exactly as given by the database provider

 Port number: as specified by database provider

 Defaults: MySQL: 3306; Oracle: 1521; MS Access: N/A

(40)

Words of Caution

 Easy to build queries that

 Retrieve nonsense

 Never complete, end up completely bogging down the database

 Scotty to Captain Kirk: “Where going in circles, and at warp 6 we’re going mighty fast…”

 Understanding schema is only way to prevent that

 Not always easy…

(41)

41 Resources – SQL

The Language to Query Relational Databases

 Beginning SQL, Wilton P & Colby JW: E http://jenson.stanford.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi

A Painless Introduction to MS Access Databasing

Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center http://lane.stanford.edu

A Painless Introduction

to MS Access Databasing

Yannick Pouliot, PhD

Bioresearch Informationist [email protected]

Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center

4/20/07

Preliminaries

 Launch MS Access

 Open Simple1.mdb

 File/Open

 Using the Help  don’t neglect it!

 Exercise: ask the Office Assistant for “select

syntax”

3

Contents

 Familiarization with MS Acces

 Understanding a simple database

 Basics of SQL querying

 Creating a simple database

 Loading database via MS Excel

 Tools for running SQL queries

 Installation (Windows)

 Selected databases

 Resources & cheat sheet

Resources – MS Access

Available as eBook

Available as eBook

5

Resources – Excel/MS Query

In Lane catalog

Resources – MS Access

Free Online Training Resources

 Using an Access database to store and information (2 min)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011709681033.aspx

 Creating a database from Excel (5 min):

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA012013211033.aspx

 Creating tables in Access (50 min):

http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC061183261033

 Writing queries (50 min): http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?

AssetID=RC010776611033

7

Why Bother with MS

Access?

Why MS Access?

 More: http://office.microsoft.com/en-

us/access/HA010429181033.aspx

9

Definitions,

Definitions…

Definitions

 Database: Collection of tables 

 Table

 Collection of records that share a common fundamental characteristic

 E.g., patients and locations can each be stored in their own table

 Schema

 A view that inter-relates tables to each other

 Record

 Basic unit of information in a relational table

 E.g., 1 record per person

 A record is composed of fields

 Query

 Set of instructions to a database “engine” to retrieve, sort and format returning data.

 E.g., “find me all patients in my database”

 Database engine

 Software application that stores the data and enables querying

11

Table and Field Definitions

How It Looks In Access…

Main Relational Database Engines

 Oracle

 MS Access

 MS SQL Server

 Filemaker

 MS SQL Server

 MySQL

 Postgress

 Sybase

13