- Understanding Access Functions and Modes
- Opening the Northwind.accdb Sample Database
- Understanding Access's Table Windows
- Navigating the Home and Create Ribbons
- Using the Function Keys
- Setting Default Options
- Creating a Customized Template File
- Using Access Online Help
- Spelunking the Database Utilities
- Packaging, Signing, and Distributing an Access 2007 Database
- Troubleshooting
- In the Real WorldReading the Ribbon UI's Tealeaves
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Opening the Northwind.accdb Sample Database
The Northwind Traders sample database (Northwind.accdb) is the primary Access application used in this book's examples. Access 2007 doesn't include a sample database, so the accompanying CD-ROM provides an upgraded and updated version of Northwind.mdb from Access 2003 and earlier. Transferring the CD-ROM's sample chapter files to your computer places Northwind.accdb in your \SEUA12\Nwind\ folder, which also contains a copy of Access 2003's Northwind.mdb file in Access 2000 format.
After installing the sample files from the CD-ROM, open Northwind.accdb and display its Home ribbon and default Navigation Pane by doing the following:
-
Launch Microsoft Office Access 2007, if it isn't running. - Click the Office button to open the gallery (menu) and choose Open to launch the Open dialog. Navigate to your \SEUA12\Nwind folder, which contains three sample files (see Figure 3.3).
Figure 3.3 The Open dialog lets you open almost all varieties of Access 2000 through 2007 database files.
- Select Northwind.accdb, and click Open to open the Switchboard form as a tabbed document (see Figure 3.4). The message bar displays a security warning with an Options button. The content that's been disabled is the VBA code in the Utility Functions module.
Figure 3.4 The Switchboard form's default page lets you select one of four categories of sample forms and sales reports to open. The Navigation pane displays all database objects in an Outlook-style sidebar.
- Optionally, click the Products and Suppliers button and then click a button to open one of the sample forms or reports. Figure 3.5 shows the Suppliers and Products List in Form view.
Figure 3.5 The Suppliers and Products form displays values from the Suppliers table's record for the selected supplier above a datasheet view containing related products' records from the Order Details table.
)
)
)
NOTE
Access 2007's Switchboard Manager differs from earlier versions by substituting Access macros for VBA code to open forms or reports and perform other actions. VBA code won't run when the Security Warning message is present, but most macro actions aren't embargoed.
After you open Northwind.accdb for the first time, it opens automatically when you launch Access, and an entry for the database appears in the Office gallery's Recent Documents pane. It's quicker to open Northwind.accdb or any other recently used databases from the Recent Documents pane.