lab 3

Unit 3: Lesson 7 Lab 7.41

Purpose

In this lab, you will use a Microsoft Access database and identify information by navigating built in forms. The objective is for you to become familiar with a Microsoft Access database. Additionally, you will learn how to navigate the use of forms to locate and identify requested information.

Lab Instructions

You’ve been given the task to use a pre-built Microsoft Access database to locate and identify specific information in an orders database called Northwind.

On uCertify, in section 7.4 for the Lab, follow the instructions for the setup of the Northwind template, review the database objects, and provide your written responses for each of the lab questions.

Creating your own database can take a lot of time and effort. Fortunately, if you have Microsoft Access, there are free sample databases that you can use to practice the skills learned in Lesson 7. The purpose of this lab is to get you more comfortable with a relatively simple database, including tables, forms, and queries. Use this time to play around—the data is not for a real company, so you can do whatever you want to it with no repercussions!

The sample database you will use in this lab is called Northwind. To find Northwind, you will need to search for it. Here’s how to install it:

1. Open Microsoft Access.

2. In the Search For Online Templates bar at the top of the page, type Northwind and

press Enter.

3. The Northwind sample will appear in the search results. Click it.

Unit 3: Lesson 7 Lab 7.42

4. A window will pop up explaining what Northwind is, like the one shown in Figure

7.13. Provide a filename (if desired) and click Create.

Figure 7.13: Installing Northwind

5. When Access opens the database, you might get a security warning across the top

of the page. If so, click Enable Content.

6. On the login page, select an employee to log in as. Using the default of Andrew

Cencini is fine. Click Login.

Now that you have logged in, it’s time to explore the Northwind database. The page that opens is a form called Home. You can see this by looking at the tab above the globe icon with the arrows.

On the left is the navigation pane, which is collapsed by default. Click the two arrows near the top of the pane to expand it. Now you will see several categories of forms, tables, queries, reports, and other objects. Double-click Customers & Orders to expand the category. You will see two different types of objects—they have different icons. The first is a query called Top Ten Orders by Sales Amount. Double-click it, and the query opens in the right pane. Right-click its tab in the right pane, and click SQL View to see the query in SQL.

In the left pane, double-click the Customer Details form. It will open a window showing a customer’s information (see Figure 7.14). Using this form, someone could modify the information for a customer, which will be saved to a table. To enter information for a new customer, click Save and New in the top menu bar of the Customer Details form. Feel free to do it if you’d like!

Unit 3: Lesson 7 Lab 7.43

Figure 7.14: Customer details

In the left pane, double-click the Supporting Objects link. This will be a large list. Here, you can see many tables, forms, and other objects. Double-click the Customers table to open it in the right pane. Can you find Elizabeth Anderson?

Feel free to click whatever you’d like now. I recommend spending about 30 minutes looking around, familiarizing yourself with the objects and data available. For example, if you find data in a form, see whether you can track down in which table or tables that data is housed. Here are some specific questions for you to explore. (Ideally Microsoft doesn’t change the data in the template!)

Submission requirements: o Answer each of these topics/steps with a written paragraph of 2-3 sentences o Add an image (snip-it or screenshot) showing what you found

1. Who is the Sales Coordinator for Northwind Traders?

2. How many orders has Company F placed, and how much have they spent?

3. How many sales dollars did Northwind generate from Coffee in 2006?

4. How many dollar sales did Northwind generate in 2004?

5. In 2006, what were the three items that Northwind sold the most?

Unit 3: Lesson 7 Lab 7.44

6. How much chai does Northwind have in inventory, and how much of it is available?

7. What was order number 39 for?

Unit 3: Lesson 7 Lab 7.45

References