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Since the Toolbox is used frequently in creating various designs, I recommend that you explore each item on its menu.
I suggest you do this because, the list of tools the Toolbox offers, as design aids, is humongous.
All you need to do is hold your mouse pointer over any of the 18 icons in the list and you get a short description of what it is for. This is important because many of these icons are meaningless to look at. Even after you use some of them, you won't remember what they mean later on when you go looking for one you have previously used and need again. You may want to make yourself a reminder list for future use. If you need more complete explanations for any of the terms used like, Option Group, Text Box, Combo box, List Box, Command Button etc., go to Microsoft help and read the explanations. To find what you're looking for in MS Help, Click the Microsoft Access Help menu button at the top of whatever screen you're on, then click the Index tab. Then click inside the 1. Type keywords slot, and then type your keyword. The keyword for any Toolbox item is its name like Combo box for example. Then, if there is an explanation available, you'll see it appear in the section below labeled 2. Or choose keywords. If its there, the title of the applicable topic is listed in the third section labeled 3. Choose a topic. You then double click the topic of your choice to read it in the pane to the extreme right. I also suggest you do this help searching before and in preparation for a specific design you're planning to attempt. Next I'll point out that you should save the changes to a database every time you make changes. Well, guess what? Access does this for you. |
How about that? However, Access saves everything about one of its databases in one file.
This file is the name of the database, plus a ( .mdb) extension. For the AddressDB we have been working with in this tutorial, the AddressDB file is saved by Access as AddressDB.mdb. So, with use, this database needs to be compacted to reduce the size of
the file. Databases grow larger and become inefficient simply by use.
To compact your AddressDB database do the following:
1. Open the AddressDB via Start \ Programs \ Microsoft Access \ AddressDB Access will then compact the AddressDB. After it's compacted, the database file, in this case the AddressDB.mdb file, can be copied to a floppy diskette, if it fits on a floppy, or to a separate partition on your fixed drive. This should be done periodically to protect your data. To locate the AddressDB.mdb file from the desktop, double click My Documents folder and then look for the AddressDB.mdb file in the list of documents. Unless you have changed it, Access stores all database files you create in the My Documents folder. However, If you can't find it for whatever reason, search for it as follows: Start \ Find \ Files or folders... \ then type into the slot Named: AddressDB.mdb then hit the Find Now button. The search results will be displayed showing the AddressDB.mdb file, including the path. If you can't remember what a path is, review my File Management tutorial regarding Path definition
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