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Designing Client Tables

Defining tables in a Microsoft Access 2010 desktop database (.accdb file) is incredibly easy. This tutorial shows you how it is done.

You could begin building a database in Access 2010 much as you might begin creating a simple single-sheet solution in a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel-by simply organizing your data into rows and columns and then inserting formulas where you need calculations. If you've ever worked extensively with a database or a spreadsheet application, you already know that this unplanned approach works in only the most trivial situations. Solving real problems takes some planning; otherwise, you end up building your application over and over again. One of the beauties of a relational database system such as Access is that it's much easier to make midcourse corrections. However, it's well worth spending time up front designing the tasks you want to perform, the data structures you need to support those tasks, and the flow of tasks within your database application.

In this tutorial:

  1. Creating a New Database
  2. Creating a New Empty Database
  3. Creating Your First Simple Table by Entering Data
  4. Creating a Table Using Application Parts
  5. Creating a Table Using Data Type Parts
  6. Creating a Table in Design View
  7. Understanding Field Data Types
  8. Setting Field Properties
  9. Nulls and Zero-Length Strings
  10. Defining Simple Field Validation Rules
  11. Defining Input Masks
  12. Defining a Primary Key
  13. Defining a Table Validation Rule
  14. Understanding Other Table Properties
  15. Defining Relationships
  16. Defining Your First Relationship
  17. Creating a Relationship on Multiple Fields
  18. Adding Indexes
  19. Multiple-Field Indexes
  20. Setting Table Design Options
  21. Creating a Default Template for New Databases
  22. Printing a Table Definition
  23. Database Limitations