Design with no experience

Hi There,

I have no experience with access, so please let me know if this task is too
big.

Is it feasible for me to develop a databse for my private music students
that tracks and reports on the following:

Contact Info
Individual and overall Attendance
Individual and overall Payments
Material covered in each lesson

Cheers!

That REALLY depends...!

Here are four areas I suggest folks understand if they intend to build an
application in Access:
1. Normalization & relational database design
2. Access tips/tricks
3. Graphical user interface design
4. Experience building applications

To the extent that any/all of these are new to you, plan on spending time
working your way up the learning curve(s).

So, it depends ...

How much time do you have to get this done?

How much do you need/care to learn?

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

".:RoKsTaR:." wrote in message
...
Hi There,

I have no experience with access, so please let me know if this task is
too
big.

Is it feasible for me to develop a databse for my private music students
that tracks and reports on the following:

Contact Info
Individual and overall Attendance
Individual and overall Payments
Material covered in each lesson

Cheers!

I'm usually pretty quick at learning new programs. I'm constantly having to
learn new ones being in the music business since there's new programs almost
every month.

I think it would make my business a lot easier to run, so I have no problem
devoting the time to it. That being said, I'm not sure where to start...I
did a tutorial on the MS Access page, but what next?



"Jeff Boyce" wrote:

That REALLY depends...!

Here are four areas I suggest folks understand if they intend to build an
application in Access:
1. Normalization & relational database design
2. Access tips/tricks
3. Graphical user interface design
4. Experience building applications

To the extent that any/all of these are new to you, plan on spending time
working your way up the learning curve(s).

So, it depends ...

How much time do you have to get this done?

How much do you need/care to learn?

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

".:RoKsTaR:." wrote in message
...
Hi There,

I have no experience with access, so please let me know if this task is
too
big.

Is it feasible for me to develop a databse for my private music students
that tracks and reports on the following:

Contact Info
Individual and overall Attendance
Individual and overall Payments
Material covered in each lesson

Cheers!






.

It's a little different. From a learning standpoint, Access is more like a
big toolbox than a program. And besides just learning what the tools and how
to use them, yo have to start learing architecture (information and db
structures) to decide what to build with those tools and how to build it.

Sometimes it good to structure/facilitate/move along your learning by trying
to simultaneously. So here's something like that. Try to:

Decide what the fundamental "entities" are that you are trying to database.
My guess is that they are

T1. People
T2. Instances of payment for instruction (of that person)
T3. Instances of a class being scheduled for a person


Make a table for each of those entities, include an autonumber primary key
in each table. For people name the PK Field "PeopleID"

Add an integer (not autonumber) field "PeopleID" in tables T2 & T3.
(these are "foreign keys) and link each of those fields to the "PeopleID"
field in T1

Add fields for each of the attributes that you want to record about your
entities. Here are a few of the more abstract ones:

T1
Current Student? (yes/no)

T2


T3
Showed up? (yes/no)
Description of material covered.


- - -

Now make datasheet style forms for T2 and T2. These will be used as subforms

Make a "one record per page" style form for T1. Then put the T2 & T3
subforms into it.

Then make reports that summarizes T2 records, grouped by Person
Then make reports that summarizes T3 records, grouped by Person

Of courses, explainiing in detail how to do the above is a book, not a post,
but trying to do the above should help driver/direct the learing process.

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:32:10 -0800, .:RoKsTaR:.
wrote:

I think it would make my business a lot easier to run, so I have no problem
devoting the time to it. That being said, I'm not sure where to start...I
did a tutorial on the MS Access page, but what next?

Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/acc...resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

Roger Carlson's tutorials, samples and tips:
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/

A free tutorial written by Crystal:
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

A video how-to series by Crystal:
http://www.YouTube.com/user/LearnAccessByCrystal

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials


The last three specifically. If you're new to database design, Crystal's video
is a great start.
--

John W. Vinson [MVP]

I'm with Fred & John ... Access is not a "bookcase" (which everyone knows
how to use), its not ANY kind of furniture, its a tool set you use to build
furniture. Please re-check my 4 learning curves. Using Access successfully
may involve working through all 4.

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

".:RoKsTaR:." wrote in message
...
I'm usually pretty quick at learning new programs. I'm constantly having
to
learn new ones being in the music business since there's new programs
almost
every month.

I think it would make my business a lot easier to run, so I have no
problem
devoting the time to it. That being said, I'm not sure where to start...I
did a tutorial on the MS Access page, but what next?



"Jeff Boyce" wrote:

That REALLY depends...!

Here are four areas I suggest folks understand if they intend to build an
application in Access:
1. Normalization & relational database design
2. Access tips/tricks
3. Graphical user interface design
4. Experience building applications

To the extent that any/all of these are new to you, plan on spending time
working your way up the learning curve(s).

So, it depends ...

How much time do you have to get this done?

How much do you need/care to learn?

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

".:RoKsTaR:." wrote in message
...
Hi There,

I have no experience with access, so please let me know if this task is
too
big.

Is it feasible for me to develop a databse for my private music
students
that tracks and reports on the following:

Contact Info
Individual and overall Attendance
Individual and overall Payments
Material covered in each lesson

Cheers!






.

Wow! Thanks, I'm pretty sure I know how to do all that stuff. I'll get
started right away and be back with any questions I have

Thanks again!

"John W. Vinson" wrote:

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:32:10 -0800, .:RoKsTaR:.
wrote:

I think it would make my business a lot easier to run, so I have no problem
devoting the time to it. That being said, I'm not sure where to start...I
did a tutorial on the MS Access page, but what next?

Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/acc...resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

Roger Carlson's tutorials, samples and tips:
http://www.rogersaccesslibrary.com/

A free tutorial written by Crystal:
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

A video how-to series by Crystal:
http://www.YouTube.com/user/LearnAccessByCrystal

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials


The last three specifically. If you're new to database design, Crystal's video
is a great start.
--

John W. Vinson [MVP]
.

Thanks again, I'll definitely have some things to study and practice on

"Jeff Boyce" wrote:

I'm with Fred & John ... Access is not a "bookcase" (which everyone knows
how to use), its not ANY kind of furniture, its a tool set you use to build
furniture. Please re-check my 4 learning curves. Using Access successfully
may involve working through all 4.

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

".:RoKsTaR:." wrote in message
...
I'm usually pretty quick at learning new programs. I'm constantly having
to
learn new ones being in the music business since there's new programs
almost
every month.

I think it would make my business a lot easier to run, so I have no
problem
devoting the time to it. That being said, I'm not sure where to start...I
did a tutorial on the MS Access page, but what next?



"Jeff Boyce" wrote:

That REALLY depends...!

Here are four areas I suggest folks understand if they intend to build an
application in Access:
1. Normalization & relational database design
2. Access tips/tricks
3. Graphical user interface design
4. Experience building applications

To the extent that any/all of these are new to you, plan on spending time
working your way up the learning curve(s).

So, it depends ...

How much time do you have to get this done?

How much do you need/care to learn?

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

--
Disclaimer: This author may have received products and services mentioned
in this post. Mention and/or description of a product or service herein
does not constitute endorsement thereof.

Any code or pseudocode included in this post is offered "as is", with no
guarantee as to suitability.

You can thank the FTC of the USA for making this disclaimer
possible/necessary.

".:RoKsTaR:." wrote in message
...
Hi There,

I have no experience with access, so please let me know if this task is
too
big.

Is it feasible for me to develop a databse for my private music
students
that tracks and reports on the following:

Contact Info
Individual and overall Attendance
Individual and overall Payments
Material covered in each lesson

Cheers!






.



.

Same thing as I wrote B4 with some of my crucial typos / omissions corrected.

It's a little different. From a learning standpoint, Access is more like a
big toolbox than a program. And besides just learning what the tools and how
to use them, you have to start learning architecture (information and db
structures) to design what to build with those tools.

Sometimes it's good to structure/facilitate/move along your learning by
trying to do "make" something specific simultaneously with your reading. So
here's something like that. Try to:

Decide what the fundamental "entities" are that you are trying to database.
My guess is that they are

T1. People
T2. Instances of payment for instruction (of that person)
T3. Instances of a class being scheduled for a person


Make a table for each of those entities, include an autonumber primary key
in each table. For people name the PK Field "PeopleID"

Add an integer (not autonumber) field "PeopleID" in tables T2 & T3.
(these are "foreign keys) and link each of those fields to the "PeopleID"
field in T1

Add fields for each of the attributes that you want to record about your
entities. Here are a few of the more abstract ones:

T1
Current Student? (yes/no)

T2


T3
Showed up? (yes/no)
Description of material covered.


- - -

Now make datasheet style forms for T2 and T2. These will be used as subforms

Make a "one record per page" style form for T1. Then put the T2 & T3
subforms into it.

Then make reports that summarize T2 records, grouped by Person
Then make reports that summarize T3 records, grouped by Person

Of course, explaining in detail how to do the above is a book, not a post,
but trying to do the above should help drive/direct the learning process.

So I watched crystals video and went through some of the other material and
have been noodling around with the program and existing databases to help
figure things out. In crystals video, she talks about putting people,
addresses, and phone numbers in their own table and linking them by their
unique id or key number. Existing templates do this all in one table, whcih
to me makes data entry easier, but I'm not sure.

Can anyone clarify if separate tables would make the data entry portion more
time consuming? Can you have one form that enters data into many tables?

Side note : A friend of mine told me he can get me some training dvds from
his office library, so I think that's my next step