Frequently Asked Questions

What is this course about? This course helps you extend your ability to work in Access beyond the keyboard and mouse. Building on the experience you have already established with the Access user interface, you learn how to add Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to build complete Access applications. With Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) you can add features and functionality to your applications. The course covers the fundamentals of VBA and takes you through to advanced techniques that put you ahead of many experienced programmers. Who can benefit from this course? Whether you are a beginner or intermediate Access user, you learn techniques that you can use immediately at work. If you are a manager, the course helps you cut through technical jargon to understand the real issues in contractor development projects. What can I do with Access? You can build custom applications for your department, workgroup or personal use that cut the time and effort needed to accomplish your job requirements. You can combine external data from many different sources including SQL Server and Oracle to provide exactly the information or analysis that is required. You can also customise your applications to look like name-brand products that you purchase "off-the-shelf" in computer stores. What version of Access is used in the course? What if I use a previous version? We use Access 2003 but almost all of the skills you learn are applicable if you are still using Access 2002/2000 and most of them can be used with Access 97. What background do I need? Course 307, Access™ 2003: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, or equivalent experience is required in order to take this course. It is important that you are comfortable building forms, adding controls, and setting properties of the Form and Control objects. You should also be able to build queries using the Query Design Grid. General experience in navigating the Access application itself is also important, but you need not be an expert in creating complete end-user applications. Is programming experience required for this course? No. Previous programming experience in any language is helpful but not required. We cover VBA "from the ground up," so you can learn everything that you need to know during the course. Even if you have taken a beginning course in Visual Basic or VBA, you learn something new in this course because the Access forms and controls are different from those in VB and other Microsoft Office products. To what extent is SQL Server used in this course? SQL Server is used at the end of this course to show the potential integration of Access as a front-end environment to a SQL Server database. A logical progression from Access is to upsize to SQL Server. This course shows techniques to bind Access controls with SQL Server data using stored procedures and pass-through queries. How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours Access macros and VBA 2.0 Event-driven programming 2.5 Manipulating Objects 4.0 Language concepts 2.5 Total control with VBA 4.0 Data programming 3.0 Advanced functionality 1.5 Trapping errors and debugging 1.5 Creating client-server solutions 2.5 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. What will I do during the hands-on exercises? Approximately 50 percent of class time is hands-on. The exercises and course examples are based on a human resources database and build upon each other throughout the course to show the progression of a real-world application. The exercises are based on concepts that can be applied to almost any project. How does this course fit into Learning Tree's Access curriculum? Learning Tree's Access curriculum includes four courses: 307, Access™ 2003: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction is the first course to take if you are not experienced in building Access applications without VBA code. This course provides the foundation knowledge you need to be successful in Courses 377. 377, Programming Access™ 2003: Hands-On is the intermediate course in the curriculum. It provides in-depth coverage of user interface and programming techniques, beyond the level of 307. How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses? 209, VBA Programming: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction teaches VBA from the ground up. You use VBA to automate many of the functions of programs other than Access in the Microsoft Office XP suite. 304, Hands-On Visual Basic® 6 complements 377. The level of programming is similar to 377 but it's specific to the VB environment, while 377 focuses on the objects and techniques used for Access.

Visual Basic is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Access is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.