Frequently Asked Questions

What is this course about? This course takes you through the design process of building complete Access applications. It implements business logic into your solution by incorporating complex macros, expressions, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and Structured Query Language (SQL). The course is designed around a single case study to give you real-world practical knowledge. You learn to automate the extraction and modification of data in tables, design an intelligent user interface (UI) using macros, VBA and expressions, gain a solid foundation of VBA, and understand the processes required to distribute an Access solution in a multi-user environment. Who will benefit from this course? Both beginner and intermediate Access users learn techniques that can be put to use immediately at work. This course also helps break down the technical jargon in order to understand the real issues in contractor development projects. What background knowledge do I need? Knowledge at the level of of Course 970, Access™ 2007: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, or Course 307, Access™ 2003: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, is assumed. 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. Programming experience is recommended, but not required. This course builds upon your existing Access knowledge of tables, queries, forms and reports. What can I do with Access? You can build custom applications for your personal use, department, workgroup or enterprise that will decrease 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 customize your applications to look like name-brand products that you purchase "off-the-shelf". What version of Access is used in the course? What if I use a previous version? We use Access 2007. If you are using a previous version, almost all of the skills you learn in this course are applicable to Access versions 2003, 2002, 2000 and most of them can be used with Access 97. However, it is of interest to note that the Access interface is radically different between 2007 and all previous versions. I have taken Course 377, Programming Access™ 2003: Hands-On. Should I take this course? No, it is not recommended to take this course if you have already taken 377. The majority of topics discussed are similar, though operating on different versions of Access. Course 377 is for Access versions 2003 and below while this course uses Access 2007. 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 beginner's 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. How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours Automating Access with Macros 2.0 Transitioning to VBA 2.5 Programming Access Objects 4.0 Constructing VBA Expressions 2.5 Controlling Program Execution 4.0 Manipulating and Managing Data 3.0 Processing Runtime Errors 1.5 Getting Ready for Distribution 2.0 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. What kinds of hands-on exercises are in the course? Approximately 50 percent of class time is hands-on. The exercises and course examples are based on an inventory management database. They 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. Exercises include: Adapting business requirements into VBA code Exploiting Forms and controls by manipulating properties and executing methods Empowering your code using built-in functions Incorporating logic and iteration statements Programming Data Access Objects to manipulate data at the code level Creating multiple copies of Forms Implementing error-handling code Compiling the application into an executable database (ACCDE) How does this course fit into the Learning Tree Access curriculum? Learning Tree's Access curriculum includes the following courses: 307, Access™ 2003: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction  377, Programming Access™ 2003: Hands-On  970, Access™ 2007: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction  971, Building Applications with Access™ 2007: Hands-On  382, Relational Database Design, Tools and Techniques: Hands-On  315, Developing User Requirements: The Key to Project Success  209, VBA Programming: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction

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