Exploring Microsoft Access 2013

Comprehensive
Chapter 10
Using Macros and SQL in
Access

Series Editor Mary Anne Poatsy

by Krebs, Cameron, Williams

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 1

 Chapter Objectives
• Understand the purpose of a macro
• Create a stand-alone macro
• Use the Macro Designer
• Attach an embedded macro to an event
• Identify when to use a data macro

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 2

 Chapter Objectives (cont.)
• Create an event-driven data macro
• Create a named data macro
• Understand the fundamentals of SQL
• Interpret an SQL SELECT statement
• Use an SQL SELECT statement as a record
source

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 3

Understanding the Purpose of a Macro

• Macro – series of actions that can be

programmed to automate tasks
• Two categories of macros:
– Stand-alone macro – database object that you
create and use independently of other controls
or objects
– Embedded macro – executes when an event
attached to a control or object occurs

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 4

Understanding the Purpose of a Macro

• Event – occurs when a user enters, edits or

deletes data or opens, uses, and closes forms
and reports

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 5

 Using the Macro Designer
• Macro Designer enables you to create and
edit macros
• Four methods for adding actions to a macro
with the Macro Designer:
– Click Add New Action arrow and choose action
– Type the action name in directly
– Locate and double-click action in the Action
Catalog
– Drag the action from the Action Catalog
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 6
 Using the Macro Designer
• Argument – a variable, constant, or
expression that is needed to produce the
output for an action

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 7

Attaching an Embedded Macro to an Event

• Two methods of creating embedded macros:

– Wizard – let Access create the macro for you
– Manually – click the ellipsis in the event box of
the control or object you are manipulating

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 8

Identifying When to Use a Data Macro

• Data macros:
– Execute a series of actions when a table event
occurs or whenever a named data macro is
executed
– Attach programming logic to tables
– Enable organizations to apply business logic to a
database

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 9

Identifying When to Use a Data Macro

• Data macros:
– Can be used to validate and ensure the accuracy
of data in a table
– Can only be used with table events
– Cannot be used with other objects

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 10

Identifying When to Use a Data Macro

• Two main types of data macros:

– Event-driven – triggered by table events
– Named – can be run from anywhere in the
database

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 11

Understanding the Fundamentals of SQL

• Structured Query Language (SQL)

– Industry-standard language for defining,
manipulating, and retrieving data in a database
– Developed at IBM in the early 1970s
– Microsoft developed its own version of SQL for
Access
– All Access queries use an SQL statement to
extract data from tables

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 12

Interpreting an SQL SELECT Statement

• SQL SELECT statement is used to retrieve

data from table in a database
• SQL keyword defines the purpose and
structure of an SQL statement
– Shown in UPPERCASE
• Four basic keywords:
– SELECT, FROM, WHERE, ORDER BY

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 13

Interpreting an SQL SELECT Statement

• SELECT keyword – instructs Access to return

the specific field from one or more tables or
queries
– Example: SELECT fieldname
• FROM keyword – specifies the table(s) that
will be searched
– Example: FROM tablename

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 14

Interpreting an SQL SELECT Statement

• WHERE keyword – specifies the criteria that

records must match to be included in the
results
– Example: WHERE (Lastname=“Smith”)
• ORDER BY keyword – sorts the records by a
certain field
– Example: ORDER BY fieldname

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 15

Using an SQL SELECT Statement as a Record
Source
• Forms and reports must have a record source
• Record source can be table, query, or SQL
• Basic structure of an SQL statement:

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 16

Using an SQL SELECT Statement as a Record
Source
• Add an SQL Record Source to a Report
– Replace existing record source with SQL
statement
• Copy an SQL Statement from SQL View
– SQL statements are in text format in SQL view
and can be copied and pasted into the record
source of a report

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 17

 Summary
• In this chapter you learned to:
– Understand the purpose of a macro
– Create a stand-alone macro
– Use the Macro Designer
– Attach an embedded macro to an event
– Identify when to use a data macro

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 18

 Summary (cont.)
– Create an event-driven data macro
– Create a named data macro
– Understand the fundamentals of SQL
– Interpret an SQL SELECT statement
– Use an SQL SELECT statement as a record source

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 19

 Questions

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 20

 Copyright

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall. 21