Data Access Pages can be produced from forms and reports. The Data Access Page wizard cannot create pages from forms based on more than one table, these will have to be done by hand.
The procedure for creating Data Access Pages from forms and reports is simply a matter of saving them as a Data Access Page. Open a Form in the normal way, choose File/Save As and select Data Access Page from the list of available options.
This will produce an initial layout like this:
The layout will need some attention using the techniques considered earlier. You already know how to add and convert those fields that do not copy over in the exact format required, although this time the combo boxes have been copied successfully.
Add a Hyperlink field, with Smart Tag if reuired, to replace the Website or Email field.
Add an Image control and set up a Textbox and RowSource properties as described above.
Data Access Pages can also be saved from the Design view of a report. Once again the design of the Data Access Page will need tweaking, but the wizard gives us a good start. Like standard reports, the Data Access Page versions are for output only so there is no need to worry about drop down lists, hyperlinks, etc.
The first attempt by the wizard is not so good, it needs some refinement:
Things to put right:
After a little work we get an improved report:
Further improvements:
With just one navigation bar and all CDs visible for each artist the page output is now much clearer, less cluttered and easier to navigate.
To put back the grand total for the tracks field:
One of the main reasons for using this option is that it is the only way to create a Data Access Page that includes two or more related tables.
To begin the procedure click on the Tables tab in the Database Control Panel and choose the CDs table. Select Insert/Page and the following dialogue box appears:
Click OK to build the page in Design view. This starts a blank page in Design view with the Field List panel open on the right of the screen.
Select the fields from the list that you want to include on the page and then drag them onto it. This causes the Layout Wizard to appear - choose Columnar from the list to create a column of fields for the CDs.
In the Field List panel click on the Related Tables Expand button for the CDs table and then on the Expand button for the TrackDetails table.
Select all the fields from the TrackDetails list and click the Wizards button in the Toolbox.
Click the Add To Page button at the top of the Field List. The wizard will open to help you with layout: choose Tabular to create a row of fields for the tracks, just as you did in the Forms section earlier. Access adds the fields for the TrackDetails table but it places them above the CDs fields rather than below. To put this right we need to select and promote the fields in the CDs part of the page.
Select all of the fields from the CDs table and click on the Group By Table button in the Page Design Toolbar (two to the left of the AutoSum button).
This produces a design like this:
This is far from perfect so we must now fine-tune it to match our requirements.
(Correct cover photo not yet found!)
Remember that this is a Data Access Page and not a report so the fields can be edited. You cannot edit the primary keys of either table but you can add new records and you can use copy and paste on the CD Serial Number/CDID fields to reduce the time spent on this difficult field. To change the editing properties of a section of a page click on the down arrow of the group header and choose Group Level Properties. The first three items, AllowAdditions, AllowDeletions and AllowEdits control what users can do through the page.
