status bar

[Guest]

When working in Excel you can have the SUM or AVE of fields apper in the
bottom hand right side of the Status Bar , simply by highlighting or
selecting the fields. Can this be done in Access while working in Tables?
If so, how is this set up? Thanks

 

[Rick B]

No. First, you should not be working in the tables. Second, there is no
way to define calculations in the status bar while in a table. You could
write code to display certain data in the status bar while you are in a
form, but it will display in the left side.

 

[Guest]

Sorry about posting the same question several times - I am new to computers
and Access and did not think my questions was being posted - My questions
should definately be posted in the "beginners" area. Why should I not edit
data in Access tables? Whould it be better to work in dataview-subform or
from a Form itself? It just seems that when in a table you can edit, add
and delete data as well as from a form - if the database lets you?

 

[Rick B]

No problem.

The tables are the storage places for your records. They are not user
interfaces. Data is stored in the tables by Access and then used by your
various user-interfaces.

A form is better for working with data because you have control over it.
You can set up default values, formats for how items display, and you can
control what is valid for a particular field using validation rules. You
can also make fields required, locked, display-only, etc.

Often, with relational databases, what is stored in a table will make no
sense. For example, you may have a transaction table, an employee table, a
vendor table, and an inventory table. In your "transaction" table, you
would add a transaction by entering the DATE, the salesperson (as an
employee number), the part number, and the vendor number. The vendor number
would not really make much sense. The employee number would not really make
much sence. The part number would not really make much sense. But...

Using a form, you can FIND the employee NAME from a control and have the
number stored in the table. You can use fancy lookups for the PART but only
store the part number. Similarly, what you SEE in the form would be in
human-readable format, but the table may only include the numbers.

As a developer, I do sometimes work directly in the tables until I get
everything working properly, but once I get my forms, reports, and queries
built, I only use them.

I NEVER let my USERS access the tables.

Good Luck. Keep posting if you have more questions. These newsgroups are
GREAT resources. I learned EVERYTHING I know about Access from playing with
the various templates and sample databasea and from the great folks here in
the newsgroup.