The Cutting Edge: Computing / Technology / Innovation : Easier ‘Access’ to Your Database
For many years, Microsoft Corp. lacked any database program to go with its strong offerings in other software categories such as word processing, spreadsheets, programming languages and, of course, operating systems.
Now it has two of the leading relational database programs: newly released Access 2.0 and Foxpro 2.6 versions for DOS and Windows.
Microsoft bought Foxpro, then a DOS-only program, a couple of years ago, while it continued developing Access in-house as its premier Windows database. The first version of Access didn’t reach that goal, but with version 2.0, Access achieves a level of excellence comparable to Microsoft’s Word for Windows 6.0 word processor and Excel 5.0 spreadsheet.
Access 2.0 surpasses Foxpro for Windows in many ways, including speed, ease of use, flexibility, screen and report formatting and overall compatibility with other Windows applications.
I was amazed at how much faster Access 2.0 could select or summarize data than Foxpro for Windows--nearly three times faster on a complex query and as much as 10 times faster when selecting a simple subset of data. Neither database, containing identical data, was indexed, and these were by no means exhaustive tests. But repeated tests yielded the same results.
Any of the major relational database programs sold these days can be used to run a business. But with most of the programs, that is true only after an expert user has designed and developed the various databases required, such as one to track customers, one for inventory, one for entering orders, one for shipping, etc.
The advantage of Microsoft Access 2.0 is the way it simplifies tasks that are difficult to conceptualize. One example is the creation of multiple tables to store related information and then linking the tables so they can work together. That is the essence of a relational database, and it is much easier to understand when you can actually see it happen in the diagrams that Access produces on its screens.
Another example is retrieving data from multiple linked tables, which is also accomplished graphically in a diagram-like fashion that makes it easy to visualize what is happening. Not only can you physically retrieve the information you seek from your databases, you can also understand how it’s done. Armed with that knowledge, you can begin to think of other ways to use the data you already have.
An important ease-of-use feature of Microsoft Access is the way it stores all of the objects of a database--the data tables, data entry forms, report forms, query definitions, etc.--in a single file. Nothing gets lost because you inadvertently put it in some other directory. It also means that all of those objects can have descriptive names because they aren’t separate files limited to eight-character names.
You can store any kind of data in an Access database, including pictures, graphs, sounds and any other object that can be created in a Windows program equipped for what Microsoft calls OLE, which stands for object linking and embedding. Of course, you can also store more traditional data--numbers, dates, times and documents up to 64,000 characters long, each in special memo fields.
The program gives you a high degree of control over how numbers are stored, including a special currency data type that eliminates rounding errors.
Additionally, you have control over how numbers and other data are displayed, both as they are entered--telephone numbers can have parentheses and dashes added automatically--and as they are displayed later in screen forms and printed reports.
As in other Microsoft programs, Access 2.0 is loaded with “wizards,” which are pre-programmed methods of doing complex tasks such as setting up tables or designing queries, forms and reports. These are excellent and often allow you to quickly achieve a much better result than if you tried to do it using menus and dialogue boxes.
However, once you get brave enough to tackle the manual ways of designing queries, forms and reports, you’ll find that Access 2.0 provides virtually unlimited control over what you can accomplish. It really is a tinkerer’s delight.
Access makes heavy use of tool bars that display a series of graphic icons representing the various tasks that can be performed. One of the most difficult parts of learning the program is learning how to navigate these tool icons. They change depending on where you are in the program. However, pointing at them with the cursor will display an identifying label near the icon and a longer description at the bottom of the screen.
An Access database is a collection of “objects” whose properties you can define, from the size and font of its type to the way it behaves in relation to other objects. Some of the lists of possible properties are astonishingly long. Fortunately, you can often leave properties the way the program automatically sets them, or change just one or two to get the customization you are seeking.
The task of retrieving information from an Access database is done with “queries,” and Access makes them easier to design than in many other programs. Once you understand the way the query design grid works, you can easily specify complex data selections, including calculation of new data such as totals, averages and counts, based on the data being selected.
Foxpro remains a good choice for someone with a legacy of dBASE or compatible application programs, because its data structure and programming language are similar. But if you’re just getting started in databases, Access 2.0 will give you much more sophisticated-looking results with much less effort.
And if you want to tackle all the work of converting from another database program, Access 2.0 has excellent import capabilities for Foxpro, dBASE, Paradox, Btrieve and SQL databases.
Computer File welcomes your comments but regrets that the author cannot respond individually. Write to Richard O’Reilly, Computer File, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles CA 90053, or message oreilly@latimes.com on the Internet.
