Datasheet

Access table. (A table is the structure in which Access stores information in
your database.) The Datasheet view looks an awful lot like an Excel work-
sheet. You are likely pretty familiar with this view of a database because it
seems as though almost everyone’s first attempt at a database is to just
create a list in a spreadsheet. Welcome to the “if the only tool you have is a
hammer, everything looks like a nail” club!
In Datasheet view, each record is displayed in a single row, with columns for
each of the database fields. Even though this view of the data is probably
pretty familiar, it isn’t very convenient. For one thing, unless you’re keeping
track of only a little information about each item, it’s really hard to see an
entire record in Datasheet view because everything has to fit into one row.
That means you have to scroll back and forth to see all of the fields. Depending
on the length of each field, sometimes you can’t even see the entire contents
of a single field on-screen. And don’t even think about seeing a single record
wrap around and take up multiple rows — making everything fit on-screen
simply is not an option.
Of course, some other factors make the Datasheet view pretty inconvenient
for most purposes. Can you imagine how little fun it would be to scroll through
screen after screen trying to find a specific record in Datasheet view? Now
imagine that instead of finding a single record, you want to find a dozen or
so related records in a table containing 10,000 or more records. It’s almost
enough to make you want to move to a desert island where there aren’t any
computers, isn’t it?
Each field is in a column
Records appear
in rows
Record navigation tools
Figure 1-1:
The Access
Datasheet
view of the
information
in a table
looks like an
Excel
spreadsheet.
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Part I: Accessing Both Ends: Getting Data In and Info Out
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