Creating a Form

Forms allow you to populate a database in an easier way. All information that you enter into a form will actually be entered into the table that the form gets its fields from. Conversely, all of the data that appears in the forms comes from the respective tables.

·        From the main dialog, click the Forms button [under Objects]. Then click on New

 

·        The New Form dialog box offering various ways of creating a form opens

 

·        In the combo box below the design choices, choose the table where this forms data comes from. We will choose Student. Then click OK.

          

 

 

·        The Design View of the form opens up, you have a grid representing your form.

A form has two rulers, one horizontal on the top of the form, one vertical on the left, to help you be more precise with dimensions. There is a toolbox equipped with buttons, edit boxes and other items.

 

 

If the toolbar does not pop up, on the main menu bar click on Tools -> Customize. Under the Toolbars tab make sure to check the toolbars option. Then click close, the toolbar will appear.

·        A box representing the originating table’s field list also appears.  This will allow you to simply drag the fields from the table onto your form.

 

    Drag the fields from the table onto your form

 

 

 

·        Once you have placed an object onto the form, you can change it’s shape and position on the form.  To manipulate an item on the form, click on it to select it. You may select more than one item. You can the drag the item to a new position or draw an rectangle around the item. You can also change the size of the form itself, simply by placing the cursor at the edge of the form [the gray grid] and dragging the edges in our out, the same way you would resize a window.

·        Click the Form View button on the toolbar to preview your form. If some items don't appear in the form or you think that the window is too large for the items on the form, on the main menu you can click Window -> Size To Fit Form.

 

Filling in a Form

·        To fill out a form, you go through different boxes by typing values. To move from one box to another, you can click with the mouse. To move from one box to the next, you can press the Tab key. To move from one record to another, you use the Navigation buttons at the bottom of the form:

 

·        The Student table already has four records. Review the record and change any entries if you had entered them incorrectly. The buttons to the left of the number take you back to the beginning of the records and back one record respectively.  The two to the right of the number take you forward one and to the last record, respectively.  You can also type a number in the box to take you to a specific record.  Finally, the last button (with the asterisk) takes you to a blank record at the end to enter new data.

 

·        Add a new record with the following data:

Your name, a four digit ID and GPA

 

·        Save the form you just created, name the form StudentForm.

 

·        Create form for editing the Course and Professor tables.

 

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