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This is the fourth (and final) course in our mini
series on Advanced Query Development. This class focuses on additional
topics for making your Queries powerful.
We'll begin by looking at Crosstab Queries
which allow you to create spreadsheet-like views (almost like Pivot
Tables) in your database. This allows you to, say, take a whole list of
sales and summarize them by month and by state.
I'll show you how to do this both by scratch, and
with the Crosstab Query Wizard (not an evil wizard). Or how about
putting the state across the column header...
Oh, and have you ever used the Query Parameters
window to declare your parameters? Didn't think so. I'll show you what
it is... and why you sometimes need to use it.
Next, we'll learn how to use the Find
Duplicates and Find Unmatched query wizards. The first will
allow us to find duplicated records (like all records where the company
name is the same). The second will allow us to find customers without
contacts (unmatched records in a related table). This is really cool if
you want to send a letter to any customers, for example, who have no
orders!
Next we'll learn about some Query Properties,
such as how to see the Top X Values of your query results (maybe
you only want to see the top 10 performing sales reps - instead of all
500).
We'll also learn a lot of the other properties,
like Unique Values, Unique Records, Column Headers, Output All Fields,
etc.
Next, the BIG lesson... SQL (Structured
Query Language). Lots of people have been asking to learn about
it... so now we're going to start covering it. Here's a look...
OK, didn't mean to scare you. That was just a
preview. I'll explain what it all means in class. It's really quite easy
to learn. Here's a much simpler one...
This statement (above) just gives you a listing of
all of your company names from the customer table. SQL is really easy
to learn - and it's powerful. If you know how to use it... there are
a lot of places in your Access database where it's handy to know SQL.
Again - it's just one more thing to make your databases shine.
That's not the end of class, however. I've got a
lot of little tips and tricks that I've also thrown in at the end of
this one (stuff that didn't fit in any other Query class). If you like
queries, you'll love this class.
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