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Access Developer 14 Lessons Welcome to Microsoft Access Developer 14. Total running time is 2 hours, 40 minutes Lessons
Database FilesResources
UpdateFollowing the feedback I received after this set of lessons, the Easy Access POS was put on the back burner due to lack of interest. Many of the developer students commented that they were not interested in it as part of the regular course. However, I do have plans to resurrect it as a separate seminar. If you are interested, please post a comment below. The more people who show interest, the sooner I'll build it. Thanks. Questions?Please feel free to post your questions or comments below. If you have questions about a specific lesson, please specify the lesson number and the time index in the lesson where the issue occurs. Thank you! Subscribe for UpdatesIf you would like to be notified whenever changes are made to this page, new lessons are posted, or comments are made, click on the subscribe button.
IntroIn this lesson, you will learn how to start building a fully customizable Point of Sale (POS) system using Microsoft Access, including planning the database structure, designing tables and relationships, and prototyping essential screens. I will show you how to set up tables with sample data, explain key design decisions, and begin building the order form with product categories and options. We will also create a form for selecting groups and people, useful for situations like school lunches, billing, or customer reward programs. This is Microsoft Access Developer Level 14 Lesson 1.TranscriptWelcome to Microsoft Access Developer Level 14 brought to you by AccessLearningZone.com. I am your instructor, Richard Rost.Access Developer 14 includes the first five lessons in the Easy Access PLS, that is, Point of Sale system. So, whether you are one of my developer students watching all the classes in order or you are interested in just the Access PLS system, this is the right lesson for you. For several years now, people have been asking me to build a POS system in Access. There is nothing really available on the market right now for POS systems that are built in Microsoft Access that you can customize and that are reasonably priced. For my developer students, you are going to get a lot of new techniques that I will be covering in this series. For those of you who are interested in just the POS, you can pick up those lessons by themselves. This is also the first time that I have recorded videos for a new class and posted them online as they are being recorded. This has given the students the opportunity to post feedback and ask questions between lessons. I can either answer them on the website or include those answers in the next set of videos. Even though right now Developer 14 is finished, because I always record the introduction slide last, you can still get in on developing the POS system, because Developer 15, as of right now, it is July 2020, has not been recorded yet. You can still get involved in the real-time database development. We will talk about exactly what is covered in just a few minutes, but I am using Microsoft Access 2019 with Office 365. You should be okay with pretty much any version of Microsoft Access. I would say from 2007 on. If you are one of my developer students and you are following along, I do suggest Developer 13 before this one. If you are one of the students taking this as just the POS seminar, of course you should have a good working knowledge of Microsoft Access, preferably including some VBA and some SQL. What does today's class include? First, we are going to talk about the database structure. One bit of feedback that I have gotten over the past couple of years is that my students want to see more development of the database before we start building the database. What does it look like on paper? How do I put all my fields together and my tables? How does everything relate together? We are going to spend a good amount of time doing that. About a half an hour of the first lesson is just going to be talking about what fields to include, how the tables work together, relationships, and so on. You are going to actually see me prototype the database. I have built a lot of screens up here in PowerPoint that are going to show you how things are going to look when they are done. As you can see, these are just simple diagrams. Then we will start actually building the tables. I am going to spend a good hour building the tables, going through all the fields, explaining why I am doing things the way that I am, giving you a more in-depth understanding of how these things go together. Not just how to build the table, but why I do things a certain way. We will fill in a bunch of sample data and we will see how things are going to work. Then we will get started actually building the order form, where we can pick a product category, then a list of products in each category. Each product can have different options. For example, here you can see burgers. We have got the kids burger and then a list of options: add bacon, add lettuce, add a toy, cook well, and so on. In the next class, we are going to talk about multi-select list boxes, which we have not done yet. That will allow you to pick multiple options on that option list. Finally, in today's class, we are going to build a form to allow you to pick a group and then a person in that group. This is handy if you are doing billing. For example, if you are a cafeteria that does school lunches for students, you can have your list of groups be the family, and then the list of people would be the students. If you are a restaurant, you might not want to have groups or people, or you can get information from them and put them in for reward programs. However you want to handle it. Some do all-cash options and that is fine too. This will be completely configurable. I will show you all kinds of different ways to do things. Remember, if you have any questions about the material posted in class, just scroll down to the bottom of the page that you are on while watching the video on the website. You will see that each one of the lessons has its own separate forum where you can post questions about that particular class. If you have general questions about Access that do not necessarily fall under this lesson, you can go to the Access forums. There is a link, and you can post all of your questions there. Click on the link below the video to get started with lesson one. QuizQ1. What is the main focus of Access Developer 14?A. Building a payroll management system in Access B. Building a Point of Sale (POS) system in Access C. Learning advanced Excel techniques D. Managing HR records Q2. What is unique about the way Access Developer 14 was recorded? A. It was live-streamed only once with no interaction B. It was recorded in one take without edits C. Lessons were posted online as recorded, allowing student feedback between lessons D. It was released as a complete package only after all lessons were finished Q3. What prior knowledge is recommended for students taking the POS seminar? A. Advanced knowledge of Python B. Only basic Access data entry C. Good working knowledge of Microsoft Access, including some VBA and SQL D. Expertise in network administration Q4. Which versions of Microsoft Access are suitable for following along with this class? A. Only Access 2016 or newer B. Access versions starting from 2007 onward C. Only Access 2019 with Office 365 D. Only Access 2010 Q5. According to the video, what aspect of database development will be focused on before building the actual database? A. Setting up security permissions B. Designing the user interface C. Prototyping database structure, fields, tables, and relationships on paper D. Importing data from external sources Q6. Which feature will be introduced in the next class, not covered yet in Developer 14? A. Cascading combo boxes B. Multi-select list boxes for selecting multiple product options C. Currency formatting D. Barcode scanning integration Q7. In the POS system, when is the form to pick a group and a person within that group useful? A. For generating inventory reports B. For configuring hardware settings C. For scenarios like school lunch billing where groups are families and people are students D. For setting up tax calculations Q8. How does the course allow students to interact with the instructor or other students? A. By sending direct emails only B. By using forums linked to each lesson for questions and feedback C. No interaction is possible D. Through weekly in-person seminars Q9. What will students see during the initial stages of building the POS system? A. Only finished database screens without explanation B. Simple PowerPoint diagrams and explanations of why things are built a certain way C. Finished forms with hidden fields D. Completed code samples without context Q10. What is the recommended prerequisite for developer students before taking Developer 14? A. Access Beginner Level 1 B. Access Developer 13 C. SQL Basics D. Microsoft Excel Intermediate Answers: 1-B; 2-C; 3-C; 4-B; 5-C; 6-B; 7-C; 8-B; 9-B; 10-B DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks. SummaryToday's video from Access Learning Zone introduces Microsoft Access Developer Level 14, which focuses on the first five lessons in the Easy Access PLS, or Point of Sale system. This course is ideal both for those who have been following my developer series as well as anyone specifically wanting to learn about building a POS system in Access.For a long time, many students have asked me to create a POS system in Microsoft Access, since there is not a robust or reasonably priced customizable option available right now built in Access. This course answers that need. If you are one of my developer students, you will encounter a range of new techniques throughout this series. If you are joining just for the POS system, you can take these lessons independently. Another new element with this class is the recording process. I released the videos online as they were recorded, which enabled students to interact between lessons. They could offer feedback and ask questions, either directly on the website or to be addressed in upcoming video lessons. Even though the recordings for Developer 14 are now complete, you can still join the ongoing development process. As of July 2020, Developer 15 has not yet begun, so there is still an opportunity to become involved in real-time database development. We will examine all of the topics covered in Developer 14 shortly, but for reference, I am using Microsoft Access 2019 with Office 365. You should be able to follow along with any version of Access from 2007 onward. If you are one of my developer students, I highly recommend completing Developer 13 before beginning this one. Those interested solely in the POS seminar should have a solid working knowledge of Microsoft Access, with some understanding of VBA and SQL. To outline what is included in this course, we start with the database structure. A common request from students has been to see more of the planning and design process before building the actual database. That includes how to assemble all of the necessary fields, construct the table layouts, and establish relationships. We spend a significant portion of the class prototyping the database on paper, talking through choices for fields, table connections, and how everything links together. About half an hour is dedicated to this design phase before shifting to actually building the tables. I spend roughly an hour working through each table, explaining the reasoning behind the design decisions and offering insights into how and why each element fits together. I emphasize not just the steps to create the table, but also the logic behind each choice. We then populate the tables with sample data and explore how the structure functions in practice. From there, we start building the order form, which allows users to select a product category, then choose a product within each category. Each product can have its own set of options. For instance, if you are selling burgers, you might have choices like adding bacon, lettuce, a toy, or selecting how well the burger is cooked. In the next class, we will address multi-select list boxes, which allow users to pick multiple options for each product. This is a new technique for us. To finish today's lesson, we will construct a form to allow selection of a group and a person within that group. This is useful in scenarios like school lunch billing, where groups could represent families and the people could be individual students. In a restaurant, you might skip this or use it for rewards programs. The POS system is highly configurable, so you can tailor it to suit your needs. I will explain various approaches to handling these configurations. If you ever have questions about anything covered in class, you can find a dedicated forum for each lesson at the bottom of the web page for the video. General Access questions can be posted in the main forums via the link provided. You can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below. Live long and prosper, my friends. Topic ListDatabase structure planning for POS systemPrototyping database fields and tables Defining table relationships for POS Building tables for POS in Microsoft Access Explaining field choices in POS tables Entering sample data in POS tables Designing order form to select product categories Listing products within categories on order form Setting up product options for orders Building a form to select groups and people Customizing forms for billing scenarios Configurable group and person selection forms |
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| Keywords: access developer 14 lessons PermaLink How To Design a Customizable Point of Sale System Database Step by Step in Microsoft Access |
