PREPARED BY: ZHANG ZHIRONG 054535B06 CE · PDF filereport on industrial attachment with st...

REPORT ON INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT WITH ST AEROSPACE SYSTEMS

PREPARED BY:

ZHANG ZHIRONG

054535B06

CE

Table of Contents Page

Abstract i

Acknowledgement ii

List of Figures iii

Chapter One: Introduction 1

1.1 Background

1.2 Purpose

1.3 Scope

Chapter Two: Approved Certified Holder Test System 2

2.1 Background, Purpose and Scope

2.2 Admin Menu Items

2.2.1 Login Page

2.2.2 Admin.’s Menu

2.3 Admin operations

2.3.1 Assign Examinee Paper

2.3.2 Generate Report

2.3.3 Set Questions

2.3.4 Set Paper Type

2.3.5 View Examinee answer archive

2.4 Examinee operations

2.4.1 Confirm Particulars

2.4.2 Take Test

2.4.3 View Results

2.5 Security

2.5.1 Direct Question Bank Access

2.5.2 Linked tables

2.5.3 User application

Chapter Three: Incident Reporting System 19


3.2 Menus

3.3 Handling Forms

3.3.1 Enable Data Entry

3.3.2 Refreshing Forms

Chapter Four: Library Loans System 24


4.2 New Loan Record

4.2.1 Using Sub Forms

4.2.2 Borrower Friendly Design

4.2.3 Clean Records

4.3 Return of Manual

4.3.1 Design Methods

Chapter Five: Roster Database System 29


5.2 Report Viewing Methods

5.2.1 Order by

5.2.2 Group by

5.2.3 Search by

5.3 Keeping track of Last Update

Chapter Six: Approved Certified Holder Database System 35


6.2 Manipulating Records

6.3.1 Deleting Single Record

6.3.2 Detecting overdue and prompting

Chapter Seven: Swift Database System 39


7.2 Functions

7.2.1 VLookUp

7.2.2 Recording Macros

7.2.3 Removing Spaces and Dashes in the Data

7.2.4 Pivot Tables

7.2.5 Siphoning Data from Commas

Chapter 8: Inventory Bouncing System 47


8.2 How it works

8.2.1 Theory and Example

8.2.2 Finding Unmatched Inventory

Chapter 9: Summary and Conclusion 51

9.1 Summary

9.2 Conclusion

References 53

Appendix A: AC Holder Test Screen Shots

Appendix B: Incident Reporting System Screen Shots

Appendix C: Library Loans System Screen Shots

Appendix D: Roster Database System Screen Shots

Appendix E: Swift Database System Screen Shots

Appendix F: Access Bouncing Screen Shots

i

Abstract

ST Aerospace Systems is an Aircraft Component Repair Company. Aircraft land on the

runway at an airport nearby and would be towed to the repair hanger in Aerospace

when aircraft repairs are needed.

During my Industrial Attachment in ST Aerospace Systems, I was tasked with

programming applications and maintaining database systems using Microsoft Access

2000 as my major workload.

In this report, the focus would be on the projects I have done using the Microsoft Access

2000 and Excel. The projects mainly deal with Macros, Queries, Forms and Tables. For

the content, it would be about the explanation of how the work was done and the

problems encountered.

Projects involved applications and database systems that were essential to the Quality

Assurance department, Library and company. They would help to improve work process

in terms of quality and job completion rate.

It has been a gratifying Industrial Attachment experience and I have learned a lot during

my 5.5 months of stay. The company has been constantly improving their work

practices and encourages promoting innovative ideas to drive the company towards

world class.

ii

Acknowledgement

ST Aerospace Systems

Eugene Tan Quality Assurance Manager

Heng Xiang Xin Quality Assurance Engineer/Mentor

Hui Win Sun Quality Assurance Shop Inspector

Edmund Yap Library Manager

Ghana Library Assistant

Victor Foo Human Resource Manager

Nanyang Technological University

Bertil Schmitt Industrial Attachment Supervisor

iii

List of Figures

Fig 2.2.1.1 Admin Login

Fig 2.2.2.1 Admin Main Menu

Fig 2.3.1.1 Open Employee Data to set paper type

Fig 2.3.2.1 List of Examinee results

Fig 2.3.3.1 Add and edit Questions

Fig 2.3.3.2 Option groups

Fig 2.3.3.3 Inserting pictures into Database

Fig 2.3.4.1 Creating Paper Type

Fig 2.3.5.1 Answer Archive

Fig 2.4.1.1 Employee Particulars

Fig 2.4.1.2 Macro to Start Test

Fig 2.4.2.1 Test Paper

Fig 2.4.2.2 Macros used in Test Paper

Fig 2.4.2.3 Queries used in Test Paper

Fig 2.4.3.1 Confirm End Test Form

Fig 2.5.1.1 Setting Password Protection

Fig 2.5.2.1 Links to the tables from Question Bank.

Fig 2.5.3.1 Altering Startup Procedures

Fig 3.2.1 Menu items

Fig 3.3.1.1 Enabling Data Entry

iv

Fig 3.3.1.2 Copy Values to Hidden Fields

Fig 3.3.2.1 Updating Time Close

Fig 3.3.2.2 Refreshing Form

Fig 4.2.1.1 Creating a sub form

Fig 4.2.2.1 Create a user friendly design

Fig 4.2.3.1 Deleting null values

Fig 4.3.1.1 Design of return technical manual page

Fig 5.2.1.1 Preparing a ‘Order by’ Report

Fig 5.2.2.1 Preparing a ‘Group by’ Report

Fig 5.2.2.2 Macros to prepare for the ‘Group by’ Report

Fig 5.2.3.1 Preparing a ‘Search by’ Report

Fig 5.3.1 Updating Last Update

Fig 6.3.1.1 Snap shot of a form with many entries

Fig 6.3.1.2 Setting button properties in design view

Fig 6.3.1.3 Creating the delete macro

Fig 6.3.2.1 Query Design using totals

Fig 6.3.2.2 Creating forms with Query as Data source

Fig 6.3.2.3 Creating macro to detect expiry and prompt

Fig 7.2.1.1 Example of VLookUp

Fig 7.2.1.2 Example of Setting up VLookUp

Fig 7.2.2.1 Record a Macro

v

Fig 7.2.4.1 Example of a Pivot Table

Fig 7.2.4.2 Procedure to create Pivot Table

Fig 7.2.5.1 Text to Columns Function

Fig 8.2.1.1 Venn Diagram of Inventory Bouncing

Fig 8.2.2.1 Importing External Data

Fig 8.2.2.2 Creating Find Unmatched Query

Fig 8.2.2.3 Example Table Results of Inventory Bouncing

1

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Background

Microsoft Access 2000 is a very efficient application and database system creator

program. It also makes programming easier as most of the projects are created by a

series of mouse clicks instead of the usual way of typing long, countless lines of codes.

The types of application and database systems that can be created by Microsoft Access

2000 are limitless. Some examples include a Library Loans System, Incident Reporting

System, an Online Test, Report Generation System and Employee Database System.

1.2 Purpose

Companies need to upgrade their software system on their own sometimes as relying

everything to a third party company would add to expenditure. Furthermore, third party

companies have to understand the internal work processes before they can create a

flawless program. As such, it would be wise for employees to pick up the skill of

programming.

Microsoft Access 2000 allows employees to fulfill this goal as this program makes

programming simple. This in turn would greatly assist them in their tedious work

processes and save lots of man hours.

1.3 Scope

This report will cover some of the projects I have done. The focus would be explaining

how the Macros, Queries, Forms and Tables are done, the problems encountered and

the motivation for certain engineering design structure.

2

Chapter 2: Approved Certified Holder Test


Technicians need to be qualified to work on certain stuff. In order to do that, they would

need to take certain tests. AC Holder Test is an application created with Microsoft

Access 2000 that helps different groups of technicians to be qualified to do their

respective jobs.

In the past, the examiner would have to prepare questions, set up the examination

venue, mark the papers and generate reports manually. This was a tedious process and

lots of man hours were wasted. With the AC Holder Test application, lots of man hours

would be saved.

The AC Holder Test application consists of three separate parts – examinee, examiner

and question bank. The examinee would only be allowed to take the test. The examiner

can add questions and set paper. The question bank contains all tables.

Examiner would just need to input all questions into the Question Bank as well as set

the Paper Type for all employees. The AC Holder Test application would handle the

paper preparation, mark the papers and generate reports automatically. Examinees can

sit for the test on any computer connected to the network. The question bank would be

removed from the public folder to a private folder after the exam is over for security

reasons.

This chapter will explain the creation of this whole application, its techniques and its

reason for such a design. The focus would be on the tables, queries, macros and

reports.

3

2.2 Admin Menu Items

2.2.1 Login Page

Fig 2.2.1.1 Admin Login

From the ‘Admin Sign in’ form, the ‘Open Admin Main Menu’ macro was assigned to the

‘Log in’ button of which the condition stated that the related fields in ‘Admin Main Menu’

form should have the matching values ‘AdminID’ and ‘AdminPass’ as its record source

from the ‘Admin Login’ table.

In the ‘Admin Main Menu’ form’s ‘On Open’ properties, the ‘Admin Number not found’

macro was set to check a match with the fields in the ‘Admin Sign in’ form. If no match

were found, the ‘Admin Main Menu’ form would be closed.

4

2.2.2 Admin.’s Menu

Fig 2.2.2.1 Admin Main Menu

‘Open Employee Data’ allowed the examiner to set the type of paper the examinee can

take. ‘Open Employee Results Report’ enabled the examiner to view the list of

examinees who passed or failed the test. ‘Open Question Bank’ lets the examiner add

or edit the exam questions. ‘Set Paper Type and Marks’ was for the examiner to create

a new type of paper and to set the marks for right and wrong answers as well as the

marks required to pass the exam. ‘Open Employee Answer Archive’ made sure the

examiner were able to verify that the examinees get the marks they deserved as their

answers were recorded next to their examination questions.

5

2.3 Admin operations

2.3.1 Assign Examinee Paper

Fig 2.3.1.1 Open Employee Data to set paper type

The examiner could easily filter the records according to their fields and quickly assign

the paper types for that group of examinees by pressing the shortcut keys as displayed

in Fig 2.3.1.1. Clicking on the ‘Show all Records’ button would display all records again.

The examiner could also use the search fields, which would highlight the search result

in the respective fields to find the targeted record quickly.

6

2.3.2 Generate Report

Fig 2.3.2.1 List of Examinee results

There were two ways to create a report. One way was creating the report via report

wizard; the other was setting the data source of the report to the designated query or

table and placing the fields manually.

7

2.3.3 Set Questions

Fig 2.3.3.1 Add and edit Questions

The examiner could add or edit questions with its correct answers. The bottom right of

the form had an option group which inserted an assigned value when the corresponding

radio button was selected into the table with the corresponding field.

8

Fig 2.3.3.2 Option groups

The ‘create option group’ button was clicked and dragged out to the desired size onto

the form. An option group wizard automatically appeared and the parameters were

keyed in to suit the situation.

Fig 2.3.3.3 Inserting pictures into Database

Microsoft Excel would not accept pictures, as the fields did not have the appropriate

ability to store pictures. Microsoft Access 2000 had the ability to accept pictures due to

the availability of the OLE object format.

9

The diagram box was right clicked on and ‘insert object’ was selected. Since this box

was linked to a field in the table whose format was OLE object, it could also accept

video clips. For inserting images, ‘Bitmap Image’ was chosen. With the diagram box still

in edit mode, ‘paste from’ option was selected from the ‘edit’ menu and an image in ‘jpg’

format was selected from a folder.

2.3.4 Set Paper Type

Fig 2.3.4.1 Creating Paper Type

This form allowed the examiner to create a new paper type as well as set the

corresponding fields as shown in Fig 2.3.4.1.

2.3.5 View Examinee answer archive

Fig 2.3.5.1 Answer Archive

This table allowed the examiner to verify examinees grades according to the answers

they gave to the questions they had.

10

2.4 Examinee operations

2.4.1 Confirm Particulars

Fig 2.4.1.1 Employee Particulars

When the examinee logs in, the ‘employee pretest particulars’ form would display all the

particulars of that particular examinee only. This was due to the conditions set in the

‘Open Employee pretest Particulars’ macro. [Emp_no] referred to the text field in the

‘employee pretest particulars’ form and [Text21] referred to the text field in the

‘Employee Sign in’ form. If a matching employee number was not found, the ‘employee

pretest particulars’ form would be closed by the ‘Employee number not found’ macro.

11

Fig 2.4.1.2 Macro to Start Test

When the ‘Start Test’ button was clicked on, the ‘StartTest’ macro would be executed.

The paper would then be set up accordingly with a count down timer. Basically, the

questions would be copied from the ‘Questions’ table to the ‘Employees answer’ table,

then the extra questions would be deleted. After that, the questions would be

randomized for the next examinee.

12

2.4.2 Take Test

Fig 2.4.2.1 Test Paper

In Design View, ‘=Format([Date],"Medium Date")’ was typed in the ‘Date’ field,

‘=[Forms]![Employee pretest particulars]![Text52]’ was typed into the ‘Start Time’ field,

‘=Format(Time(),"Medium Time")’ was typed in the ‘CurrentTime’ field,

‘=DateDiff("n",[Text109],[Text111])’ was typed in the ‘Time Remaining’ field and

‘=DateAdd("h",1,[Text115])’ was typed in the ‘End Time’ field to give the desired results

as seen in Fig 2.4.2.1.

Screen refresh was done every minute since there were no text fields in the form where

user would type for more than a minute. The ‘End Test’ button would take the examinee

to the ‘Confirm End Test’ form. This enabled examinees to be sure that they were ready

to end the test. The option group on the left input data into the ‘ownanswer’ field of the

‘Employees Answer’ table.

13

Fig 2.4.2.2 Macros used in Test Paper

‘GoTo Next Record’ macro was assigned to the ‘Next’ button. This would allow the

message to appear when the last question was reached. The ‘GoTo Previous Record’

macro was assigned to the ‘Previous’ button to prevent an error message from

occurring when the question number ‘0’ was not found. [Text117] referred to the ‘Time

Remaining’.

The ‘CalculateAward’ macro was set in the ‘On Exit’ property of the option group which

belonged to a sub form with record source linked to a table and not a query. Since the

main form’s record source was linked to a query, option groups would not work on the

main form.

14

Fig 2.4.2.3 Queries used in Test Paper

Fig 2.4.2.3 showed an update query used in the ‘Test Paper’ form. Marks were awarded

according to the examinees response to the question.

15

2.4.3 View Results

Fig 2.4.3.1 Confirm End Test Form

The ‘Confirm End’ button was clicked and a ‘Are you sure?’ message box was displayed.

When the ‘Cancel’ button was pressed, the macro would stop. However, if the ‘OK’

button was clicked on, the macro would continue to execute to the next line. The ‘Insert

Score Query’ would sum up the marks and the next two queries would update a pass or

fail status accordingly. Lastly, the result page would be displayed to the examinee.

16

2.5 Security

2.5.1 Direct Question Bank Access

Fig 2.5.1.1 Setting Password Protection

The Question Bank should be password protected so that no examinees could steal the

questions freely. The file had to be opened exclusively first before setting the password

protection.

17

2.5.2 Linked tables

Fig 2.5.2.1 Links to the tables from Question Bank

The links were created so that when the question bank was taken out from the folder,

the AC Holder Test application would not allow anyone to take a test at any point in time.

This would prevent any attempt to hack into the question bank when no administrator

was attending to the application.

18

2.5.3 User application

Fig 2.5.3.1 Altering Startup Procedures

If no user should be allowed to touch any other options or menus while using the

application, the startup option settings should be changed. All check boxes were

unchecked to prevent any alteration to the application by any user. One word of caution

though; there would be no turning back once the options were set and they cannot be

undone as the ‘tools’ menu would disappear. It would be necessary to create a backup

of the application before proceeding with the change.

19

Chapter 3: Incident Reporting System


Employees sometimes discover some problems in the workplace and they need to

inform the proper authorities to solve the problem. Record keeping would be important

for archiving to assist in analytical purposes.

The Incident Reporting System would allow employees to key in any incident that

requires attention and a team would be created to solve the problem. At the end of the

month when the problem is solved, the associated employees would close the incident

case. Incentives would be given to the associated employees and his team for a good

job done.

The administrator would be able to generate open cased and close cased incident

reports via a click of a button. Open cased reports would show which incident is still

being solved. Close cased reports would show the solutions implemented to solve the

problems.

With this system in place, companies could strive to reduce customer complains,

accidents and auditor findings. It would also raise environmental awareness, safer

working conditions as well as preservation of the company’s image.

This chapter discusses the special implementations of the applications and how to

handle them. Its special focus is on the double field technique and the on form

updating/refreshing techniques.

20

3.2 Menus

Fig 3.2.1 Menu items

Administrator would be required to login as employees should not have access to the

reports.

21

3.3 Handling Forms

3.3.1 Enable Data Entry

Fig 3.3.1.1 Enabling Data Entry

Since Microsoft Access 2000 forms immediately register the data into the tables when

the data was keyed into the text field. There were two ways to enable data entry only

when it was required.

Fig 3.3.1.2 Copy Values to Hidden Fields

22

One was to set the property value of the form to enable addition of data when a button

was clicked on. The other was to copy the values from unbound fields to the fields that

linked to the tables that were hidden when a button was clicked on.

3.3.2 Refreshing Forms

Fig 3.3.2.1 Updating Time Close

23

Updating a form on the spot requires some refreshing mechanism. The question was

when to refresh the form. If refreshing of form were done every minute interval, the user

would not have enough time to type a paragraph for more than a minute as the

paragraph would disappear from the text field.

Fig 3.3.2.2 Refreshing Form

Fig 3.3.2.2 showed how the refreshing macro was done. It was set in the ‘after update’

property of the ‘implementations’ text field. After the user clicked on the ‘close incident’

button. The refreshing macro would also be executed.

24

Chapter 4: Library Loans System


Technicians would need to borrow the required technical manuals before they are able

to proceed with their aircraft part repair job.

During the borrowing phase, the Library Loans System would be able to display a list of

manuals being borrowed by the borrower when he keys in his employee number. Next,

he would key in the technical manual number and it would be added to the list.

When the technical manuals were returned to the library, the librarian would key in the

technical manual number into the system. The system would display a list of manuals

returned for that day as verification. If the manuals were not found in the list, there

would be a prompt.

In the past, borrowers would have to write his particulars into a log book of loans every

time he loans a technical manual which would be a hassle when searching for the

record if the need arises. Furthermore, it would be impractical to keep folders of

hardcopy records for archiving as it would be space consuming.

Focus on this chapter would be on the user friendliness design. The application would

allow technicians amateur in using a computer to be able to use the system easily. All

the technicians need to do to borrow technical manuals would be via a click of a mouse

button and using a scanner to scan his employee pass and technical manual barcode.

For returning manuals, a click of a mouse button and scanning of the technical manual

barcode would be required.

25

4.2 New Loan Record

4.2.1 Using Sub Forms

Sub forms were used when they had a different data source from the main form but

have a matching field. For example, an employee borrowed a few books and had to be

displayed as a list on the sub form.

Fig 4.2.1.1 Create a sub form

The method was to link the two forms by Child Fields and Master Fields. These would

be automatically set when dragging a form to the main form. The form that was being

dragged into the main form becomes the sub form. For example, employee number was

matched between the two forms. If the main form displayed that particular employee,

the sub form would show that particular employee previous loan records.

26

4.2.2 Borrower Friendly Design

Fig 4.2.2.1 Create a user friendly design

User friendliness design could be challenging to an extent when users had no training of

how to use the program. However, a little and short instruction should be able to help

users use the program. In Fig 4.2.2.1, ‘Loan Another’ allowed users to loan another

technical manual without having to scan in his employee number again.

Arranging the tab order was the key to involve user friendliness. When the user scan his

employee pass, he would need to scan the technical manual barcode as the cursor

automatically move to the next field.

The unbound field could be hidden from user view and be used as a buffer to store the

employee number for use later on when the user borrows another technical manual.

27

4.2.3 Clean Records

Fig 4.2.3.1 Deleting null values

Borrowers sometimes made a mistake and a blank record as inserted into the table. It

would be necessary to create a macro that cleans up the null data.

4.3 Return of Manual

4.3.1 Design Methods

There were many ways to design this page. One was to allow employees to scan the

technical manual barcode and a confirmation page was displayed. However, with the

confirmation page, it was not sufficient enough to inform the user that the technical

manual was returned. As such, a list of returned manuals for him would be displayed to

the user instead.

28

Fig 4.3.1.1 Design of return technical manual page

Since the standard way of returning books to a library was that the borrower only

needed to return the books to the counter. A displayed list of returned technical manuals

for the day would be sufficient for the librarian, as the borrower’s pass was not needed

to return books.

29

Chapter 5: Roster Database System


It is important to have all employee details to be kept into a database for generating

several other databases that serve different purposes. This main database should be

closely guarded to prevent confidential data from being leaked out but at the same time,

allowing data to be updated to several other databases that share the same information.

For example, the Library Loans System and the AC Holder Test required some of the

employee’s details. If there were any update in the main database (Roster Database

System), all other databases would need to automatically share the same update.

Manually changing all other databases’ data would be a hassle and would not be

practical. However, this would also mean a risk in confidential data being leaked out due

to the existence of separate departments with no proper authorization.

One solution would be to get the employee’s consent for their data to be used across

databases owned by other departments so they would not need to always provide their

particulars every time.

The administrator would be able to key in all particulars of an employee and generate all

kinds of reports, with data categorized or grouped, for all employees as well as for

individual employees.

This chapter would focus on the different types of report generation styles and

techniques, each for a different purpose.

30

5.2 Report Viewing Methods

5.2.1 Order by

Fig 5.2.1.1 Preparing a ‘Order by’ Report

Firstly, the query was created first to give the result output list with the ascending stamp

number set. Next, the report was created with the result query as the data source. In the

third step, the macro was created to allow the report to be opened when being activated.

Lastly, the ‘On Click’ property of the created button was set to run the selected macro

when the button was clicked.

31

5.2.2 Group by

Fig 5.2.2.1 Preparing a ‘Group by’ Report

Sometimes, a report would be needed based on a particular category, say ‘Electrical

Dept’ for example. On the form, a combo box would need to be created. The drop list

would contain the different departments to select from.

The ‘On Click’ property of the button was set with a macro to make the combo box

appear when the button was clicked and disappear when the button was clicked again.

This function might prove useful to prevent the screen from filling up with too many

things at one go.

32

Fig 5.2.2.2 Macros to prepare for the ‘Group by’ Report

Fig 5.2.2.2 showed how the macros were created. For the top macro, visibility was set

to true for the combo box with the condition that its visibility status was false and the

macros would be stopped. If the combo box visibility status were initially true, then the

visibility of the combo box would be set to false.

The bottom macro in Fig 5.2.2.2 would open the report with the condition that the results

shown in the report would be the records with the selected department from the combo

box.

33

5.2.3 Search by

Fig 5.2.3.1 Preparing a ‘Search by’ Report

A list of data could be tedious to key into the combo box. As such, the list of data could

be extracted from the table. The figure numbered ‘1’ in Fig 5.2.3.1 showed that the row

source type selected was ‘Table/Query’ and the row source field was ‘SELECT

Roster.Stamp_no FROM Roster ORDER BY Roster.Stamp_no;’. However, this

appeared only after the button with the three dots was clicked on and some query

settings were made as shown in the figure numbered ‘2’ in Fig 5.2.3.1.

34

5.3 Keeping track of Last Update

Fig 5.3.1 Updating Last Update

When the ‘Save Record’ button was clicked on, it would activate a macro to execute the

‘Update Last Update Query’ query. This in turn would update the date in a table and

would be used at the bottom of the report where its data source would be taken from a

query; in this case it was the ‘Roster Category Query sort by Stamp’.

35

Chapter 6: Approved Certified Holder Database System


All technicians would have a long career path ahead of them. Therefore, they would

want to have some form of job security and self achievement. In order to sustain their

position, they would need to undergo training. As such, it would be important to plan

their training schedule to upgrade their skills for more important and tougher jobs.

Keeping track of all personnel qualifications and their training progress could be quite a

tedious task. This system would be able to automatically execute these tasks and

prompt the administrator accordingly.

The administrator would key in the required employees’ particulars and the system

would operate automatically to assign employees to their training program and to keep

track of their progress. This system would also allow the administrator to check expiry of

an employee’s certification or quarantine employees to disband them from training

temporarily. At the end of the year, the administrator would generate the reports via a

click of the button.

At the moment in time though, the Training Database System was not integrated with

the AC Holder Database System as they were both situated in different departments

and not authorized to be integrated with each other yet. The Training Database System

would keep track of employee’s training program. The AC Holder Database System

would keep track of employee’s certifications.

This chapter focuses on the manipulation of a single record and the prompting when an

expiry date is reached.

36

6.2 Manipulating Records

6.3.1 Deleting Single Record

On a form, every entry would sometimes need to be individually deleted.

Fig 6.3.1.1 Snap shot of a form with many entries

A button should be created on the form at each record at design level.

Fig 6.3.1.2 Setting button properties in design view

A macro was assigned to the button’s ‘On Click’ property.

37

Fig 6.3.1.3 Creating the delete macro

Fig 6.3.1.3 showed how the delete macro was created. The record was selected first

and then deleted.

6.3.2 Detecting overdue and prompting

Fig 6.3.2.1 Query Design using totals

A query was created to count the number of employees who were in the ‘stpExpDate’

query table of which ‘no. of days to expiry’ was 0 or less. The query result returned a

value, which would be use for detection purpose.

38

Fig 6.3.2.2 Creating forms with Query as Data source

The form’s data source pointed to the query ‘CountOfExpiringStamps’ was created so

the macro would be able to detect the name of the text field ‘CountOfstpNo’.

Fig 6.3.2.3 Creating macro to detect expiry and prompt

This macro was set in the ‘On Load’ property in the main form. When the macro was

activated. ‘CountOfExpiringStamps’ form was loaded carrying a value in the text field

named ‘CountOfstpNo’. A message box would prompt ‘Expiry of Stamps Detected’

when condition of ‘[CountOfstpNo]>0’ was met. The form was then closed without being

opened as the macro was not set in the ‘On Open’ property in the main form.

39

Chapter 7: Swift Database System


A price gauge would be needed to charge the customers for aircraft parts repair. Swift

Database System would serve that purpose of quoting a perfect price for the customer

to pay for the repair service. This System was done using Microsoft Excel.

Lots of relevant data were to be gathered to justify the price. Statistics were generated

in the form of pivot tables to decide the charging price. As such, bouncing related fields

across tables, conjuring up formulas in fields and automatic generation of the pivot

tables were required for results to process efficiently.

The technician would need to key in the data into certain fields and buttons would need

to be created so when they are being clicked on, it would activate certain macros.

Macros in excel were different from the macros used in Microsoft Access 2000. In Excel,

macros would require record of your actions whereas in Access, the appropriate

functions would need to be chosen with the mouse.

Although this system can be done by Microsoft Access 2000, the employees were

already used to using Microsoft Excel. It would take quite a period of time and some

difficulty to train all employees in Microsoft Access 2000 as some employees are either

too busy with their current work load or simply unreceptive to differences from their

current practices.

This chapter concentrates on the VLookUp techniques for bouncing purposes, the

recording and activation of macros and certain formulas to manipulate data in fields.

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7.2 Functions

7.2.1 VLookUp

VLookUp in Microsoft Excel was used to match data between two or more fields.

Fig 7.2.1.1 Example of VLookUp

Fig 7.2.1.1 showed two tables consisting of 3 columns each. The first columns of each

table were the list of inventory. The second column was all ‘ yes’ data for the VLookUp

field to copy the data from when there was a match.

The two tables were bounced against each other for matched data. The third column

consisted of VLookUp fields where the VLookUp formula resided. A ‘yes’ indicated a

match was found whereas a ‘N/A’ indicated a no match found.

41

Fig 7.2.1.2 Example of Setting up VLookUp

Look up value was E2, which meant the data in column E, row 2 was to be matched

with table array A1: B5. In the table array field, ‘A1: B5’ meant ‘from column A, row 1 to

column B, row 5’. A1: B5 could be replaced by A: B, which meant column A and B.

Column index was 2, which indicated the corresponding value of the field in column 2 of

the table array would be copied to the G2 field when there was a match. Explanation of

range lookup was as described on Fig 7.2.1.2.

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7.2.2 Recording Macros

To create a macro in Excel, the only way would be to record a macro.

Fig 7.2.2.1 Record a Macro

After a task has been completed (for example, the deletion of a pivot table), stop

recording the macro and save the macro. This macro could be later assigned to a

custom created button or assigned immediately to a shortcut key.

As the user’s actions were recorded, Excel interpreted them into Visual Basic codes.

However, there was one downside of this function. When I assigned the macro to a

button created on a worksheet, actions that were required on another worksheet to

delete a pivot table would not work out and an error message was prompted.

43

7.2.3 Removing Spaces and Dashes in the Data

It was sometimes difficult to manipulate the data in the field to a certain format. When

there was no option for these special formatting, there would be a need to use formulas

and techniques.

Removing spaces

The method to remove all spaces in any fields was to highlight the selected fields and

press ‘ctrl-h’ (find and replace function). Fill in the ‘Find’ field with a spacebar and do not

fill anything in the ‘Replace’ field.

For example, before executing the method, the data in the field was ‘a b c’. After

executing the method, the data in the field was ‘abc’. This would be a better method

than going through field by field to remove the space in between letters.

Removing Dashes

The formula for removing any numbers after the dash was:

=IF(LEN(A:A)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A:A,”-“,””))>0,LEFT(A:A,FIND(“*”,SUBSTITUTE(A:A,”-“,”*”,LEN(A:A)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A:A,”-

“,””))))-1),A:A)

LEN( ) returned the length of the data in the field. SUBSTITUTE(A: A, “-”,””) substituted

“-” with “” from column A to column A. LEFT(‘X’, ‘Y’) returned ‘Y’ number of letters from

the word ‘X’ starting from the left.

For example, a field in column A contained the data ‘456-789’. A field in column B

contained the formula and the result of ‘456’ was displayed.

44

7.2.4 Pivot Tables

Fig 7.2.4.1 Example of a Pivot Table

A pivot table could count the number of times a data from a field appeared

corresponding to the data from another field. It could also show sum or average.

Fig 7.2.4.2 Procedure to create Pivot Table

Fields from the table were selected for display on the Pivot Table as shown in Fig

7.2.4.2.

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7.2.5 Siphoning Data from Commas

Fig 7.2.5.1 Text to Columns Function

The fixed width option allowed dividing the data where as the user wishes. The

delimited option allowed dividing the data only at specific places as shown in Fig 7.2.5.1.

47

Chapter 8: Inventory Bouncing System


Inventory checking was one of the frequented triggered jobs in the company. It was a

practice where two or more lists of data were bounced against each other for a list of

unmatched data. For example, a list of missing technical manuals was needed to be

generated for a report and this would be done by bouncing the system’s inventory

against the existing physical inventory.

Microsoft Access 2000 was the program to use to serve this purpose perfectly. Besides

using Microsoft Access 2000 to execute this job, this exercise could be done by

Microsoft Excel’s VLookUp function too.

Although Microsoft Excel’s VLookUp allowed inventory bouncing, achieving the output

result required some extra setup with the VLookUp and filtering function every time. The

result produced was not the same as the Microsoft Access 2000 inventory bouncing

method where a list of unmatched data was generated by the Unmatched Query

function.

Sometimes, looking for similarities between two or more lists of data would be required.

As such, executing the matched query would be appropriate in this case. In Microsoft

Access 2000, executing the unmatched query would be required for the second time.

For Example, between the system’s inventory and the missing technical manual’s list.

This chapter explains how to execute inventory bouncing using Microsoft Access 2000.

The focus would be on the theory, finding unmatched and matched query.

48

8.2 How it works

8.2.1 Theory and Example

Let us use an example of library inventory check.

Fig 8.2.1.1 Venn Diagram of Inventory Bouncing

‘System’s Library Inventory’ referred to the technical manuals that were registered into

the system. ‘Scanned Library Inventory’ referred to the physical technical manuals on

the shelves that were scanned into an excel file. When the ‘System’s Library Inventory’

was bounced against ‘Scanned Library Inventory’ using the ‘Find Unmatched Query’ in

Microsoft Access 2000, the result list produced was the area marked ‘Missing Library

Inventory’ as shown in Fig 8.2.1.1.

When ‘Scanned Library Inventory’ was bounced against ‘System’s Library Inventory’

using the ‘Find Unmatched Query’ in Microsoft Access 2000, the result list produced

was the area marked ‘Scanned Library Inventory not registered in System’. To attain the

result of the area marked ‘Not Missing Library Inventory’, ‘System’s Library Inventory’

was bounced against ‘Missing Library Inventory’ using the ‘Find Unmatched Query’ in

Microsoft Access 2000.

49

8.2.2 Finding Unmatched Inventory

Fig 8.2.2.1 Importing External Data

The first step was to import the two tables from excel as the employees were used to

keying data into excel. When the tables were imported, it was essential that the first row

contained the names of the fields for convenience in the bouncing process.

Fig 8.2.2.2 Creating Find Unmatched Query

When executing the ‘Find Unmatched Query’, the first table selected would be bounced

against the selected second table with at least one matching field.

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Fig 8.2.2.3 Example Table Results of Inventory Bouncing

The top two tables in Fig 8.2.2.3 were bounced against one another two produce two

different resulting query tables as shown at the bottom in Fig 8.2.2.3.

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Chapter 9: Summary and Conclusion

9.1 Summary

Each of these applications we have covered so far were created using Microsoft Access

2000. Microsoft Excel could be used together with Microsoft Access to complement

each other’s functionality.

AC Holder Test allowed technicians to sit for their test electronically. The system would

automatically generate the papers, mark the papers and generate the results report.

Furthermore, the AC Holder Database System kept track of the trainee’s training

progress and their qualifications.

Library Loans System kept track of the loaning out of technical manuals as technicians

borrow and return them to the library. The Inventory Bouncing System made sure that

missing technical manuals would be located and returned to its rightful location.

Incident Reporting System allowed employees to highlight any incidents that require

attention discovered in the surrounding environment and build a team to solve them.

Lastly, the Swift Database System helped to determine the quoting price for a customer.

Database Systems that had an employee table was linked to the Roster Database

System’s employee table which contained all employee data. We had also looked into

the important uses of macros and queries that drive the application processes. The

security features that the Microsoft Access 2000 had were also implemented to prevent

accidental modification to the database system.

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9.2 Conclusion

We have seen the usefulness of Microsoft Access 2000. There is no doubt future

programs like this would be more efficient.

It is possible to create applications like an Online Test with Microsoft Access 2000.

Examinees take the test from different computers and their answers as well as scores

are archived into the database file in another part of the network.

Macros and queries play a big part of the process which drives the application. As such,

an application like an Online Test can be built solely on the use of Macros with no need

to write lots of long codes.

However, if the need arises to convert the Macros to codes, Microsoft Access 2000 can

fulfill this function. Moreover, the software is built by the Visual Basic programming

language. This would allow the application to be integrated with other programs

whenever required.

Applications such as the Online Test allow many man hours to be saved. In the past,

examiners would have to manually prepare the paper questions, mark paper by paper

and tabulate reports. With the present technology, generating random questions for

each individual, automatic marking and report generation with a click of a button is

nothing more of a mere hassle.

The future does not stop here. Newer and more powerful programs would allow

commoners to program their own applications with greater ease than before.

53

References

Books

Microsoft Access 2000 – T.T. Flynn

Access Macros & Switchboards - Wayne Wilmeth

Microsoft Excel 2000 – Philip A. Koneman

Websites

Microsoft Access Database Programming - http://www.blueclaw-db.com/

Access Macros & Database Utilities - http://oit.wvu.edu/training/classmat/db/

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