810 Chapter 26 Create Databases and Simple Tables
The Field Properties area at the bottom of the design page displays the properties of the
field selected in the top part. Different properties are associated with different data
types. They can determine such things as the number of characters allowed in a field,
the value inserted if the user doesn't type an entry, and whether an entry is required.
Properties can also assess whether an entry is valid and can force the user to select
from a list of values rather than typing them (with the risk of errors).
All fields, no matter what their data type, can be assigned a Caption property that will
appear in the place of the field name in tables or in other database objects. For example,
you might want to use captions to display the names of fields with spaces, such as First
Name for the FirstName field.
See Also For a comprehensive list of data types and properties, search on data types in
Access Help.
In this exercise, you’ll open a table in Design view, add and delete fields, change a data
type, set field sizes, and add a caption.SET UP You need the MyTables database you worked with in the preceding exercise
to complete this exercise. Open the MyTables database, and then follow the steps.- In the Navigation pane, right-click the Employees table, and then click Design
View.
Access opens the table with its structure displayed. Because you created this table
by copying the Customers table, you need to make some structural changes. - With CustomerID highlighted in the Field Name column, type EmployeeID, and
then press the Tab key twice. - In the Description column, type Unique identifying number.
- Click the Country field’s selector, and then on the Design contextual tab, in the
Tools group, click the Delete Rows button. - In the empty row below the Phone field, click the Field Name cell, and type
Birthdate. Then click the Data Type cell.
Access assigns the default Text data type to the new field. - Click the arrow at the right end of the Data Type cell, and in the list, click
Date/Time. - Repeat steps 5 and 6 to add another Date/Time field named DateHired.