New to Access

[Chris Watson]

Hi all
I am a LGV Driver & like a growing number of LGV Drivers we use laptops for eg: Route Planning,GPS & DVD etc.
I am trying to put together a daily & weekly diary/timesheet database.
I have used excel for a basic daily & weekly diary/timesheet but the formulas seem to be differant in access.
I would preffer to use access as I think, after viewing the demo templets gives a better finished database.
Basicley what im wanting to start with is: how do i enter a formula in access & what would be the formula for: start time - finish time - 30mins, in excel I used A1-B1-1/48 & it worked fine.
I have created a table including start time, finish time & total time which is where I want to calculate the result, I have formated these three cells as Date/Time and tryed a formula in expressions builder but it hasn't worked.
Can anybody help please.
Chris

 

[Mile-O]

Basicley what im wanting to start with is: how do i enter a formula in access & what would be the formula for: start time - finish time - 30mins, in excel I used A1-B1-1/48 & it worked fine.

Stop right there. The first thing you have to realise is that Access is NOTHING like Excel. If it simply did what you have tried then they would just have called it Excel and saved themselves the bother of creating Access.

Before you run on with formulas, forms, and whatever else the most important thing to think about is your database's table structure - otherwise there's no point in continuing. Getting your structure down first will give you an easier ride going forward, less "re-working", and easily adaptable.

The concept is database normalisation and begins with understanding why we normalise. Then it's understanding the normal forms of database design. Up to Third Normal Form (3NF) is a good enough standard. Most beginners can't get past the First because they just dive into Access not understanding how to use it. So, I'm telling you now: tread carefully.

The idea is to split your components down into separate entities and award them different tables.

Do a search on normalisation, the normal forms on both this site and Google. Both have a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Navyguy]

This is interesting, I just came up with the same understanding that you just posted. Chris please take Mile’s advice, learn about normalization as early as possible, I believe it is critical and there are tons of smarter people in this forum that have told me it is critical. Of course what I have also just learned is that you need a pretty good working knowledge of Access to apply the principles of normalization. Kinda like getting stuck in a traffic circle

Navyguy

 

[Mile-O]

I think the most important thing is for you to start using Access and enjoy it.

That's all fair and well but Chris has talked about building a database application and not experimenting. That is not up for "playing about with" and "learning" but should be made properly.

By all means experiment with basic examples but don't play about with the notion of the database one intends to build.