Constructing a form for tracking student attendance

[KhaledDK]

I'm trying to develop an application for tracking student attendence. I want
to list the students names for a class at one side (left side) and a grid for
inserting the student status (present, absent, late etc.) to the right. The
grid cells contain combo boxes to assign the status for the student. The grid
column headers contain dates from 1 to 31. The form should look like this:
Class Month
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day1 Day2 Day3 Day4 Day5 Day6 Day7
.....DayN(28/29/30/31)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
...... 28/29/30/31
StudentName1 Cbo1 Cbo2 CboN
StudentName2
StudentName3
..
..
StudentNameN
Class is a combo box for choosing a particular class
Month is a combo box for choosing a particular month
CboN is a combo box containing the status types (Present, Absent, Late, etc.)
I really need tips, ideas, examples, readings, refernces for building this
application. Every information will be wellcome and appreciated.
I have basic / medium knowlodege about access.
Thanks very much

 

[mscertified]

First you create a data model and from that you create tables to hold your
data.
You normalize the tables to eliminate repeated data. You then relate the
tables to ensure data integrity.
From these tables, you then build forms to update and manipulate the data in
the tables.
Access Help is the resource to build the forms and the logic for form
handling.

Dorian

 

[KhaledDK]

Thanks for the rapid answer.
Can you give me more information about how to create a "data model".I have
never met such an object in access 2003. Notice that i don't have the
developer version of access. Can you kindly support me with more specific
information about which tables I should create?

"mscertified" skrev:

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

Data model is a concept rather than an object. It is used to describe the
tables and their relationships in your solution. The simplist way is to draw
the tables and their relationships on a piece of paper.

For your case, you need at least three tables:
1) student table - contains information about the students and a key to
identify the student.
2) class table - contains information about the classes anda key to identify
the class
3) attendance table - contains information about attendance with references
back to the student and class tables.

The attendance table can contain an entry whch represents the attendance for
each student in each class. The attendance table could also have a record
for a week's attendance.

John... Visio MVP

Need stencils or ideas? http://www.mvps.org/visio/3rdparty.htm
Need VBA examples? http://www.mvps.org/visio/VBA.htm
Common Visio Questions http://www.mvps.org/visio/common_questions.htm
Visio Wishlist http://www.mvps.org/visio/wish_list.htm

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

If that's all that is required, then that is all that is needed. There is no
point in making the situation more complicated than necessary.

John... Visio MVP

 

[KhaledDK]

Thanks a lot for all the good tips
To Fred...
The Excel attendance template is a very good example for tracking attendance
for one student at a time. What I need as I mentioned before is tracking
attendance for a whole class. The students names should be listed in one
column at the left side and the days (for whole a particular month) listed on
the other side. So, the template doesn't really match my needs. Please refer
to my question at the start to understand what the application should do. If
you want I can send you a formate of how the form should look like. And I
hope you have more good ideas and tips to solve my problem.

"Fred Boer" skrev:

 

[KhaledDK]

Thanks a lot for the good tips...
To John
My big problem is how to make the grid (spreadsheet or datasheet) where I
can assign the attendance for each student. The grid should have a column for
every day in a month with dates as column headers. I hope you understand my
needs more and can supply me with more tips and ideas. If you want I can send
you a format of how I imagine the form should look like.

"John Marshall, MVP" skrev:

 

[Fred Boer]

Dear KhaledDK:

You are getting good advice, but you might also want to check out some of
the Access and Excel templates Microsoft has made available...

For example, here is an Excel attendance template:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC061893751033.aspx?CategoryID=CT063457401033

And a classroom management template:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010184071033.aspx

And a bunch of other Education related templates:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT061993301033.aspx

HTH
Fred Boer

P.S. What am I thinking?! An Excel template!! ...Hope nobody notices...

 

[Fred Boer]

Dear Khaled:

Well, I wasn't really trying to give you exactly what you were asking for;
it was rather more intended to provide something more along the lines of
"tips, ideas, examples, readings, refernces..". If you really want to
develop something useful, I'd recommend that you review the table structure
that was suggested by John. Once you have correctly normalized tables, you
can begin to think about forms.

Good Luck!
Fred

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

If you are working on this a month at a time, though not politically correct
(normalized), you could create a single record that represents an
individual's attendance for the month.

John... Visio MVP