Simple way to write functions

F

fmladineo

Is there a simple way to write functions in Access 2003? I am a
computer support person in my HR dept and one of the secretary's wants
to modify the access db that she is using. This is perfectly fine,
except she's not very knowledgeable about coding... So, is there a way
that she can create functions without having to code much? I saw the
expression builder, but that doesn't seem to create functions...

I, myself, am fairly new to Access, so I'm not sure how to direct her.
I can write the code for the functions, but before I do that, I want to
know if there's a simple way for me to teach her how to do it herself
(w/o having to teach her VB)?

Thanks,

Fernando
 
A

Albert D.Kallal

You can certainly place a control on a form, and inside of the control put a
expression.


=([TotalBill] - [TotalPaid])

The above expression would thus give you a balance for a invoice. the
problem here is that you likely don't have a field called TotalBill, and in
fact that "total bill" needs to be query, or command that pulls the correct
data form a table. So, you can learn to write expressions/functions very
easy, but they tend not to be much use like they are in Excel. With excel,
you are not using a database, and can thus enter functions that are very
useful.


When you move to a relational database, then you have to throw out the Excel
"sheet" mentality, and start thinking in terms of a database, and uses sql
on records to get the same results.

So, the problem here is yes, you can write expressions and use functions on
a form, but my bets are the person is asking the question in the same light
as Excel, and Excel and ms-access is like comparing applies and oranges.
They are very different products.

So, you can write expressions/functions, and place them on a text box in a
form, but you still have to have a understanding of database concepts for
these expressions to be of any use.
 
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