Access® 2007 For Dummies®

Chapter 21. Hello! Creating an Interface to Welcome Data Users

In This Chapter

• Plugging into a switchboard

• Testing your switchboard

• Keeping the switchboard running smoothly

• Opening a database to the switchboard

If you plan for others to use your database, you may want to provide them with navigation tools so that they can easily find their way around your database (especially if they know nothing about Access). You might even want this luxury for yourself. It's much easier to move around a database with a menu system in place. Fortunately, the Switchboard Manager makes it easy to build such a system. Why it's not called the Menu Manager I'll never know, but for some reason, Microsoft likes the word switchboard — so switchboard it is! This chapter explains all there is to know about making your database user friendly via the Switchboard Manager.

To see a switchboard in action, download the sample files at http://www.dummies.com/go/access2007 Open the file Access 2007 Dummies.accdb and open the form Switchboard.

The Comings and Goings of a Switchboard

Before you create your switchboard, take a few minutes to plan out your database navigation. How do you want you and your users to navigate to the various forms and reports you've created?

• If you have a simple database with a few data entry forms and several reports, it might be best to have a switchboard for the data entry forms and a switchboard for the reports.

• If your database is more complex, you may need to break the forms and reports into ...