Access® 2010 Bible

Chapter 4. Selecting Data with Queries

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Understanding what queries are and what they can do for you

• Creating queries

• Specifying the fields in a query

• Displaying a query's results

• Adding and removing fields from a query's design

• Sorting a query's results

• Filtering records returned by a query

• Printing records returned by a query

• Saving a query

• Including more than one table in a query

• Adding, deleting, and moving tables in a query

• Joining tables in a query's design

• Understanding the options for joining tables in a query

Queries are an essential part of any database application. Queries are the tools that enable you and your users to extract data from multiple tables, combine it in useful ways, and present it to the user as a datasheet, on a form, or as a printed report.

You may have heard the old cliché, "Queries convert data to information." To a certain extent, this statement is true — that's why it's a cliché. The data contained within tables is not particularly useful because, for the most part, the data in tables appears in no particular order. Also, in a properly normalized database, important information is spread out among a number of different tables. Queries are what draw these various data sources together and present the combined information in such a way that users can actually work with the data.

In this chapter, you learn how to create and enhance queries. Using the Sales (tblSales), Customers (tblCustomers), Contacts (tblContacts), Sales Line Items (tblSalesLineItems ...