Created by Patricia Janann Nicholson Adapted by Beth Meyer You are a detective assigned to the robbery division. You will use the Microsoft Access to help solve two mysteries. You will be given a collection of information about suspects that you will include in the database, and it is your job to search the database to find out who the criminal really is. The same database will be used for both mysteries. First: copy More Mystery Access Data.xlsx from the shared drive to your H:\ drive (if necessary don t all try to copy at the same time). You will append this file to your database. Second: Create the database in your Access folder. Directions: Open Access (Go to start, choose programs, Microsoft Office and then Microsoft Access). This will appear at the right side of the Access Window, click on the folder to locate your Access folder on your H:\ drive then type the filename: Your first name, last initial dash Mystery it should look something like this (JohnS-Mystery). Then click on Create. 1
Click on View button and select Design View. In the Save As box name the table with your Firstname and Last initial dash Suspect Info (ie JohnS-Suspect Info). Make sure this is Yes/No Type the above information in the Table in its appropriate location. (Click OK on error message) When you ve completed typing in the field names, right click on the ID field and delete the row. Click on the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar. Take Screenshot of the table structure, paste in Word, add a header with your name, period, Access Mystery. Save as: LastName Firstname Access Mystery P#.docx. Close the table by clicking on the X shown below. Do not close Access program: Click in this box to close 2
Designing a Form: Now you will design a Form for entering information into the table. Click on the Create tab and choose Form Wizard from the Forms group. Select all of the fields by clicking the button with two arrows, circled below. You will see that all the fields automatically appear in the right column. Before clicking the double arrow After clicking the double arrow Click next. Select the Columnar layout Click Next, Title your form Suspect Info. Click Finish This is a sample of a form you will begin typing in the suspect s information into the form. Enter the following information about each of the suspects using the form. Use the Tab key to move from field to field and to the next record. If your Suspect wears glasses you have to use your mouse to check the box next to the field name Glasses (Here is an example of the first record using the form). 3
Record navigation buttons Name Gender Hair Eyes Height Build Glasses Mary Belle Female Purple Green Short Small Yes Anne Ville Female Black Brown Short Medium No Kitty Litter Female Black Brown Short Small No Chris Ko Female Black Brown Tall Small No Ethyl Gass Female Black Green Average Medium Yes Bea Gone Female Blonde Blue Short Small No Cora Gated Female Blonde Blue Short Small Yes Starr Lett Female Blonde Blue Tall Small No Carrie Meback Female Blonde Blue Tall Small Yes Terry Cloth Female Brown Blue Short Large Yes Penny Loafer Female Brown Brown Average Medium No Save your file and close the table and the form by clicking on the small black X to the right of the tabs. Importing Data Data can be imported into Access from other types of files. We will import the remaining data from an Excel file. Go to the External Data tab, choose Excel in the Import & Link group. Browse to the file named More Access Data.xlsx that you copied to your H:\ drive. Click on the radio button next to Append a copy of the records to the table: and make sure your table is selected (seen as below). 4
Click on OK. The Import Spreadsheet Wizard will pop up. Click on Finish the wizard will take care of the rest. Then click on Close. Double-click on the table in the left Navigation pane. Make sure you have 41 records. Then Close the table, but not Access You should be able to see your table and form at the left in the Navigation pane. 5
Queries You will now generate queries in order to determine who the actual thief is. A query is a set of criteria you specify to retrieve certain data from a database. First, you will need to determine the fields you will need to use. Read Mystery Number 1 below; then follow the directions for completing a query. You will then use the same Database to Solve the Second Mystery. Mystery 1: It was a dark and stormy night. You had just gotten to sleep when the phone woke you with it s rendition of Take me out to the ball game. At the other end was Chief Ketchem. The chief told you a burglary had just been committed at Mrs. Rich's house and that only you would be able to solve the mystery. Upon arrival at Mrs. Rich's house, you began interviewing everyone in the household. While talking to Mrs. Rich and her servants you learned the following information about the suspect. 1. Mrs. Rich said, "The thief must have worn glasses. I found a bottle of lens cleaner near the safe. 2. The maid stated, "I found some brown hair on the windowsill where the thief entered. Does that help?" 3. The gardener asked, "Could it have been that short person I saw running toward the gate?" 4. "I'm sure it was a woman," piped in Jeeves the butler. "and I noticed she was small like the gardener said." 5. The cook added, "I'll never forget those cold green eyes! She was very scary." Thanking Mrs. Rich and her servants for the clues you headed back to your office. On the drive you decided to use your database to narrow the possible suspects. But, in order to do this you needed to create a query that will pull out the most likely suspect. Follow the steps below to create your query. 6
Creating a Query: Click on the Create tab and then Query Design in the Queries group. Choose the Suspects table; then Add, then Close. Refer back to the clues on page 6 to decide what fields you need to add to your query grid. Doubleclick on the fields that you want included in the query (all of them). You will need to type the clues into the Criteria area of each field. The first clue is shown below: Now fill in the other clues in the proper Criteria areas of each field. When you have completed entering the suspects criteria click on the (Run) button and notice which suspect comes up. Click on the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar. Take a Screenshot of the query, paste it in Word below the first screenshot. Re-save the Word document. Close the query and Save as: Mystery Query1 Yourlastname 7
Creating A Report The police chief wants a report of all the suspects for future reference. Use your Access database table and create a report containing all suspects. Go to the Create Tab and choose Report Wizard from the Reports group. Make sure the Table is selected. Make sure the table is selected here Select the double arrows to get all the fields Then click on the Next button. Don t add any grouping levels, click on Next. Sort in Ascending order by Name, click on Next. Choose Tabular, Landscape and then click on Next. Title your report Major Crimes Suspect List and click on Finish. 8
Your report will open in Print Preview. Notice any fields that are incomplete and need to be edited. You need to go to the report s design view to fix it. Close Print Preview This takes you to Report View. To change the structure of the report, you have to switch to Design View, go to the Views button on the Home Tab and choose Design View. Add your name to the Report Header to the right of the title (double-click in title and add name). Stretch or shrink fields if needed. Move boxes if needed so all fields are showing. Remember when moving, to move both the box in Page Header and Details sections at the same time. (Shift+Click) Click on the View button and click on Report View Your report should look similar to the report below. You will have two pages. Click on the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar. Take a Screenshot of the report. Paste it in the Word document below the second screenshot. Re-save the Word document. 9
Mystery Database: Case #2 Using the scenario below, create a new Query. (Make sure you are using the table for your data). Using Design View of your query, enter the clues given below into the criteria section and then RUN the Query. Click on the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar. Take a Screenshot of the query 2. Paste it in the Word document below the third screenshot. Re-save the Word document. Close the query and save it as: Mystery Query 2 YourLastname No longer had you solved that case, another burglary case was called in. You were ordered by Chief Ketchum to go to Mrs. Elite s home because the chief knew that you would be able to solve the crime with your Microsoft Access database. Upon arrival at Mrs. Elite's house, you began interviewing everyone in the household. While talking to Mrs. Elite and her servants you learned the following information about the suspect. 1. Mrs. Elite said, "The thief must have been short. There was a chair under the wall safe with muddy footprints on it." 2. The maid stated, "I found some blonde hair on the green rug where the thief entered. Does that help?" 3. The gardener asked, "Could it have been that large person I saw running toward the gate?" 4. "I'm sure it was a man," piped in Alfred the butler. "And I noticed he was large like the gardener said." 5. The cook added, "I'll never forget those cold blue eyes, but I only saw them briefly before he put on his glasses." With that, you rose and excused yourself saying, "Thank you, you have all been very helpful. I'll go back to the station and check these clues against the list of suspects in the police files. I'm sure that I will solve this crime in no time." Student Dropbox You should have four Screenshots in the LastName Firstname Access Mystery P#.docx file. Size the four Screenshots so there are two on each page. Make sure I can still read the information. Copy the Word document into the student dropbox. There is NOT a grading sheet for this assignment. 10