Page 134 - Computing E-Book Grade 6

The City School 2021-2022

5.3. Datatypes in MS Access

Every field in a table has properties. Properties define the field’s characteristics and
behaviour. The most important property for a field is its data type. A field’s data type

determines what kind of data it can store. MS Access supports different types of data,
each with a specific purpose. Here are some of the most common data types you will

find used in a typical Microsoft Access database.

Types of Data Description
Short Text Text or combinations of text and numbers, including numbers
that do not require calculating (e.g. phone numbers).

Long Text Lengthy text or combinations of text and numbers.
Number Numeric data used in mathematical calculations.

Date/Time Date and time values for the years 100 through 9999.

Currency Currency values and numeric data used in mathematical cal-
culations involving data with one to four decimal places.

AutoNumber A unique sequential (incremented by 1) number or random
number assigned by Microsoft Access whenever a new record
is added to a table.

Yes/No Yes and No values and fields that contain only one of two val-
ues (Yes/No, True/False, or On/Off).

5.4. Creating Database in MS Access

Follow the steps below to create your first database in MS Access:

1. To create a database from a template, we first

need to open MS Access.
2. Select Blank Database. Enter the name and click

the Create button.
3. Access will create a new blank database and will

open up the table which is also completely blank.
4. After selecting a template related to your

requirements, enter a name in the File name
field and you can also specify another location

for your file if you want and save it with your
relevant name.

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