Category: Database Design

Combo boxes are extremely useful in Microsoft Access and other design environments. They provide a compact control from which your users can access a drop-down menu that enables them to choose from a variety of options. In my applications, combo boxes often pull their rows from lookup tables such...

In my latest video, I go into more detail about Microsoft Access report settings. This video is also an addition to my tutorial series, Managing Your Data with Microsoft Access which you can find through my Teachable site and on Udemy.com. Microsoft Access has always been known for having...

My new course, Managing Your Data with Microsoft Access is now live! Please take some time to check out the free sample videos. If you sign up early, you’ll get lifetime access to all video content and resources PLUS all future content as I continue to add to the...

A New Challenge for Access I designed a Microsoft Access database for one of my clients and it’s split into two files – a front-end file with all the forms, reports and code and a back-end file with the tables. That’s pretty standard. During the development process, I needed...

My new series of YouTube videos is an introduction to Microsoft Access for absolute beginners who have never used Access before. If you are in the position of needing to learn Access fast or are curious about what you can do with Microsoft’s desktop database software, this series will...

One of the fundamental differences between an Excel spreadsheet and a Microsoft Access or SQL Server database is the database’s ability to group data by subject into tables and create links between that information.  This type of organization enables the user to store large amounts of data and retrieve...

One of the great things about MySQL and MariaDB are their versatility of installation. They can be setup as a Windows services and trimmed out with some extra utilities or it can be installed on a flash drive as a portable server. The easiest installation is certainly the Windows...

One of CiviCRM’s strengths is the ability to add custom fields to hold specific information about your contacts. One thing it doesn’t offer (yet) is a calculated field type that will present the results of calculations of other fields.  While calculated fields are generally discouraged in relational database design,...

(Updated June 9, 2016) The Challenge One of my current projects involves migrating a large amount of data away from an old custom Borland Paradox application into a new CiviCRM system. As with too many quickly-constructed apps, this old Paradox database wasn’t especially well designed and, among other the other challenges...