Strategies for creating data access pages

What do you want to accomplish with your data access page? There are many features that you can use to create effective data access pages. This topic helps you identify the right features and layout to use for each type of page. There are four types of data access pages, which you can use to:

Analyze data

Enter and edit data

Make projections

Review data

Analyze data

You can use a PivotTable list to analyze data because it allows you to reorganize the data in different ways. You can bind a PivotTable list to data in the database or use data from a Microsoft Excel worksheet. You can use the PivotTable list as the only control on a data access page or use it with other controls.

• When using a PivotTable list on an ungrouped page, place the PivotTable list control and other controls either in the body or in the section.
  
  
• When using a PivotTable list on a grouped data access page:
  • Place the PivotTable list and bound controls in the section.
    
    
  • Make sure the PivotTable list is in the lowest group level.
    
    
  • If the PivotTable list is the only control in a section, delete or hide the navigation section for the group level that the PivotTable list is in.
    
    
  • Make sure the DataPageSize property in the Sorting And Grouping box is set to 1.

How to create a PivotTable list on a data access page.

Return to top

Enter and edit data

You can create a data access page on which users can enter, edit, and delete data in the database. Key points to keep in mind when creating a page for data entry:

• Use individual controls, such as text boxes, list boxes, drop-down list boxes, option groups, option buttons, and check boxes.
  
  
• Place controls either in the body or in the section. You can delete the section if you don't use it.
  
  
• Create only one group level. The Sorting And Grouping box will list only one group record source.
  
  
• Make sure the DataPageSize property in the Sorting And Grouping box is set to 1.
  
  
• Use the Spreadsheet Component to create a spreadsheet to perform one or more calculations on the fields in a record. You can display the calculated values in the spreadsheet or hide the spreadsheet and display the calculated values in bound HTML controls.
  
  
• Determine how users can use the data access page by customizing the record navigation bar.
  
  
• If you want to edit data from tables that have a one-to-many relationship, create one page that is bound to the table on the "one" side of the relationship and another data access page that is bound to the "many" side. Then, you can use the Insert Hyperlink dialog box to create a link between the two data access pages. To display the data from both pages on one page, you can use an HTML editor (for example, Microsoft FrontPage) to create frames.

Learn about creating a data access page for that's used for data entry.

Return to top

Make projections

You can use the Chart Component to create a chart to analyze trends, show patterns, and make comparisons on the data in your database, or use a spreadsheet control, in which you can enter and edit data and use formulas to perform some of the same calculations you can do in Excel.

• When using a spreadsheet control on an ungrouped data access page, place the spreadsheet control and other controls either in the body or in the section.
  
  
• When using a spreadsheet control on a grouped data access page, place the spreadsheet control and other controls bound to fields in the database in the section. You can use a spreadsheet control in any group level.
  
  
• Make sure the DataPageSize property in the Sorting And Grouping box is set to 1 for the section that contains the spreadsheet control.

How to create a spreadsheet on a data access page.

How to create a chart on a data access page.

Return to top

Review data

Data access pages give you a way to interact with large amounts of data in a selective way. By expanding and collapsing groups of records, users can focus only on the data that they want to see. Keep the following points in mind when you create a grouped page:

• Place bound controls in the section.
  
  
• In the lowest group level, use individual controls or a PivotTable list to display detail records.
  
  
• Remove unneeded buttons from the record navigation bar.
  
  
• To make loading the data access page in Microsoft Internet Explorer faster:
  • Use bound HTML controls instead of text boxes.
    
    
  • Set the ExpandedByDefault property to No for all group levels.
    
    
  • Set the DataPageSize property in the Sorting And Grouping box, which determines the number of records displayed in a group on a page, to a low rather than a high number or to All. The lower the number, the faster the records are displayed.

How to create a data access page that groups records.

Return to top