Field Name
Data Type
Description
ZipCode
Text 50
Contact’s zip code
Phone
Text 50
Contact’s phone
Fax
Text 50
Contact’s fax
E-Mail
Text 100
Contact’s e-mail address
WebSite
Text 100
Contact’s Web address
OrigCustDate
DateTime
The date the contact first purchased something from Access
Auto Auctions
TaxLocation
Text 50
Used to determine the applicable sales tax
CreditLimit
Currency
Customer’s credit limit in dollars
CurrentBalance
Currency
Customer’s current balance in dollars
CreditStatus
Text
A description of the customer’s credit status
LastSalesDate
DateTime
The most recent date the customer purchased something from
Access Auto Auctions
DiscountPercent
Double
The customary discount provided to the customer
Notes
Memo
Notes and observations regarding this customer
Active
Yes/No
A yes/no value, indicating whether the customer is still buying
or selling to Access Auto Auctions
Some of the fields in the preceding table are rather generous in the amount of space allocated for
the field’s data. For instance, it is unlikely that anyone’s name occupies 50 characters, but there is
no harm in providing for very long names. Access only stores as many characters as are actually
entered into a text field. Therefore, allocating 50 characters does not actually use 50 characters for
every name in the database.
The design spelled out in Table 2-1 is a good starting point for the Contacts table.
Looking once again at Figure 2-14, you see that the Table Design window consists of two areas:
n
The field entry area (top):
Use the field entry area to enter each field’s name and data
type. You can also enter an optional description.
n
The field properties area (bottom):
The property area at the bottom of the window is
for entering more different specifications, called
properties,
for each field. These properties
include field size, format, input mask, and default value, among others. The actual prop-
erties displayed in the properties area depend upon the data type of the field. You learn
much more about these properties later in this book.
You can switch between the upper and lower areas of the table designer by clicking the
mouse when the pointer is in the desired pane or by pressing F6.
TIP
TIP
41
Creating Access Tables
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