Creating a Query

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Creating a query

Queries are used to view, change, and analyze data in different ways. You can also use them as the source of records for forms and reports. Queries can bring together data from records from multiple tables and sort them in a particular order. They can also perform calculations on groups of data. There are many different types of queries in Access. There are select queries, parameter queries, crosstab queries, action queries, and SQL queries. The most simple and common one is the select query. For information on the differences between filters and queries, you may want to visit the following website. It is an older tutorial, but one of the most succinct.

UBC Commerce 391 Microsoft Access Tutorial I -Creating Filters and Queries
http://mis.commerce.ubc.ca/courses/comm391/tutorials/access1/access1.htm

A query can be created using a wizard or in the design view. You can create a simple query using the Simple Query Wizard.

Go to the Query tab or section of the main Access window
click on the New button
choose "Simple Query Wizard."

Queries are most useful in searching for information from more than one table. Since we are working only with one table for the assignment, we will not go into any great depth on queries. To learn more about queries, search for "select query" in the contents of your Help menu.

For your assignment, you will save a simple filter as a query. For example, you may need to know quickly what students have a certain medical condition. If you had a "medical info" field in your database, you could do the following:

Choose "Filter by Form" (found under the Records menu) in the table or form view.
Click on the cell beneath the "Medical Info" field, so that a drop-down menu appears.
From the values, choose "Allergic to Peanuts" (use the "OR" tab if you have more than one way that you have typed in this allergy).
Before applying the filter, go to the File menu and select "Save as Query" - or click the special "Save As Query" button in the toolbar:
A pop-up window will prompt you to give this query a name. Type in "Allergy to Peanuts."
This query would then show you which students in your database had allergies to peanuts. By saving this query, I could skip the filter step and simply open the "Allergic to Peanuts" query in the "Queries" section of the main Access window. This query will then produce an up-to-date list of all students allergic to peanuts.

For your assignment, save a filter as a query. You may do this for "Allergic to Peanuts" for a "Medical Info" field as shown in the sample or create a different query of your own.

Please continue to the last section on Creating a Report.