Exploring And Analyzing Data

Introduction:
In a database, it is very important to store valuable data, then to search and retrieve what is important. This comes from a good organization of your tables.

Finding and Replacing Data:
You can search and find data on a table easily by using the find feature in Microsoft Access, combined with wildcards, which is helpful if your table has a lot of records.

1. Start Microsoft Access and open the GHHS2 database.
2. Open the tblStudentRegistrations table in Datasheet View .
3. To find the student whose last name is DeGaram, on the main menu, click Edit -> Find... In the Find What combo box, type degaram. In the Look In combo box, choose tblStudentRegistrations. In the Match combo box, choose Whole Field. Then click the Find Next button.
4. To find the student whose long name start with Andria..., in the Find What combo box, type andria* and click Find Next.
5. To find a student whose name contains dou but you don't remember how to type it, in the Find What combo box, type *dou* and click the Find Next button.
6. To find a student whose name sounds like the country whose Paris is the capital but might not be written the same way, in the Find What combo box, type fran?e and click the Find Next button.
7. You can also combine wildcards to do your search/finding. In the Find What combo box, type *antan? and click the Find Next button, you will get Dr. Julia Sanatana.
   
8. Close the Find and Replace property sheet. 

 Replacing existing data is done just as easily, whether using wildcards or not.

1. On the main menu, click Edit -> Replace...
2. In the Find What, type vittas. In the Replace combo box, type Bitha. Then click the Find Next button to make sure that the right name will be replaced. Once you find Vittas as a student's last name, click Replace.
3. Manually edit the student's e-mail address with bithaj .
4. Click the Find tab. in the Find What combo box, type *vittas and click the Find Next button.
5. Save the table.

Sorting Records:

The most basic way to organize is to sort it alphabetically.

1. To organize the student's Last Names alphabetically, click any student's Last Name on the table. Then on the main menu, click Records -> Sort -> Sort Ascending.
2. When you are finished viewing, click Records -> Remove Filter/Sort .
3. Since we have male and female students, you can view a list of female students followed by male students or vice versa by sorting by gender. Click somewhere in the gender column, then on the toolbar, click the Sort Descending button.
4. When you have finished viewing, click Records -> Remove Filter/Sort on the main menu.
5. You can find out which students live in a single parent home by sorting also. Right-click on the column header of Single Parent? (Make sure you don't click on any field under the column header) and choose Sort Ascending.
6. When you are finished viewing, click Records -> Remove Filter/Sort .

Using Selection To Filter Records:

While sorting rearranges data, filtering allows you to isolate data specifically. For example, when you order the Single Parent? column alphabetically, you get a list of girls first, then the boys. You can make a specific list that will include only one of the categories.

1. Click an M record under the Gender column. Then on the main toolbar, click the Filter By Selection button
   
   . That will give you a list of male students in the school.
2. When you have finished viewing, click the Remove Filter button
   
   on the main toolbar.
3. To get a list of the students who live outside of Maryland, right-click any MD under the State column and choose Filter Excluding Selection.
4. When you have finished viewing, click the Remove Filter button on the main toolbar.
5. To get a list of the students who live in Silver Spring, right-click in the City column, click in the Filter For edit box, type Silver Spring and press Enter.
6. When you have finished viewing, click the Remove Filter button on the main toolbar.

Using Wildcards To Filter Records:

The Filter By Form feature allows you to filter records by assigning appropriate criteria. The Filter By Form is like a dialog box in the form of a datasheet where you decide how to set the criteria.

Hiding And Unhiding A Column:

Sometimes, some columns or categories of data are not important for the time being on a table. For example, if you want to print data in table and find that you don't need to print every category of data on that table. Thus, you can simply hide the appropriate column.

1. Right-click on the column header for the Single Parent? and click Hide Columns.
2. To bring back a previously hidden column, on the main menu, click Format -> Unhide Columns...
3. The Unhide dialog shows you, on a list, all the fields that are part of the table. Scroll down if necessary until you see that the Single Parent field is unchecked. Click to check it and close the dialog.
4. This time, you can close the table, and the database.