For this assignment you will need to download Adventure Works 01 and save it on your computer

A database is a collection of data, or information that is organized so that specific information can be easily located and retrieved. The phone book is an example of a noncomputerized database. The phone book contains names, addresses, and telephone numbers arranged alphabetically by last name so that it is easy to locate information for a particular person.
Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) for creating and using computerized databases. A database management system is an integrated collection of programs that are used to create and manage information in a database. Computerized databases are much more powerful than noncomputerized databases (like the phone book) because users can reorganize data and search for information in hundreds of ways. For example, if a phone book were stored as an Access database, you could search by address, first name, or phone number, instead of just by last name.
As another example of the advantages of computerized databases, consider Adventure Works, a fictitious outdoor vacation resort outside Santa Barbara, California. The marketing manager for the resort wants to send a summer events newsletter to everybody who has visited the resort during the summer months within the past five years. If the records for guest visits were kept in ledger books, you would need to flip through the books page by page to create a list of past summer visitors. With a computerized database, however, you could create a list of previous summer visitors in seconds. If the marketing manager later decides to send a newsletter to winter visitors instead, a computerized database could create this new list almost instantly.
Lets open an Access database.
On the Windows taskbar, click the Start button. The Windows XP Start menu will appear.
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, and click Microsoft Access. Access starts, and the Getting Started task pane appears on the right side of the screen. The lower portion of the task pane displays the most recently opened database files.
If the Getting Started task pane does not appear, click the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click the Task Pane option.
Click the More link near the bottom of the task pane. The Open dialog box appears. You use this dialog box to locate the database file to be opened.  If you are using a newly installed version of Access, the More link may not be present in the Getting Started task pane. If you do not see that option, click the File menu and then click Open.
Click the Look In down arrow, click the icon for your hard disk, and then double-click the folder where you saved the Access Practice file. The Open dialog box displays a list of files stored in the folder. Select Adventure Works 01
Click the Open button in the lower-right corner of the dialog box. The Database window for Adventure Works 01 appears within the main Access window.
You really didn't need those instructions did you? 
When you opened the Adventure Works 01 database, the Database window appeared on your screen. The Database window toolbar appears along the top of the Database window and contains the Open button, Design button, New button, Delete button, and options for displaying the items listed in the Database window.
The Objects bar and Groups bar appear along the left side of the Database window. The Objects bar includes the part of the Database window under the word Objects. Object is a generic term that refers to any component of an Access database. The Objects bar lists the major types of objects in an Access database: tables, queries, forms, reports, pages, macros, and modules.
The foundation for all other types of objects in Access is the table, because tables store the data that the other objects use to perform procedures and activities in Access. A table is made up of fields and records that are displayed in a row-and-column format with fields as the columns and records as the rows. A field can contain data about a person, place, product or service, event, or other entity. For example, a field would contain all the last names or phone numbers in a table. Each field in a table has a field name, also called a label, which appears at the top of the column.
For example, a field that holds all the last names for the guests at Adventure Works could be called LastName. A collection of related fields forms a record. For example, a resort guest’s FirstName, LastName, Address, City, State, and PostalCode fields might make up a single guest record. The intersection of a record (row) and a field (column) is called a cell.
Tables store all the information in a database, but if you want to view only selected fields and records in the database, you use a query. A query extracts specific data from one or more tables based on search criteria. For example, you could create a query for the reservations table for Adventure Works to only list records for guests who have made reservations after June 2004. The query might list each guest’s identification number (or guest ID), reservation dates, number of occupants, and reserved room number.
Another way to view information in a database is to use a form, as shown in the following figure. A form displays a single record at a time in a specified format. Forms can also be used to add new information to a database. If you want to display or print the data from a table or query, you can also create a report. Unlike a form, a report can be used to display multiple records. Although this sounds similar to a table, a report can be formatted in different ways to make the information easier to use and more attractive than a table. For example, you could create a report that contains a formatted title, a header or footer, and an attractive background. Reports, like queries, can also be customized to show data from only specific fields in a table instead of from all fields.
You have just learned how to open a database, and the database should still be open. You will now use the Objects bar of the Database window to determine what types of objects exist in this database.
On the Objects bar, click Tables, if necessary. The names of the tables in Adventure Works 01 appear, along with options to Create Table In Design View, Create Table By Using Wizard, and Create Table By Entering Data.
On the Objects bar, click Queries. The options to Create Query In Design View and Create Query By Using Wizard appear. There are currently no queries in the Adventure Works 01 database
On the Objects bar, click Forms. One form name, frmEmployees, appears, along with the options to Create Form In Design View and Create Form By Using Wizard.
On the Objects bar, click Reports. The options to Create Report In Design View and Create Report By Using Wizard appear. Currently the Adventure Works 01 database contains no reports.
On the Objects bar, click Pages. The options to Create Data Access Page In Design View, Create Data Access Page By Using Wizard, and Edit Web Page That Already Exists appear. There are no data access pages in the Adventure Works 01 database.
On the Objects bar, click Macros. There are no macros in the Adventure Works 01 database.
On the Objects bar, click Modules. There are no modules in the Adventure Works 01 database.

Understanding Datasheet View and Design View
Every Access object has two or more views. Tables are most commonly viewed in one of two formats, or views: Datasheet view and Design view. You switch between the two views by clicking the View button on the Table Design and Table Datasheet toolbars. You can choose other views by clicking the down arrow to the right of the View button and selecting a view from the drop-down list.
Design view allows you to design the structure of a table by deciding what fields will appear in the table, customizing the process of entering data into the fields, and determining how the data will appear to users. The Adventure Works database includes tblEmployees, a table that contains basic information, such as addresses and phone numbers, about the resort’s employees.   We will do more of this in the next assignment.
The Field Name column contains the names of the fields in the table. The Data Type column allows you to decide what kind of data (for example, alphabetical or numerical) can be entered into a field. The lower part of the Table Design view window allows you to set specific properties for each field. When you display the table in Datasheet view, the actual data in the table appears. For example, in tblEmployees, the field names, displayed in the Field Name column in Design view, appear from left to right across the top of the table.
The data displayed in some of the fields may be partially cut off. This is because Access does not automatically adjust column widths. Changing column widths is discussed in Lesson 3, “Working with Tables,” and also in Lesson 4, “Creating and Using Queries.”
You have now opened Access, and explored the Objects bar in the Database window. You will now open the table tblGuests in Datasheet view, switch to Design view, and then switch back to Datasheet view.
On the Objects bar, click Tables.  The list of tables presently in this database appears.
Click the tblGuests table name. Access selects the table, as indicated by the blue rectangle around the table name.
On the Database window toolbar, click Open. The table appears in Datasheet view. When you switch between Datasheet view and Design view, the picture on the View button changes to show which view the object will appear in after the button is clicked. The View button currently shows the Design view icon, indicating that is the view you will go to if you click the button.
On the Table Datasheet toolbar, click the View button. The table appears in Design view. Note that the View button now shows the Datasheet icon. That is the view you will switch to the next time you click the button.
On the Table Design toolbar, click the View button. The table appears in Datasheet view. To open or close a toolbar, you can right-click on any blank area of the toolbar and then click the name of the toolbar that you want to open or close on the menu that appears.

Moving Around
Many databases contain large tables that, when opened, do not fit on your screen. To edit and view all the data in a database, you need to know how to move around within a table.
One way to navigate within a table is to use the navigation buttons in the bottom-left corner of a table. The navigation buttons are shown below

You previously opened the tblGuests table and switched between Design and Datasheet view. It should still be open in Datasheet view. In this exercise, you will use the mouse pointer to select a cell in tblGuests, and then you will use the navigation buttons and scroll bars to navigate to different locations within the table.
In the Address field of the first record, click between 1000 and Jefferson. A blinking insertion point appears in the field.
On the scroll bar on the right side of the table, drag the scroll box down until the record for guest ID 49, Kim Ralls, is visible. The insertion point has not moved, and is currently invisible. It is still in the first record in the database. Moving the scroll bar displayed different data, but did not affect the location of the insertion point.
In the FirstName field, click after the word Kim. The insertion point now appears in this record after the word Kim.
On the scroll bar at the bottom of the table, click the right scroll arrow button until the MailingList field is visible, if necessary. The table scrolls to the right one field each time you click the scroll arrow.
On the scroll bar at the bottom of the table, click the left scroll arrow button until the GuestID field appears. The table scrolls to the left, again one field at a time each time you click the arrow.
In the GuestID field, click in the record for Kim Ralls. The insertion point appears in the GuestID field. The location of the insertion point depends on where in the field you clicked.
Click in the Specific Record box, delete the existing number, type 35, and then press Enter. Access selects the GuestID field in record number 35.
Click the Previous Record button. Access selects the GuestID field in record number 34.
Click the Next Record button. Access selects the GuestID field in record number 35.
Click the Last Record button. Access selects the GuestID field in record number 49.
Click the First Record button. Access selects the GuestID field in record number 1.

You can also use the keyboard to navigate within a table by pressing keys  called shortcut keys on the keyboard. After you become proficient with the shortcut keys, this approach can sometimes be a faster way to navigate than using the mouse.
The following shortcut keys can be used to navigate within a table:
Tab To the next field in the current record.
Enter To the next field.
Page Up Up by one screen, selecting a record farther up in the table.
Page Down Down by one screen, selecting a record farther down in the table.
Right arrow key To the next field in the current record.
Left arrow key To the previous field.
Down arrow key To the next record.
Up arrow key To the previous record.
Home To the first field of the current record.
End To the last field of the current record.
Ctrl+Down arrow To the last record in the current field.
Ctrl+Up arrow To the first record in the current field.
Ctrl+Home To the first field of the first record.
Ctrl+Page Down To the right by one screen, selecting a field farther right in the table.
Ctrl+Page Up To the left by one screen, selecting a field farther left in the table.
Ctrl+End To the last field of the last record.
Shift+Tab To the previous field.

You have seen how you can use the mouse and the navigation buttons to move among records and fields. You can also use the keyboard and keyboard shortcut keys to navigate among the records in the tblGuests table. You will see how easy it is to jump from one record to another specific point in the table.
With the GuestID field in the first record selected, press Tab. Access selects the FirstName field in the first record.
Press Enter. Access selects the LastName field in the first record.
Press Page Down. The table moves down one screen, causing Access to select a record farther down in the table. The record you end up in will vary depending on your display settings and the size of your datasheet window.
Press Page Up. The table moves up one screen, causing Access to select the first record.
Press the Right arrow key. Access selects the Address field in the first record.
Press the Left arrow key. Access selects the LastName field in the first record.
Press Shift+Tab. Access selects the FirstName field in the first record.
Press the Down arrow key. Access selects the FirstName field in the second record.
Press the Up arrow key. Access selects the FirstName field in the first record.
Press End. Access selects the MailingList field in the first record.
Press Home. Access selects the GuestID field in the first record.
Press Ctrl+End. Access selects the MailingList field in the last record.
Press Ctrl+Home. Access selects the GuestID field in the first record.
Click the Close button in the top-right corner of tblGuests. The table closes.