1. SQL and Access
A Guide to Understanding SQL and its application in
Microsoft Access by Maggie McClelland

2. Why should I learn SQL?
 SQL is a common programming language used
in many relational databases to manage data
and records by performing tasks that would be
time consuming to do by searching the records
individually.
 Such relational databases are commonly used in
the field of library and information science, which
means that in addition to being useful in
managing data….
 Means employers may want you to know it!

3. What Is SQL?
 SQL (Structured Query Language) is a
programming language used for manipulating
and managing data in relational databases such
as Microsoft Access, MySQL, or Oracle.
What does SQL do?
 SQL interacts with data in tables by:
 inserting data
 querying data
 updating data
 deleting data
 creating schemas
 controlling access

4. What do I need to learn it?
You:
 In using it, its helpful to understand how data may
already interact within databases, but not
necessary to learning the fundamentals.
Your Computer:
 Relational database software such as Microsoft
Access, mySQL, or Oracle.

5. A breakdown of SQL(anguage)
 Two major features
 Statements: affects data and structure (what data is
in)
 Queries: retrieve data based on programming
 Clauses are the parts of these
 Within clauses may be:
 Expressions: produce the fields of a table
 Predicates: specifies under what conditions action
is to occur
Image retrieved from Wikipedia.org

6. TWO TYPES OF
STATEMENTS
 Data Definition Language  Data Manipulation Language
 Manages structure of data  Manages the data in
tables and indices (where structures
data goes) ………………………..
 Some Basic Elements:  Some Basic Elements:
Drop/Create, Select, Select…Into, Update,
Grant/Revoke, Add, and Delete, Insert…Into
Alter

7. TWO TYPES OF
STATEMENTS
Data Definition Language
 Syntax is similar to computer programming
 Basic Statements are Composed of a Element
part, Object part, and Name part,
 Ex: To create a Table Named „tblBooks‟ it would look
like this:
CREATE TABLE Books
 To include an expression to the CREATE TABLE to
add Book ID and Title fields, insert them in
brackets and separate out by a comma, all
within parentheses. This is a common syntax.
 Ex: To add the fields BookID and Title:
CREATE TABLE tblBooks ([BookID], [Title])

8. TWO TYPES OF
STATEMENTS
Data Manipulation Language
 Composed of dependent clauses
 Common features of syntax:
 “ “ to contain the data specified
 = to define the data to field relationship
 It is defined by a change to the data, in the
below case, deletion from tblBooks all records
which have 1999 in their Year field
 ex. DELETE FROM tblBooks
WHERE Year = “1999”

9. Queries
 Queries themselves do not make any changes to
the data or to the structure.
 Allows user to retrieve data from one or many
tables.
 Performed with SELECT statement. Returning to our
example to display all books published in 1999:
 Ex: Select From tblBooks
Where Year = “1999”
Note: SELECT is nominally
said to be a statement but it does not ‘affect data
and/or structure’. It just retrieves.
HOWEVER Queries are what make statements
happen. When combined in access with statements,
they make the changes to data that we desire.

10. What about Microsoft
Access?
All of these SQL aspects manage and manipulate
your data in be performed in Microsoft Access.
Microsoft Access is usually available with your
basic Microsoft Office package, as such it is widely
used.
 It is mostly suitable for any database under 2 GB.
In the next half, I will show you how to execute in
Microsoft Access common SQL commands.

11. Proceeding…
 Here is an access database to download if you
wish to follow along with the tutorial:
 Upon opening it up, look on the left side of your
screen. Double click on the first table selected,
Books. This is where we will start from.
 What follows will be a slide of explanations and
then a video. You can pause or stop the videos
at any time and may jump around using the
progress bar at the bottom of the video.
 These videos have no sound.
Continuing on…

12. Queries
Simple SELECT query, designed to
 What follows is a simple „select‟
filter records from a table.
From the menu, next to Home, select Create.
Go to the last section of selections, marked other.
Select Query Design.
Once you reach the Query Design screen you will be
prompted by a window. Cancel this out. In the
upper left corner under the round Windows
Button, is a button that says SQL view. Select this.
For a simple search calling all records from the Books
table, enter:
Select *
FROM Books
Going back to the upper left corner next to SQL view
is another button that is an exclamation mark and
says Run. Select this. Play video here.

13. Queries
More complex SELECT
 To execute a query that pulls out specific
information, we‟ll have to add a WHERE clause.
 Lets look for all books published in the year 1982.
To do this we will be looking at all records in the
Books table that have 1982 in the Year field.
To go back to the screen where you can edit your SQL query, simply
go to the button under your round windows button. There should be
a down arrow to select other options.
Click this and select your SQL view.
Now that you are in SQL view, add to what you have so it reads:
Select *
FROM Books
Where Year = 1982
Again, select Run when done.
Play video here.

14. Queries
Even More complex
SELECT
 Lets say that we want to combine two tables.
Maybe we want to find all books published in
1982 that were sent away for rebinding.
 Table named Actions this. In this table, Object
specified in each record is linked to the BookID in
the Books table. To draw these two together in
our search we will use an INNER JOIN, specifying
with ON which two of those records are linked.
 Because we have two tables now, we have to
refer to the fields we are interested in as
table.field

15. Queries
Even More complex
SELECT cont…
 To do this, return to your SQL query edit screen
and enter:
SELECT *
FROM Books INNER JOIN Actions
ON Actions.Object=Books.BookID
WHERE Year = 1982
Run this.
Play video here.

16. Changing Data
 Now we may want to change the data. In
Microsoft Access, this is still done through the
same Screen where we were entering SQL
before.
 The most useful may be the UPDATE and the
DELETE statements, which do exactly what they
say. These are what we will execute.

17. Update Statements
 Say that you want to update the Authors field in the Books
table with (LOC) following the names to show that they
follow LOC name authority.
 We will use the UPDATE statement and following SET
establish an expression to update the field.
 To do this return to your SQL query edit screen and enter:
UPDATE Books
SET Author=Author + " (LOC)“
Note: the + , this
means add the following onto what is existing; we use “ “
because what is inside these is text entered into the table‟s field.
Play video here.

18. Delete Statements
 Lets say that our collection deacessioned all
books made before 1970 and we want to delete
these from our files.
 To do this return to your SQL query edit screen
and enter:
DELETE *
FROM Books
WHERE Year <1970
 Notice how we used < instead of = to find entries
with values smaller than the number 1970.
Play video here.

19. Congratulations!
By now, you should have an understanding of SQL
and a basic knowledge of how to use SQL in
Microsoft Access
The best way to learn a new technology is to play
with it, I encourage you to do so. Before you
know it, you will be a pro!

20. Helpful Sites
 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/bb177893%28v=office.12%29.aspx
 http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B28359_0
1/appdev.111/b28370/static.htm
 http://w3schools.com/sql/sql_syntax.asp