Database Wizard for Access Database

This section describes how to connect your Access database to an object using the Desktop Designer Step-by-Step Database Wizard.

Step 1: Connection Settings

This step defines the Access database file connection details.

File name selects the database file.

Authentication requires User name and Password for password protected Access database files.

Test Connection button starts a connection testing procedure. It checks if Desktop Designer can successfully connect to the database.

Advanced Setup opens the system configuration dialog. Data Link Properties window allows you to set the connection properties. Data Link Properties is a Windows system dialog – read more about its properties here.

Click Next.

Step 2: Tables and Fields

Tables group allows you to select which tables of the connected database should be used as a data source.

  • Available tables: available tables in the selected database.

  • Selected tables: tables that are used as a data source.

Click Add > or < Remove buttons to add or remove the tables from the Selected fields.

Note

When editing an existing database, a table cannot be removed if used in a script, function, action, or connected to a label or form object.

Step 3: Label Copies Per Record

This step specifies the number of label copies to be printed for each database record.

Fixed number of printed labels lets you insert the number of copies manually.

Dynamically defined number of printed labels sets the number dynamically using a data source value.

Example 44. Example:

The number of printed records can be defined using a variable value. Its value may be set in another label or form object.


Use the same record for entire print job prints out the single selected record on the entire range of labels in a print job.

Click Next to proceed or Finish to continue working with the object.

Read more about how to define the number of printed copies here.

Step 4: Create Objects

This step lets you decide whether new Text objects that display the content retrieved from database fields should be added to a label/form or not.

Create Objects step is visible when:

  • Starting the database wizard from Data tab ribbon and adding a new database by clicking the database button.

  • Starting the wizard in Dynamic Data Explorer or using a generic object Add database selector.

Tip

The Create Objects step differs if you are adding a database while designing a label or a form. See the differences below.

Create Objects step for label designing:

  • Create a label text object for each field: adds a Text object that contains database field content.

  • Do not create any label objects: skips adding new objects.

Create Objects step for form designing:

  • Create an edit field object for each field: adds an edit field object to the form. The added object(s) contains database field content.

  • Create a form table object: adds a database table object to a form. The added object(s) contains database field content.

  • Do not create any label objects: skips adding new objects.

Note

The number of added objects depends on the number of fields in the database.

Click Next.

Step 5: Data Preview and Other Table Settings

This step gives a preview of the data retrieved from the database. It also offers additional table settings such as filtering and sorting.

Data tab displays a preview of data retrieved from the database file. You can use search controls at the top of the preview section to find a specific record.

Note

Data preview shows up to 1000 rows.

Filter tab filters out the database file records. It allows you to define filtering conditions to be used when retrieving the data.

  • Add condition: specifies single line condition(s) that filters out the content that meets the set criteria.

  • Add group: specifies group(s) of conditions that filter out the content that meets the set criteria.

Sorting tab allows you to sort the retrieved data. Sorting is done for all of the fields that are added to the sorting list. Each field can be in ascending or descending order.

Data Retrieving tab defines how the data should be retrieved from the connected database file. Details on data retrieving settings and options are available here.

SQL tab offers a preview of the generated SQL statements.

Read more details about database table configuration here.

Click Finish. The database is ready to be used as a label or form object data source.