【正文】 werful connectivity features. As its name implies, Access can work directly with data from other sources, including many popular PC database programs (such as dBASE and Paradox)。 with many SQL (structured query language) databases on the desktop,on servers, on miniputers, or on mainframes。 there’ s no need to write plex code in the classic programming sense. Because Access uses Visual Basic, you can use the same set of skills with other applications in Microsoft Office or with Microsoft Visual Basic. For small businesses (and for consultants creating applications for small businesses), the Access desktop development features are all that’ s required to store and manage the data used to run a typical small business. Access coupled with Microsoft SQL Server— on the desktop or on a server— is an ideal way for many mediumsize panies to build new applications for Windows quickly and inexpensively. For large corporations with a big investment in mainframe relational database applications as well as a proliferation of desktop applications that rely on PC databases, Access provides the tools to easily link mainframe and PC data in a single Windowsbased application. Microsoft Access can also act as a direct source of information published on an intra or the World Wide Web. Data access pages let you quickly create and deploy intra applications using pages that you create directly from Access much like you would create an Access application form. Data access pages can retrieve and update data stored either in an Access database or in Microsoft SQL Server. Microsoft Access 2020 includes new and enhanced features to allow you to export or import data in XML format (the lingua franca of data stored on the Web) or to directly link to an XML data source on a Microsoft SharePoint Services Web site. You can export data (or subsets of data) stored in a Microsoft Access or SQL Server database to a SharePoint server and then link those files back into your original application. What Is Microsoft Access? If you’ re a serious user of a personal puter, you’ ve probably been using word processing or spreadsheet applications to help you solve problems. You might have started a long time ago with characterbased products running under MSDOS but subsequently upgraded to software that runs under the Microsoft Windows operating system. You might also own some database software, either as part of an integrated package such as Microsoft Works or as a separate program. Database programs have been available for personal puters for a long time. Unfortunately,many of these programs have been either simple data storage managers that aren’ t suitable for building applications or plex application development systems that are difficult to learn and use. Even many puterliterate people have avoided the more plex database systems unless they have been handed a plete, custombuilt database introduction of Microsoft Access, however, represented a significant turnaround in ease of use. Many people are drawn to it to create both simple databases and sophisticated database applications. Now that Access is in its seventh release and has bee an even more robust product in the fifth edition designed for 32bit versions of Windows, perhaps it’s time to take another look at how you work with your personal puter to get the job done. If you’ ve previously shied away from database software because you felt you needed programming skills or because it would take you too much time to bee a proficient user, you’ ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to work with Access. But how do you decide whether you’ re ready to move up to a database system such as Access? To help you decide, let’ s take a look at the advantages of using database application development software. What Is a Database? In the simplest sense, a database is a collection of records and files that are anized for a particular purpose. You might keep the names and addresses of all your friends or customers on your puter system. Perhaps you collect all the letters you write and anize them by might have another set of files in which you keep all your financial data— accounts payable and accounts receivable or your checkbook entries and balances. The word processor documents that you anize by topic are, in the broadest sense, one type of database. The spreadsheet files that you anize according to their uses are another type of database. Shortcuts to all your programs on your Windows Start menu are a kind of database. Inter shortcuts anized in your Favorites folder are a database. If you’ re very anized, you can probably manage several hundred spreadsheets or shortc