Confguring Access as a Front End and any ODBC compliant database as a

Backend
Before you have MS Access and MySQL communicate with each other you must frst
make a few changes to your system.
1. Install MySQL
. Install MS Access
!. Install the MySQL "#B$ driver
%. $reate a data&ase'ta&les in MySQL
(. Setu) "#B$ driver to communicate with Access and your MySQL data&ase
*. $reate your user interface in MS Access
What is an ODBC Driver and What Does it Do
Microsoft+s ")en #ata&ase $onnectivity ,"#B$- )rotocol is a widely used and
acce)ted a))lication )rogramming interface ,A.I- for data&ase interaction. "#B$
uses Structured Query Language ,SQL- as its data&ase access language. Most
/indows0&ased )roducts that use data&ases su))ort "#B$. 1sing this A.I2
data&ase a))lications can access data stored in data&ase management systems on
a variety of com)uters even if each data&ase management system uses a di3erent
data storage format and )rogramming interface.
"#B$ is often associated with a #S42 or a #ata Source 4ame. 5hat is &ecause the
#S4 is the a))ointed name for your data&ase in the scri)t calling it. A #S4 is like an
alias to your data&ase2 and your scri)ts will use the alias to access your data&ase.
A data source name ,#S4- is a data structure that contains the information a&out a
s)ecifc data&ase that an ")en #ata&ase $onnectivity ,"#B$- driver needs in order
to connect to it. Included in the #S42 which resides either in the registry or as a
se)arate te6t fle2 is information such as the name2 directory and driver of the
data&ase2 and2 de)ending on the ty)e of #S42 the I# and )assword of the user. 5he
develo)er creates a se)arate #S4 for each data&ase. 5o connect to a )articular
data&ase2 the develo)er s)ecifes its #S4 within a )rogram.
5here are three kinds of #S47 user #S4s ,sometimes called machine #S4s-8 system
#S4s8 and fle #S4s. 1ser and system #S4s are s)ecifc to a )articular com)uter2
and store #S4 information in the registry. A user #S4 allows data&ase access for a
single user on a single com)uter2 and a system #S4 for any user of a )articular
com)uter. A fle #S4 contains the relevant information within a te6t fle with a .#S4
fle e6tension2 and can &e shared &y users of di3erent com)uters who have the
same drivers installed.
Confguration of ODBC Driver in Windos !"
4ote7 MySQL services must &e running ,net start mys9l-.
Start'$ontrol .anel'Administrative 5ools'#ata Source ,"#B$-
$lick on the System DSN ta& a&ove
$lick on the Add &utton
Select the :MySQL "#B$ !.(1 #river+ and click Finish
;ill in the felds as a&ove
o #ata Source 4ame is a #S4 ,alias-0 you give this connection. It can &e
anything you want
o Server 0 is the name or I. address of the server where the MySQL
data&ase resides
o 1ser < is the username to make a connection and login into MySQL
o .assword < is the )assword for the user name a&ove
o #ata&ase < is the name of the data&ase ,do not )ut a )ath-
$lick on the Test &utton to check for connectivity. If everything went "= you
now have an "#B$ connection to your MySQL data&ase and it may &e used
&y other )rograms that su))ort "#B$.
#ake an ODBC Connection to $our #y%&' Database from Access
$reate a 4ew #ata&ase in Access
$lick on the External Data ta& and then the More &utton
Select ODBC Database
Select the Link to the data source by creatin a linked table
o)tion. $lick O!
$lick on the Machine Data Source ta& and highlight the #4S you wish. $lick
O!
Select all the ta&les you want to link to for your )ro>ect. $lick O!.
Select your )rimary keys for each ta&le in your data&ase. $lick O!.
?our new link to the e6ternal data&ase is com)lete. 4ow create your forms2
9ueries2 and re)orts.
4"5@7 ?ou cannot change the structure to a LI4=@# data&ase from Access.
?ou must have your design com)leted &efore linking to Access.
4"5@7 $ertain )rogramming rules must &e followed. ?ou may use the #S4
alias to reference your data&ase.
4"5@7 MySQL uses the same fle names and formats regardless of the
o)erating system so you may co)y data&ases &etween /indows machines
and 1ni62 Linu62 etc. =ee) in mind when )rogramming that /indows is 4"5
case sensitive &ut 1ni6 is. It is therefore good )ractice to always &e aware of
case sensitivity in naming o&>ects2 ta&les2 felds2 etc.