Second Edition
Frequently asked questions and instructor notes
All our courses assume that each student has a personal computer to use during the class. Our hands-on approach to learning requires they do. This topic gives information on how to set up the classroom to teach this course. It includes minimum requirements for the students’ personal computers, setup information for the first time you teach the class, and setup information for each time that you teach after the first time you set up the classroom.
Student computer requirements
Each student’s personal computer should have:
· A keyboard and a mouse
· Pentium 233 MHz processor (or higher)
· At least 128 MB RAM
· 400 MB of available hard drive space
· CD-ROM drive
· SVGA or higher resolution monitor set to 800´600 resolution
· A printer driver (An actual printer is not required, but the printing activities will not work as described unless a printer driver is installed.)
· Internet access, if you want to download the Student Data files from www.courseilt.com, and for downloading the latest updates from www.windowsupdate.com
First-time setup instructions
The first time you teach this course, you will need to perform the following steps to set up each student computer.
2 Adjust the computer’s display properties as follows:
a Open the Control Panel and double-click Display to open the Display Properties dialog box.
b On the Settings tab, change the Colors setting to True Color (24 bit) and the Screen area to 800 by 600 pixels.
c On the Appearance tab, set the Scheme to Windows Classic.
d Click OK. If you are prompted to accept the new settings, click OK and click Yes. Then, if necessary, close the Display Properties dialog box.
3 Adjust the computer’s Internet settings as follows:
a On the desktop, right-click the Internet Explorer icon and choose Properties to open the Internet Properties dialog box.
b On the Connections tab, click Setup to start the Internet Connection Wizard.
c Click Cancel. A message box will appear.
d Check “Do not show the Internet Connection wizard in the future,” and then click Yes.
e Re-open the Internet Properties dialog box.
f On the General tab, click Use Blank, click Apply, and click OK.
4 Install Microsoft Office 2003 according to the software manufacturer’s instructions as follows:
a When prompted for the CD key, enter the 25-character code included with your software.
b Select the Custom installation option and click Next.
c Clear all check boxes except Microsoft Access.
d Select “Choose advanced customization of applications” and click Next.
e Next to Microsoft Access for Windows, click the drop-down arrow and choose Run all from My Computer.
f Next to Office Shared Features, click the drop-down arrow and choose Run all from My Computer.
g Click Next. Then, click Install to start the installation.
h When the installation has completed successfully, click Finish.
5 Start Access. Then, turn off the Office Assistant as follows:
a If the Office Assistant is not displayed, choose Help, Show the Office Assistant.
b Right-click the Office Assistant and choose Options to open the Office Assistant dialog box.
c Clear Use the Office Assistant and click OK.
6 To ensure that students won’t get a macro warning when they open tables in Access, do this:
a Choose Tools, Macro, Security.
b Select the Low security setting.
c Click OK.
7 Configure Access to always show full menus. Here’s how:
a Choose View, Toolbars, Customize to open the Customize dialog box.
b On the Options tab, check Always show full menus.
c Click Close.
8 Close Access.
9 Disable the language bar:
a In the Control Panel, double-click Text Services to open the Text Services dialog box.
b Under Preferences, click Language Bar to open the Language Bar Settings dialog box.
c Clear Show the Language bar on the desktop, and then click OK.
d Click OK to close the Text Services dialog box.
e Close the control panel.
10 If necessary, install a printer driver. If a printer was connected to the computer during the installation of Windows, there will be a driver installed for that printer. If not, you should install a standard PostScript printer driver, such as the HP LaserJet 5.
11 If necessary, download the Student Data files for the course. You can download the data directly to student machines, to a central location on your own network, or to a disk.
a Connect to www.courseilt.com/instructor_tools.html.
b Click the link for Microsoft Access 2003 to display a page of course listings, and then click the link for Access 2003: Basic, Second Edition.
c Click the link for downloading the Student Data files, and follow the instructions that appear on your screen.
Setup instructions for every class
Every time you teach this course, you will need to perform the following steps to set up each student computer.
1 Start Access. Then, turn off the Office Assistant, as follows:
a If the Office Assistant is not displayed, choose Help, Show the Office Assistant.
b Right-click the Office Assistant and choose Options to open the Office Assistant dialog box.
c Clear Use the Office Assistant and click OK.
2 If necessary, reset any defaults that have been changed in previous classes. Then, close Access.
3 Delete the contents of the Student Data folder, if necessary. (If this is the first time you are teaching the course, create a folder named Student Data at the root of the hard drive.)
4 Copy the data files to the Student Data folder. (See the download instructions in the preceding section.)
Topic B: Frequently asked questions
There are no frequently asked questions for this course at this time.
Topic C: Course notes
Exercise A-2 in Unit 4 infers that,
if both the Required property and the AllowZeroLength property are set to Yes, then pressing the spacebar (instead of entering
data) stores the field as a null value. According to Microsoft, when these two
properties are set to Yes, and you either press the spacebar or enter a zero
length string ("") which is a pair of double quotes, the field is
stored as a zero-length string, not as a Null value. There is an important
difference between the two because, to find these fields later, you query for
them differently. Instructor’s answers in Unit 4 review questions are incorrect
in places as they relate to this same issue.
Topic D: Additional information
There is no additional information for this course at this time.