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How do I write a SQL query in MS Access?
How do I write a SQL statement in access?
What is a SELECT statement in access SQL?
How to create a query in access 2013 or 2016?
Oct 7, 2021 · You can write and execute SQL statements in Access, but you have to use a back-door method to do it. To open a basic editor where you can enter SQL code, follow these steps: Open your database and click the CREATE tab. This will display the ribbon across the top of the window. Click Query Design in the Queries section.
- Allen G. Taylor
- Overview
- What is SQL?
- Basic SQL clauses: SELECT, FROM, and WHERE
- Sorting the results: ORDER BY
- Working with summarized data: GROUP BY and HAVING
- Combining query results: UNION
When you want to retrieve data from a database, you ask for the data by using Structured Query Language, or SQL. SQL is a computer language that closely resembles English, but that database programs understand. Every query that you run uses SQL behind the scenes.
Understanding how SQL works can help you create better queries, and can make it easier for you to understand how to fix a query that is not returning the results that you want.
SQL is a computer language for working with sets of facts and the relationships between them. Relational database programs, such as Microsoft Office Access, use SQL to work with data. Unlike many computer languages, SQL is not difficult to read and understand, even for a novice. Like many computer languages, SQL is an international standard that is recognized by standards bodies such as ISO and ANSI.
You use SQL to describe sets of data that can help you answer questions. When you use SQL, you must use the correct syntax. Syntax is the set of rules by which the elements of a language are correctly combined. SQL syntax is based on English syntax, and uses many of the same elements as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) syntax.
An example in Access
The following illustrates what a SQL statement for a simple select query might look like in Access: 1. SELECT clause 2. FROM clause 3. WHERE clause This example SQL statement reads "Select the data that is stored in the fields named E-mail Address and Company from the table named Contacts, specifically those records in which the value of the field City is Seattle." Let's look at the example, one clause at a time, to see how SQL syntax works.
The SELECT clause
SELECT [E-mail Address], Company This is the SELECT clause. It consists of an operator (SELECT) followed by two identifiers ([E-mail Address] and Company). If an identifier contains spaces or special characters (such as "E-mail Address"), it must be enclosed in square brackets. A SELECT clause does not have to say which tables contain the fields, and it cannot specify any conditions that must be met by the data to be included. The SELECT clause always appears in front of the FROM clause in a SELECT statement.
The FROM clause
FROM Contacts This is the FROM clause. It consists of an operator (FROM) followed by an identifier (Contacts). A FROM clause does not list the fields to be selected.
Like Microsoft Excel, Access lets you sort query results in a datasheet. You can also specify in the query how you want to sort the results when the query is run, by using an ORDER BY clause. If you use an ORDER BY clause, it is the last clause in the SQL statement.
An ORDER BY clause contains a list of the fields that you want to use for sorting, in the same order that you want to apply the sort operations.
For example, suppose that you want your results sorted first by the value of the field Company in descending order, and — if there are records with the same value for Company — sorted next by the values in the field E-mail Address in ascending order. Your ORDER BY clause would resemble the following:
ORDER BY Company DESC, [E-mail Address]
For more information about the ORDER BY clause, see the topic ORDER BY Clause.
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Sometimes you want to work with summarized data, such as the total sales in a month, or the most expensive items in an inventory. To do this, you apply an aggregate function to a field in your SELECT clause. For example, if you want your query to show the count of e-mail addresses listed for each company, your SELECT clause might resemble the following:
SELECT COUNT([E-mail Address]), Company
When you want to review all the data that is returned by several similar select queries together, as a combined set, you use the UNION operator.
The UNION operator lets you combine two SELECT statements into one. The SELECT statements that you combine must have the same number of output fields, in the same order, and with the same or compatible data types. When you run the query, data from each set of corresponding fields is combined into one output field, so that the query output has the same number of fields as each of the select statements.
When you use the UNION operator, you can also specify whether the query results should include duplicate rows, if any exist, by using the ALL key word.
The basic SQL syntax for a union query that combines two SELECT statements is as follows:
For example, suppose that you have a table named Products and another table named Services. Both tables have fields that contain the name of the product or service, the price, warranty or guarantee availability, and whether you offer the product or service exclusively. Although the Products table stores warranty information, and the Services table stores guarantee information, the basic information is the same (whether a particular product or service includes a promise of quality). You can use a union query, such as the following, to combine the four fields from the two tables:
For more information about how to combine SELECT statements by using the UNION operator, see Combine the results of several select queries by using a union query.
MS Access provides two ways to write queries: using the Query-By-Example editor or by using pure SQL code. You can use SQL in VBA by using a combination of string literals and variables to construct SQL statements that can be executed using the CurrentDB.Execute method.
May 24, 2016 · How to Create a Query in Access. Posted on May 24, 2016 by Ian. To create a query in Access 2013 or 2016: Click the CREATE > Query Design button on the Ribbon. Choose the tables to include in the query. Choose the fields to include, and adjust the criteria.
SELECT is usually the first word in an SQL statement. Most SQL statements are either SELECT or SELECT…INTO statements. The minimum syntax for a SELECT statement is: SELECT fields FROM table. You can use an asterisk (*) to select all fields in a table.
You use a SELECT clause to specify the names of the fields that have data that you want to use in a query. You can also use expressions instead of or in addition to fields. You can even use another SELECT statement as a field — this is referred to as a subquery.
In this video, I'll teach you about the basics of SQL and how to use it in Microsoft Access. We'll see how to edit the SQL of an Access Query, how to modify ...
- 24 min
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- Computer Learning Zone
