So, after several fits and starts, endless planning, many changed decisions and a few bumps along the way, the spare bathroom remodel is nearly complete. We only have the shower to tile, which I will start prepping for this weekend, but we have a functioning bathroom again and we can once more move around the family room. The saga was this:


Start in April
Tore tile off wall in shower
Drywall moldy
Tear off drywall, studs rotten in spots
Surgically remove sections of studs, replace parts, add companion studs
Build wall at end of shower to get rid of "shelf" in shower
Add studs to cement wall to secure heating unit
All on hold in June for being ill, trip outside, company
Restart in September
Remove tub
Fix too large hole in cement floor
Neighbor replaces shower plumbing
Place shower pan
Durock shower walls and drywall walls
Replace lower half of drywall due to long ago, not us, water damage
Remove washer/dryer to remove wallpaper, fix holes in wall
Faucets bad on W/D water supply
Shut off water and replace
Bottom drywall also needs to be replaced
Replace W/D to do laundry
Go to get last load from dryer, step into 1 inch of water
Vanity water supply has broken
Wet vac, pull up carpet in bedroom closet
Turn up heat, turn on two fans, three plus days to dry
Next day, replace all 30 year old water shut-offs and supply hoses
Tear out vanity and toilet
Remove Washer and Dryer
Drywall here needs to be replaced
Mud and sand, mud and sand, mud and sand drywall
Prime drywall, texture drywall, prime drywall, paint drywall
Install upper cabinets
Tear up vinyl flooring
Glue/Wax and backing remain
Scrap floor with razor blade thingy for week and a half
Map out tile on graph paper
Mark floor and chalk line
Laying out tile to check
Back into vanity water supply, goose myself
Stand up and belt catches water supply
Water turns on, hits light, breaker pops, in dark in basement at night
Turn off water, turn on breaker
Water dripping from light, ceiling, cabinets, all over floor and me
All dried out, no repainting necessary
Spend twelve hours tiling floor
Two days later spend 3 hours grouting floor
Three days later clean up grouting and treat
Caulk all around
Install toilet
Install vanity
Install faucets, then top on vanity
Drain pipes don’t match, trip to Lowe’s, again, pipes now fit
Return W/D to room again
Install accessories
Christmas Break is over
Shower to complete
Saga will continue I am sure

Notice the drawer in the bottom of the vanity. Nice feature we thought since cabinets above washer/dryer are for that stuff, and cabinets on end wall are only 7 inches deep.

Anyways, that is what it is. We are pleased and have done nearly all the work ourselves.

Later

Moonset/Sunset

This is the view from my classroom. The mountains in the background are part of the extended Alaska range. Every morning, especially in the winter, I usually have some fairly beautiful scenes from the glow of the sun on the snow on the mountains. Sometimes reds, sometimes pinks, this particular morning in early December with all the fog it was more blue.

Moonrise over the parking lot at school.

This picture is beyond the parking lot and zoomed in.

This is the sunrise in about 2:oo in the afternoon after the moonset the same morning.

Textbook Review

Textbook Review

I think that the textbook was what the title said. The Complete Reference. It was not a textbook for a structured learning approach. The text is more for a user familiar with Access Dababase and to be used as a reference. The text was complete in the aspect of covering all the bases in explaining all of the various types of queries and events and other such topics. There was really nothing that I could not find in the text, but when I wanted an example of a concept, maybe formatted in a step by step context to learn a specific procedure, there could have been clearer examples and/or margin notes highlighting such concepts.

I found the writing of the text very easily understood and complete. The author’s style of writing was not so technical that you were running for other sources to explain material, but was in depth enough to explain the topic in full. Even on more technical aspects, when I needed to reread a passage, it was to better grasp the concept rather than a non-understanding of the material.

In some of the more advanced concepts, besides simply stating the topic and giving a definition of the term or concept, an actual example presented as an explanation might have been helpful. It is here that I feel that the CD could have been vastly more valuable. When I initially opened the CD to look at the files I thought to myself, “This is all there is? Why waste the time making the CD?” Two database files with some associated pictures and graphics, not specifically referenced in the text to a great degree, is not my idea of a data disk to accompany a text/reference, especially of this size and completeness. A specific data file corresponding to each chapter would have been very helpful, especially when settings to achieve a specific task needed to be set. A user could have then accessed the file and the properties for such details.

Access Security

Security

There are four basic items that you can do to secure your database.

1. Password protect – Somewhat effective but there are many programs out there that can be used to bypass passwords.

2. Encoding – This is somewhat more effective since the coding method is more random and harder to get by.

3. Groups and Access – You can create user groups and limit access by group. This can be effective but it can also be a nightmare in maintaining who is in what group and who has what access. It seems that there is always someone that overlaps user groups and needs full access in one group but only access to one thing in another group and then you have to decide how to grant that access.

4. Hiding – This can be from two approaches. On your network system, items in your database can be hidden from some users and not others. Sort of the out-of-sight-out-of-mind approach. For many users this will work just fine. Other users see this as a challenge to find the data.

The other part of this is hiding your computers, and thus your data from the internet as a whole so that hackers and other such slime cannot get a ping in response when they are seeking out vulnerable systems.

Why To Secure

Some times your data is proprietary and this information needs to be secured from your competitors. If your knowledge got out you might lose your competitive advantage.

Your data might sometimes be secret. Think of all the data that government agencies have that is secret, not the least to say at the CIA.

By law, only some data is to be released to certain people. Think of the forms you sign at the doctor’s office as to who can view your records and FRPA laws at our universities.

Sometimes data is out there to be viewed on systems, as public knowledge, but is not to be changed by the viewer. This could be public information such as property information at city hall and other public records.

Personal information is very important to keep secure. We have heard about Cendant being hacked into last year and thousands of people’s personal data was comprised. In this day and age of identity theft, keeping our names and SSN’s secure is important.

Data integrity is also important. We want to know that the information that we are looking at is accurate, up-to-date and reliable. We do so much of our research on-line now that we want to know that the information that we may be relying on to validate our suppositions is true and accurate.


Security Flaws

First and foremost, as with any computer program, there is always the dangers of viruses and worms that may be programmed to attack a specific program and Access is no different. There have also been instances of macros being programmed that either run automatically or when you have downloaded and installed them as part of your Access data.

Remote Code executions for Microsoft office seem to be the greatest occurrence of vulnerability of security flaws and need to be dealt with. There were many instances of this, mostly for Office itself, but occasionally for PowerPoint and some of the other applications, but for the most part they applied to the application as a whole.

In other words, someone at another location can access the vulnerability through your office program to gain access and even control over your computer and then do what they want with your data and/or your computer.

Exchange Limitations and Complications

Limitations to Exchanging Database Objects


First of all, there are some basics in exchanging data that are true for all circumstances. You should have your current programs updated so that you have the latest patches and tools available.
When importing from other applications you should also be aware that the other database programs that you are importing from may not be consistent in their labeling conventions as to what you are used to in Access. Be aware of these differences when labels are created and data is formatted.

If you are importing files from text or spreadsheet programs, how is the information formatted. Is it coming in a fixed-width format or a delimited format, and if in delimited format, what is the separating character.

Also if your field sizes are not bit enough in the fields you are importing to, your information may be truncated. You may also be importing one type of data into a field formatted as something different and you will get an error. Other errors that you may see are key violation, validation rule failure, null in required field and unparsable record. These could result from rules you have set in the formatting of the fields in the table you are attempting to import into.

While exporting, especially to older versions of programs, you need to be aware that file names may be truncated as older versions of programs often only allowed names eight characters long.

When exporting you also want to be careful that your data formats are common, as unusual formats may cause problems during the export process or the import process in the other program. It is also smart to use the export wizard since this will help guide you through the process and choose delimiting characters for a smooth export/import process.

Some restrictions that apply are:

1. Only tables can be exported to an Access 97 and earlier file.

2. The Link Table Wizard used the first row of data as the column headings. You may need to adjust this in the table you are wanting to import.

3. You cannot update a linked Microsoft Excel spreadsheet in the Access Database tables. This is by Microsoft’s design and you must either open the linked Excel workbook in Excel, make the changes, save, and then close the workbook. Or you can import the Excel workbook into Access, make your changes, then export back to Excel.


Sharing Complications

When databases are being used, there is invariably a competition for the data being used. Unless the settings are such, when one person has files open, others may be restricted for accessing them. The administrator needs to decide, do you want to just share the data tables or the queries and reports and forms as well? What levels of access are granted to the various users and user groups.

How is the data to be maintained and synchronized? Are there multiple users accessing the data at once so it is constantly updated, is each file blocked from another’s use while in use so that the changes are instant before access by the next user, or are changes merged during a nightly update utility run? How accurate would any of these methods be for your data? Is the data to be locked when one is using it so others cannot?

Another point that needs to be considered is when to backup the data, how and to where? How sensitive the data is could dictate these considerations.

Customizing Access

Customizing Menus and Toolbars

I like full menus to show all the time when I am working with the Office Suite. This is possibly the first thing that I customize right away.

I also sometimes add buttons to the tool bars for things that I do often so I don’t have to go to a menu all the time. An example is a macro that I program and assign to a print report button. I’ve done this often in Excel but not in Access yet. Good food for thought.

Something else, after reading this chapter, that I might do is to create several customized buttons and create a custom menu for common tasks that I use routinely or have programmed rather than adding many, many buttons. This might work for tasks that I perform on a fairly routine basis, but not enough for a button on a toolbar.

I also tend to like to keep my hands on the keyboard and not use the mouse when possible, therefore I like keystrokes and being able to assign ctrl-codes is nice as it can be part of my regular typing and I don’t have to remove a hand from the keyboard to operate the mouse.

Events

Events

Basically a database uses all eight of the events that are a part of action when you are using your database. Some more than other obviously, but all eight are used at one time or another during normal database construction and use.

Data Event – High Use – This event occurs probably the most of all and I would be using it a great deal for the database that I am creating. I am dealing all the time with the registration data from the very beginning and enter, edit and delete data as registration details change about each contestant.

Error and Timer Events – Low Use – This event would only be used in my database while constructing the various components and possibly while I am running queries or other tasks when I may not get an answer. None of my data needs to be updated through a timed action.

Filter Events – Medium Use – Sometimes it is just quicker to go into the data table and run a filter. Once a database is constructed though and queries are developed, the use of filters would probably decrease. I would use these sometimes as I have described above. I would hope to get away from them more and use queries that are run by buttons from my switchboard.

Focus Events – High Use – Most of my data manipulation will occur through the used of forms whether input, editing or deleting. From these forms my queries are run which result in reports. These are the two focus events that are active often. I will be manipulating data often through forms and running numerous reports at the conclusion of the competition. I rely on the reports.

Keyboard Events – High Use – Much of my data is input through the keyboard and creating the queries is a high combination of keystrokes and mouse actions. The first and second most active input is through the keyboard. First when I input it and second after I am manipulating the data.

Mouse Events – High Use – Once my data is input through the keyboard, and other than some input of criteria for queries, much of my action in the keyboard is through the mouse. So, mouse events are second and then my first active input.

Print Events – Medium Use – Printing will occur at very specific times during the use of my database. When it is used it will be very important. During the manipulation and use of the database, print events will be of little importance.

Windows Events – Medium/High Use – When I am navigating through forms to input/edit/delete data or resizing such a window I will be using a window event. Likewise if I am working on reports, then I will be using a window event. Where I am at in the development of this database will determine if I am using a window event.