Hello, this is Crystal (music by Mark Davis)
I am going to tell you about the greatest tool I have ever written ... the Analyzer for Microsoft Access
It started 20 years ago and is completely free
Download links are in the video description.
Are you a developer?
Do you want to be part of the team to expand the Analyzer?
Join our project on CodePlex.
I've been helping folks design and build Access databases for a long time.
Many of them already have a database and I have to learn about it.
I use reports and data from the free Analyzer to quickly understand. You can do the same.
Many have contributed to the Analyzer project ... and some don't even realize it.
That is the beauty of an Access community that shares.
"If I have seen further, then it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" - Sir Isaac Newton
Some of the giants that have contributed to the Analyzer include Allen Browne, Brent Spaulding, Bill Mosca,
Mark Davis, Wayne Phillips, Terry Kreft, Stephen Lebans, Kent Gorrel,
Adrian Bell, Anders Ebro Christensen ... and many more ~ thank you ~
The Analyzer answers a lot of questions, some you didn't even know you had.
What tables are in the database?
How many records are in each table?
How many tables have records?
Which tables have the most records?
What is the record size in each table?
Will any records lose data if all the fields are filled out?
What fields are in each table?
What indexes are defined?
What are the relationships?
Where is the data?
Which fields are being used and how much information do they have?
There are so many things the Analyzer can do.
Your ideas can help it grow.
Is the Analyzer easy to use.
Open the Analyzer, Browse to a database, and click Run Analyzer.
I am analyzing the back-end of my free contact management database.
The Forms test takes a long time, and this is a back-end, so I'll skip it for now.
After the Analyzer runs, click the Reports tab.
You can come back later and look at the Analyzer reports.
Open the Analyzer.
Find a database you've analyzed.
Click the Reports tab and open the report you want.
To print, click on the Print icon.
Now I am going to analyze the front-end of my contacts database.
For the front-end, I do want to do the Forms test.
The Analyzer opens each form and reads it properties.
Then the Analyzer loops through all the controls, recording important information such as ControlSource,
Name & Style, Colors, Sizes, Visibility, and which Events are triggered.
When the Analyzer is done, you can look at reports.
Let's start by looking at the 5 Basic Analyzer reports
The Table Summary shows Tablename and description,
the Autonumber fieldname if there is one,
the number of records and fields in the table,
whether or not the table is linked,
the estimated record width,
and the number of Indexes including those that aren't visible.
The Deep Analysis report gives you information for a Data Dictionary and a lot more.
The report is sorted by Table name -- you see the Name, Description, and how many records and fields it has.
Each field in the table is listed showing its Name, Description and Data Type.
If the field is Text or Memo, the maximum number of characters used is counted.
An analysis is done.
How many records have a value for the field?
How many of those values are unique?
What does the data look like?
The Analyzer tells you the minimum value, the maximum value, and the most popular value.
It also shows if there is a Default Value, Format, or Validation Rule.
The Analyzer shows you if that field is an Autonumber, a Primary Key, or a Foreign Key.
If unicode compression is not set, you will see a '+' indicator.
The Field List shows an alphabetical list of all fields in the database and which tables they are in.
It is sorted by Field Name.
It also shows Field Description, Data Type and Size,
the number of values filled and how many of those values are unique.
The Table Indexes report shows which indexes are created for each table
including indexes that are defined by Access to enforce referential integrity
and are not visible when you look at the table design.
The Relationships report is sorted by the Primary table.
For each relationship, you see the Foreign table name, Field Names, Data Types, Sizes, and other Field information.
There are other reports in the Analyzer ... and not nearly enough.
This is the original Relationships Diagram for the Analyzer.
This is what the Analyzer Relationships diagram looks like now.
If you want to take advantage of the additional information in the Analyzer and build more reports, share back.
All help is welcome on the Analyzer project.
Through sharing, we will all get better.
(music by Mark Davis -- from Beacons)