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How-to article Do you and your students spend too much time updating old pictures, spreadsheets, or documents one by one in your files? Create a picture database with Microsoft Office Access 2002 that automatically updates every time you change a linked item in your files. Using the OLE Object field type you can link an object—such as a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet, a Microsoft Office Word document, a sound, or even a graphic (picture)—to a file or embed the object in the record of the Office Access database. When the original file changes, a linked object in your database updates automatically. Embedded objects, however, are not automatically updated. On This PageLesson information|
Instructional level | | • | Intermediate user | | • | Advanced user |
| School level | | • | Elementary school (Grade 2 and up) | | • | Middle school (11–15 years) | | • | High school (14–18 years) |
| Curriculum areas | | • | Language arts | | • | Mathematics | | • | Social studies | | • | Science |
| Software required | | • | Microsoft Office Access 2002 | | • | Microsoft Office 2000 | | • | Microsoft Office XP |
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Sample uses of picture databases for specific curriculum areas | • | Social studies: Pictures of states, countries, world leaders, cultural items, and historians | | • | History: Propaganda posters from World War I or World War II, including their descriptions and intent | | • | Biology: Pictures of mammals, insects, the human body, and plants | | • | Mathematics: Pictures of triangles, polygons, acute or obtuse angles, and tessellations | | • | Art: Pictures of artists, artists' works, and art concepts | | • | Art history: Pictures showing different architectural styles | | • | Music: Pictures of instruments and composers | | • | Culinary arts: Pictures of food groups and prepared dishes for a recipe or nutrition database |
ObjectiveUse Microsoft Office Access 2002 to define a field to contain a picture (OLE Object). Here's how: Define a field to contain a picture (OLE Object) 1. | After planning and researching a topic, find pictures that you would like to use in the database. Try an online resource such as Microsoft Office Design Gallery Live at http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx. For convenience, save the pictures in a folder so that you can easily find them when you are ready to insert them into the database. | 2. | Open Microsoft Office Access 2002, and create a new database. Give it a name that fits the type of database that you are creating. | 3. | Create a new table in Design view. (To open Design view, go to the View menu and click Design.) | 4. | Enter the field names needed for your database. When you get to the field name that will contain the picture, be sure to select OLE Object as the Data Type. Finish defining all the fields needed for your database. | 5. | Close the Design view, assign a name to your table, and then save your table. | 6. | Create a form in which you can insert and see the pictures that you add to your database. First, make sure that the new table is selected in the Table list. Click the New Object: AutoForm button on the toolbar. A new form appears with all of your visible fields, showing just one record at a time. | 7. | Enter information into each field. When you get to the OLE Object field, right-click the field, and then select Insert Object. | 8. | From the File menu, select Create, and then click Browse to locate your pictures folder. | 9. | Select the picture that you want to insert, and then click OK. The name of the file and its location will appear in the File box. | 10. | If you need to link to the original file, select Link. (Remember, with a linked file, the object in your database will be updated if the original file is changed.) Click OK. Your picture will appear in the OLE Object field within the form. |
Tip: If the space for the picture is too small or too large, adjust the size in Design view. Innovative teaching 
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