Sample Data

VB comes with the following two sample database files, both in the Microsoft Access format:

• BIBLIO.MDB : Contains database of computer book dealers and titles.
• NWIND.MDB : Contains an imaginary company's complete database system, including inventory, customers, vendors, employees, marketing statistics, and more.

All access database files end in the extension .MDB (for Microsoft database). Today's lesson uses the supplied NWIND.MDB database to demonstrate some of the data-related controls and commands.

The Data Control

When you want to access a database, the simplest way to do so is to use the data control. The data control is a control, which makes interaction with database files easier. Several programmers think that this control is slow and cumbersome tool for managing data.

Add the data control to a form, you'll see that the control looks like the one shown in following figure

Figure 23.1

The data control has these parts :

• The two inner arrows let you move forward and backward through a database table one record at a time.
• Outer arrows that move to the first and last records in a database table.
• A middle area displays whatever information from the database that you want to display.

The data control is bound control. You can bind many VB controls, such as a text box control, to a database. When a user moves through a database, the text box displays the field you've set up.

When you bind a control to the database, you don't have to worry about displaying the field data, because VB does all the work.