3. Software Development, Testing & Installation
6. Customisation of the interface
a.
I customised the generic interface of the forms in my database by getting rid of the standard navigation buttons and adding more user-friendly ones (as well as some extras). This is shown in the screenshot above. I also, customised my forms by adding the logo, changing the font style, colour and size and changing the colour of the background.
To get rid of the standard navigation buttons, I had to open up the form properties and change the ‘Navigation buttons’ option to no:
I then added buttons to the form and used the wizard to add previous & next record buttons, the option to delete a record or add a new one and to save the information and go back to the main menu.
I did this for all of my data entry forms:
Add/Edit Child Information
Add/Edit Worker Information
Add/Edit An Activity
Add/Record An Attendance.
b.
As shown previously, I customised the reports that are present on my database:
The screenshot shows that I added th ecompnay logo to my reports, changed the font style and the colour, aswell as changing the orientation of the page to landscape to ensure that all the information could fit on to the page. I kept the automated date and page number at the buttom because I felt it necessary for the purpose of the reports so that the nursery knows exactly when it was printed and how many pages were included (so they know if any are missing). On the invoice reports, I also added the ‘Total’ at the bottom of the reports to customise it in a way that would help the end user, as well as the customer reciving the invoice.
C.
I created my own dialogue boxes to allow users to search through data to ensure that the database was more user friendly then if the standard access searching dialogue boxes were used:
D.
To make it easier for the user and to help diminish mistakes, I customised my data input forms so that on certain, suitable fields, only options from a given list (combo box) can be selected:
E.
Another way in which I customised the database is the way in which I added the clock to the main menu interface as requested by the user in the Requirement Specification:
This allows the user to be able to quickly see the time, when it is important. For example, when entering information about when a child arrives or leaves the nursery.
F.
In order to meet the client’s specification about having a username and password logging in system, I created my own custom log in box which differs from the standard grey access password box (which does not give the option of usernames):
In addtion, it order to allow the user to change their passwords, I created another form so that the user would not have to work through code (which may confuse them) in order to add or change usernames or passwords:
The code for creating this function can be found under Section 5b (Codes & Formulea) on pages 22-23.
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Ella Ennos-DannCandidate Number: 6083Centre Number: 27230