Microsoft Access 2010 : Using Queries to Retrieve the Data You Need - Adding and Removing Fields, Modifying the Sort Order of a Query

Adding and Removing Fields

When viewing a query in Design view, you might decide to modify the fields that you want to include in the query’s output. In other words, you might want to add fields to or remove fields from the query grid. You would do this if you have an existing query and you realize that it is missing fields, if you have a new query and are adding fields for the first time, or are working with an existing query and realize that you no longer want to include a field in the query.

Adding a Field Between Other Fields

There are times when you need to insert a field between two existing fields. To do so, you just drag the field from the field list to the grid and drop it where you want it to appear. The fields already included in the query then move over to the right. For example, your query already contains City and Zip, and you have decided to add the State field and place it between the City and the Zip fields. You would drag the State field from the field list to add it to the query.

Adding a Field to the End of the Query Grid

Sometimes you want to add a field to the end of the list of existing fields. Fortunately, the process is extremely easy. You just double-click in the field list on the field that you want to add. Access adds the field at the end of the existing field list. This is the technique that I use to add fields to a new query as I build it. I generally double-click each field that I want to add to the query. Access simply adds each field to the query grid in the order that I select each field.

Adding a Group of Contiguous Fields to the Query Grid

It would be very tedious if you had to add each field, one field at a time, to add a contiguous group of fields from the field list to the query grid. Fortunately, Access allows you to add the fields as a group. The process is simple: This is a great technique to use when you are lucky because several of the fields you want to include in the query appear together in the field list:

Adding a Group of Noncontiguous Fields to the Query Grid

The process for adding a noncontiguous group of fields from the field list to the query grid is much simpler than adding the fields one at a time. You would add a noncontiguous list of fields when there are several fields that you want to add to the query, but they do not appear together in the field list. Here’s what you do:

Modifying the Sort Order of a Query

You might want to modify the sort order designated by the designer of a query. As described in the following sections, you can sort on a single field or you can sort on multiple fields and you can sort in ascending order or you can sort in descending order. For example, you may want to sort in ascending order by company name in a company table, but in descending order by sales amount in a sales table so that the highest sales amount appears first. An example where you may want to sort on multiple fields is employee last name combined with employee first name.

Sorting on a Single Field

Sorting on a single field is a simple process. It works like this:

1.	Open the desired query in Design view.
2.	Click in the Sort row of the field you want to sort by.
3.	Click the drop-down arrow button to display the choices for the sort order (see Figure 1). Figure 1. Selecting the sort order of a query.
4.	Select the sort order: Ascending— A to Z or 0 to 9 Descending— Z to A or 9 to 0 Not Sorted— No sorting
5.	Click the Run button. The data appears in the designated sort order.

Sorting on More Than One Field

The process for sorting on more than one field is slightly more complicated than the process of sorting on one field. It works like this:

Moving a Field on the Query Grid

Access sorts the data in the query grid from left to right, meaning that if the first name field appears on the query grid before the last name field (see Figure 2), the data appears in order by first name and then within first name by last name (see Figure 3). Because you probably want the data in order by last name and then by first name, you need to move the Last Name field so that it appears before the First Name field.

Figure 2. The query grid with the First Name field before the Last Name field.

Figure 3. Datasheet view with the First Name field before the Last Name field.

Use these steps to move a field on a query grid:

The resulting query grid is shown in Figure 4. The resulting output is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 4. The query grid with the Last Name field before the First Name field.

Figure 5. Datasheet view with the Last Name field before the First Name field.