M a c r o s
Access
Remember the four categories of objects in Access you should know already:
Access allows so-called macros, which are small programs. Macros are objects of a fifth category.
To create a macro you click on "macros" in the database window. Other than for the other objects, there is no wizard to create them, you just click on "new" and a design window appears, showing (initially) two columns, one for the name of the action, and one for your comment. You should make it a habit to write comments--- you will be surprised how strange and and unintelligible your own macros look to you after 3 months.
A macro consists of a sequence of basic actions. Each action is written in a different row. There are 56 of these actions to choose from, and you see the list of possibilities when clicking in the name column and clicking on the arrow for the dropdown menu. Explanation for each action is shown in the lower right corner. Some actions have arguments, see the lower left part.
For our first macro, try the following sequence of actions:
Save it as macro "mcr1", and test it by clicking on the exclamation
mark button 
. Next open the macro again and include several empty lines by right
clicking at the very left of any action row and choosing "Insert
Rows". Empty lines are ignored and may be used for structuring your macros.
You can also rearrange the action rows by double clicking again on the very
left, and then grabbing and moving the row, but be careful here---it changes
what the macro does.
If you have many macros, or if macros with some inner connection, or if you use
macros as subprograms, it makes sense
to use macro groups. Create a new macro. Click on the Names button 
and a new column for the names will appear. Here you write the names of the
macros in your group. It's best to separate them by empty rows.
If you run the macro group, only the first macro in it is executed.
A fourth column in macros or macro groups is possible. It is generated using
the conditions icon 
in the design view.
...............
No "else" is possible here. If you want to repeat the condition of the previous row, just type an ellipsis "..." into the conditions column. Use "NOT" to negate the condition.
For our second macro, we want to create something that goes through the customers table and gives some comment if the country is Switzerland. We create a macro group called "helloswiss", containing an (empty) dummy at the top, the main macro, called "main", a (sub)macro called "loop", and finally a (sub)macro called "greeting". The "main" macro should contain the following actions:
If you want to run a certain maction a fixed times, just type in the number of repetitions as argument into the "Run Macro" action.
In the Database Window, click on "Forms" and then double click on "Create Form in Design View". Right click on the form and click on "Toolbox" to make it visible. Click on the button symbol there and click where you want to place it on your form. Choose "Miscellaneous" and "Run Macro" as the action that should be performed when clicking the button. Click "Next" and choose the macro. Choose text and name for the button. Repeat this for other buttons.
After that, you can start your macros by starting the form and clicking the buttons there. But how do we conveniently start this form? Well ...
You can name one macro "AutoExec". This macro will be executed when the database is loaded and opened.
Erich Prisner, 11/22/2003