In 2004, we developed a Microsoft Access database for you to enter the record books from your county directly to the state office electronically. It worked well and has been updated with a new list of projects and awards again this year, as well as a few other changes, so please download this year’s software and do not use last year’s database. Click here to have your browser save the database file to your local system, if you haven’t already done so. You can save it anywhere on your local system that is convenient for you. There are no special location requirements, just remember where you saved it.
Press the “Options” button
If you are still using Access 2003, we will have to make other arrangements for you because we have updated to the new version (2007) and this file will not work in older versions of Access. Users of Access 2007 will be presented with the main menu screen but may well find that none of the buttons work until the security warning is cleared.
Enable the blocked content
The default security setting block the code within the program from running until you select “Enable this content” and press the “OK” button in the Microsoft Office Security Options dialog box. This will need to be repeated each time the database file is opened. There is a method to create a “trusted location” where the software will not block the code, but setting that up is beyond the scope of these instructions.
Establish the default County Name and email address for sending results
Once the security settings are satisfied, it will ask you to set the default county name and give you an opportunity to tell us where we should email the judging results. The year and interview dates fields on this dialog box are informational and set during program development. They cannot be changed as the fields are not editable. Clicking the “exit” button (the one with the door and arrow) will close the form and present the main menu or switchboard.
Click “Enter/View Record Book Entries” to begin entering data
Fill in data from News Information Sheet & Interview Preferences form
Each person submitting a record book will only need one information sheet typed in – multiple entries are entered in the “Project(s)” area. The screen layout follows that of the redesigned news information sheet, although the descriptions have been shortened to fit the computer screen. We have also created a section to record the entrant’s preferred interview times to help with interview scheduling.
Enter the information for each of your county’s record book entrants and their entries. The five buttons across the top change the “Award/Project” pull-down control’s contents to only show awards and projects from each of the five categories. If you begin to enter a book into the wrong category, pressing the escape key (often abbreviated “Esc”) will cancel an entry.
To delete an entry, press the record selection button (the grey bar along the left edge of the “Award/Project” area) and press the delete key. If you wish to delete the record for the individual, use the record selection button along the far left edge of the “Record Book Entries” form and press delete. You may well get a warning that deleting that record will cause “cascading deletes” and if so, select “yes” to allow it to delete any entries which have already been entered for the individual being deleted.
If you find that the county name is coming up with the wrong value, the button near the County field will call up the Configuration Information screen so that you can change the default value. The button with a picture of a door on it can be used to close the form and return to the main menu.
When all record book entries have been entered, you will need to run the “Transmittal Report” and verify that you have entered information for all of the books that you are sending. The report has a column of check boxes for you to verify each of the record books has been packed for sending to the state office. It also has a spot for the county extension educator to sign, indicating that the report is the complete list of books being turned in for judging.
Run the Transmittal Report, verify listing and sign
There is also a button for generating labels. Run this report and print them on Avery 5160 (30 labels/sheet) labels, then apply them to the upper right corner of each record book. This will give us a standard layout for the information about the book and aid in organizing them by project for judging. If a book is to be considered for more than one award, be sure to enter it in all areas and affix all applicable labels to the cover overlapping them so that the name of the award is visible.
Run labels for all entries, affix labels to record books
This year we have added a feature that will allow you to email your database to the office rather than having to include a copy with your box of books. The button labeled “Email Data to State Office” will create an email message addressed to me here at the State Office and attach your record book database to the message, IF you have Microsoft’s email program Outlook configured and available on your computer. Windows will warn you that a program is attempting to send an email message and you should “allow” it to do so.
“Allow” the software to send the message
You may also get a warning that the attached file is possibly unsafe. Microsoft’s email program has determined that Access database files pose a security risk and should not be transmitted. By default, Outlook will not deliver an Access database file but I have reconfigured my copy to allow them to be delivered.
“Yes” the message should be sent
If you do not use Outlook for email or are otherwise unable to use the “email” button, you will have to make a copy of your record book database and send that along with your books. A pull-down control on the main menu lets you select which drive letter on your computer a copy of your information will be copied to for submission to the State Office. If your computer is equipped with a floppy disk drive, put a blank floppy disk in the computer’s A: drive and press the “Save Data to” button. Unfortunately, it does not write to CD. If your computer has no floppy drive, change the drive letter to ‘C’ to write the file to your hard drive’s top level directory or plug in your memory stick and select the appropriate drive letter.
The name of the file will be your county name with an extension of “MDB” and a file type of “Microsoft Office Access Application”. That file could then be sent as an attachment to an email message addressed to me, carl.hamby@okstate.edu, if you wish to use something other than Outlook. Otherwise, you will then need to copy that file to a CD or copy it to a floppy disk using another computer and send it along with your record books. Pack the record books, a signed copy of the transmittal form and the disk with your data file in a box. Send the box to the State 4‑H Office so that it arrives before the entry deadline.
For any problems downloading, installing or running this program please contact Carl Hamby, State Computer Specialist at (405) 744-7961.