Before we discuss how to use a switchboard, let’s answer one question – what the heck is a switchboard?

Switchboards of old were just that – boards that were covered with switches and wires, much like a telephone board. An incoming phone call would reach the board, the operator would find out who the call was for, and then make the proper connection with the destination. The switchboards in Access are similar. You, the operator, decide what it is you want to do with the database and press the button to do the job. In order to see a switchboard, we’ll need to make a new database by using one of the templates provided by Access.

If you recall the Practice Exercise in the previous section, you browsed some of the templates. For the purpose of this example, we will skip the construction phase and assume that there is a blank Expense Tracking database template built. (We will go over the Database Wizard in detail later in this manual.) For this manual, let’s assume that you are the Bugs Rabbit, head of the upstart cartoon empire Warner Cousins, and you want to keep track of your company’s expenses.

For convenience, any database that contains a switchboard form will always display the Main Switchboard whenever the database file is opened. Therefore, when you open the database file you will be brought to the Switchboard:

Rather than worry about manually editing records and tables, Access makes it easy to begin working on the database through a clean interface. To enter a business lunch into your expenses database, click the first button marked Enter/View Expense Reports by Employee. A new window will appear. Here you can enter your employee data and then click the Expense Report Form button at the bottom of the screen to enter your business lunch:

The switchboard performs other useful tasks, depending on the database template that was used at the time. Switchboards are also completely customizable and can perform nearly any custom functionality you want.