Creating a Database for Event Analysis and Reporting
We concluded Part I
of this article with an exported text file, containing the data from the Application
log, which we had generated using the Elogdmp utility within a command
prompt window. We now have a data source to import, and upon which to form a
database within MS Access.
Practice: Loading
the Exported Log Data to MS Access
Let's start MS Access
and proceed, taking the following steps:
1.
Go to the Start button on the PC, and then navigate to the Microsoft
Office Access icon, as we did in the first lesson of this series, Create a Calculated Field with the Expression Builder.
2.
Click the icon
to start MS Access.
MS
Access opens, and may display the initial dialog. If so, close it.
3.
Select File
-> New from the top menu.
4.
Select Blank
Database... from the options that are available.
The
selection can be made from the Task Pane in MS Access 2003, as shown in Illustration
1, among other ways. Depending upon your version of Access, this may
differ.
Illustration 1: Select Blank Database ...
The File New Database dialog appears. Here we give
the new database a name and designate where we wish to place it.
5.
Type Event_Log
into the File Name box of the dialog, after navigating to a place to put
the database.
The File New
Database dialog appears as depicted in Illustration 2.
Illustration 2: The File New Database Dialog
6.
Click the Create
button.
The new database is created, and appears as shown in Illustration
3.
Illustration 3: The New Database Appears
7.
Select File
--> Get External Data from the main menu.
8.
Select Import
... from the cascading context menu, as depicted in Illustration 4.
Illustration 4: Select Import ...
The Import dialog appears, from which we can select
the file to import into the new database.
9.
Select the Text
Files option in the Files of Type selector at the bottom of the Import
dialog.
10.
Navigate to
the location of the exported dump file. (I placed mine, which I called 022004_app.txt, into the D:\temp folder on my computer).
11.
Select the
exported log file in the File Name box of the Import dialog, as
shown in Illustration 5.
Illustration 5: The Import Dialog - Dump File Selected
12.
Click the Import
button.
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