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Naming Conventions
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Database development includes naming object files consistently. You
do this by using the assigned naming conventions for each object within
Microsoft Access 2000. Naming conventions are not mandatory, but they do
make your work consistent. If you plan on sharing a database with others,
then it is a particularly good idea to use them.
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The
Leszynski Naming Convention
The naming convention used in this document is called the Leszynski Naming
Convention (or LNC). Originally suggested by Stan Leszynski and Greg Reddick
in a white paper entitled "The Leszinski/Reddick Guidelines for Access
1.x, 2.x" it has become the convention used by Access and Visual Basic
developers. This naming convention suggests that you precede object names
with three letters. These letters are called "tags" and enable you to open,
edit, and troubleshoot without having to decode what is contained within
the object itself.
Let's say you have just created a table called "My Table". The LNC way
to save that table is to start the filename with the tag "tbl" (see Figure
1, below). Please note, file names can be more than one word, but underscores
and spaces should not be utilized and each word within the file name should
begin with a capital letter. Since databases are often shared with others,
this format allows other users to easily identify the file and it saves
you time when you begin to use some of the more advanced features that
Access has to offer.
FIGURE 1. "Save As" dialog box
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Object Naming Conventions
The same format applies to the other objects within Access, the only thing
that changes is the naming convention for the object you are working with.
For a listing of the different naming conventions, please refer to table
below.
| Table |
tbl |
| Query |
qry |
| Form |
frm |
| Report |
rpt |
| Macro |
mcr |
| Module |
mdl |
| Database |
dbf |
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