All About Prompts

As stated on the previous page, Pre-Defined Lists often include as the first choice what is commonly referred to as a “prompt”. What is meant by a “prompt”? Often when you present the user with a list of choices, data entry can be made more user-friendly by having the first choice act as a suggestion as to what the user is asked to do. This is known as a “prompt”. For example, if you are completing a form with your address, the first item in the list of states might be “Select State”. There is also a nice added benefit of having a “prompt”. You will know if the user fails to make a selection because the “prompt”, which is the first choice in the pre-defined list, will still be the answer. Review the “Personal Computing Profile” in the syllabus to see how I used prompts. What could you use for a “prompt” in the list of zip codes? the list of teachers?

In Access, we can take the concept of a prompt one step further by setting a default value for the field. Let's look at the again at the field Zip Code.

In the example database we are creating, we have created a pre-defined list containing three zip codes, 40324, 40325, and 40326. Since the user is to select his/her zip code from the list, we need to add a prompt, say perhaps Click to Select Zip Code. This can be done by either:

The use of a default value is the preferred method in Access. Why? In a drop-down list, the first value in the list does not appear. The user must click on the field to open the list, and only then is the prompt visible. On the other hand, if you set a default value to be your prompt, that value does automatically appear. Now the user, prompted by your direction, clicks to open the list and makes his/her selection. Try setting the prompt for the Zip Code field one way, the for the Teacher field the other way. You will then be able to compare how default values work with each method.