Access Check If Field is Null, Conditional Macro

Jun 22, 2015 by azurous in Access

This article explains how you can create a conditional macro that will check if the value in a field is Null or not. If the value is null, it will set the field with a default value.

Consider the database below:

We want to create a macro that will check the value of the field [First Name]. If the field is empty, it will fill it with the value “N/A”.

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Contents

Step 1:

Select the table you want to apply the macro to from the Navigation Pane on the left. Click on the Before Change button on the Table ribbon:

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Step 2:

Select If from the drop down list:

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Step 3:

2 additional text boxes are added:

Conditional Expression: In this field you can create a conditional expression. If it returns true the action specified in the next field will be executed. For this example we will use the conditional expression below:

IsNull([First Name])

It checks if the value in the first field is null or not:

Add New Action: This field determines the action that will take place if the conditional expression in the previous field returns true. From the drop down list select “SetField”:

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Step 4:

After selecting “SetField” 2 new fields are added:

Name: The name of the field to modify. In this example we want to modify the [First Name] field when it is null, therefore input the value below in this field:

Students.First Name

Value: The value to replace the field with. In this example it is the text string “N/A”: