PARAMETERS Declaration (Microsoft Access SQL)

Access Developer Reference

Declares the name and data type of each parameter in a parameter query.

Syntax

PARAMETERS name datatype [, name datatype [, …]]

The PARAMETERS declaration has these parts:

Part Description
name The name of the parameter. Assigned to the Name property of the Parameter object and used to identify this parameter in the Parameters collection. You can use name as a string that is displayed in a dialog box while your application runs the query. Use brackets ([ ]) to enclose text that contains spaces or punctuation. For example, [Low price] and [Begin report with which month?] are valid name arguments.
datatype One of the primary Microsoft Access SQL data types or their synonyms.
Remarks

For queries that you run regularly, you can use a PARAMETERS declaration to create a parameter query. A parameter query can help automate the process of changing query criteria. With a parameter query, your code will need to provide the parameters each time the query is run.

The PARAMETERS declaration is optional but when included precedes any other statement, including SELECT.

If the declaration includes more than one parameter, separate them with commas. The following example includes two parameters:

  PARAMETERS [Low price] Currency, [Beginning date] DateTime;

You can use name but not datatype in a WHERE or HAVING clause. The following example expects two parameters to be provided and then applies the criteria to records in the Orders table:

  PARAMETERS [Low price] Currency,
  [Beginning date] DateTime;
  SELECT OrderID, OrderAmount
  FROM Orders
  WHERE OrderAmount > [Low price]
  AND OrderDate >= [Beginning date];

Example

This example requires the user to provide a job title and then uses that job title as the criteria for the query.

This example calls the EnumFields procedure, which you can find in the SELECT statement example.

  Sub ParametersX()
Dim dbs As Database, qdf As QueryDef
Dim rst As Recordset
Dim strSql As String, strParm As String
Dim strMessage As String
Dim intCommand As Integer

' Modify this line to include the path to Northwind
' on your computer.
Set dbs = OpenDatabase("NorthWind.mdb")

' Define the parameters clause.
strParm = "PARAMETERS [Employee Title] CHAR; "

' Define an SQL statement with the parameters
' clause.
strSql = strParm & "SELECT LastName, FirstName, " _
    & "EmployeeID " _
    & "FROM Employees " _
    & "WHERE Title =[Employee Title];"

' Create a QueryDef object based on the 
' SQL statement.
Set qdf = dbs.CreateQueryDef _
    ("Find Employees", strSql)

Do While True
    strMessage = "Find Employees by Job " _
        & "title:" & Chr(13) _
        & "  Choose Job Title:" & Chr(13) _
        & "   1 - Sales Manager" & Chr(13) _
        & "   2 - Sales Representative" & Chr(13) _
        & "   3 - Inside Sales Coordinator"
    
    intCommand = Val(InputBox(strMessage))
    
    Select Case intCommand
        Case 1
            qdf("Employee Title") = _
                "Sales Manager"
        Case 2
            qdf("Employee Title") = _
                "Sales Representative"
        Case 3
            qdf("Employee Title") = _
                "Inside Sales Coordinator"
        Case Else
            Exit Do
    End Select
    
    ' Create a temporary snapshot-type Recordset.
    Set rst = qdf.OpenRecordset(dbOpenSnapshot)

    ' Populate the Recordset.
    rst.MoveLast
        
    ' Call EnumFields to print the contents of the 
    ' Recordset. Pass the Recordset object and desired
    ' field width.
    EnumFields rst, 12

Loop

' Delete the QueryDef because this is a
' demonstration.
dbs.QueryDefs.Delete "Find Employees"

dbs.Close

End Sub

See Also

EXECUTE Statement (Microsoft Access SQL)

HAVING Clause (Microsoft Access SQL)

Microsoft Access Database Engine SQL Data Types

SELECT Statement (Microsoft Access SQL)

WHERE Clause (Microsoft Access SQL)