This section of the database teaches you how each aspect works so that
you can understand how your database will perform and how all the individual
pieces work together. Any changes in the content of the database from the
regular example will be text with a background color like the one you are
reading from.
Databases are collections of information of similar items. We have all
used databases for one thing or another at different times. When you go
to the DMV to get your license renewed, the people there pull up your information
based on a query into their database. Each individual has similar information
to every other person in the database; name, address, license number, birthdate,
restrictions, etc., etc. Creating a database based on this similarity is
relatively simple if you know the parts.
The parts of a database are:
- The database: this is the entire collection of tables, fields, and
records held in one file or archive.
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- The database table(s) : this is where similar information with similar
qualities are held in one localized place in the database. If you owned
a clothing store and wanted to seperate your inventory into men's, women's,
and children's; a seperate table for each would be the best way to accomplish
this. It also makes it easier for someone to find what they are looking
for. If they want women's jeans, they can just look up jeans and only get
those in your inventory that are carried for women. They won't have to
sift through the mens's and children's jeans to find what they are looking
for.
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- The fields: these are the headings that seperate the information in
categories. All records contain a seperate set of fields that are common
with the other records. The database created for this example contains
six fields; catno, genre, artist, album, year, and songlist. Since each
disc has a set price, there was no need for a price field.
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- The records: this is the information associated with one entry that
contain all the fields. An entry consisting of a catno, genre, artist,
album, year, and songlist makes up one record in the example database.
What you see below is the search part of the database. Each section is
programmed so the returned results is specific to the field in which you
query. Try a search below and see how it works.
For more infomation on updating databases and to see how the browser
interface works check out database creation. |