CPSC 203 Introduction to Computers Tutorial 03 & 29 By Jie (Jeff) Gao

12 & 13 October 2004CPSC 203 Tutorials by Jie Gao 2 Database Concept A collection of information related to a particular subject or purpose Database structure: –Database Tables –Fields Fields have data types –Should be explicitly defined, not like Excel

12 & 13 October 2004CPSC 203 Tutorials by Jie Gao 3 Records Information in databases are stored as records –A “row” in a table –Containing values for each field –Databases store records without considering their orders –The unit of many operations

12 & 13 October 2004CPSC 203 Tutorials by Jie Gao 4 DBMS Database Management System Microsoft Access is a DBMS in Office

12 & 13 October 2004CPSC 203 Tutorials by Jie Gao 5 Access – Introduction A component in Office You need to save an Access database first (unlike other Office documents) Objects in an Access database –Tables –Forms –Queries –Reports –…

12 & 13 October 2004CPSC 203 Tutorials by Jie Gao 6 ATTENTION – WebDisk and Access DO NOT open an Access database directly from WebDisk –Otherwise you will probably lose your data –Once this happens, you have no way to get data back. No kidding! ALWAYS copy Access databases from WebDisk to the Desktop or “My Documents”, then open it –Remember to copy the updated database back to the WebDisk

12 & 13 October 2004CPSC 203 Tutorials by Jie Gao 7 Access – Creating Tables Use the table design view to define tables Give names to each field, and define data types for them Field options –Required / Index / Size / … Primary Key –The unique identifier for a record Save and give a table name

12 & 13 October 2004CPSC 203 Tutorials by Jie Gao 8 Access – Relationships Relationships help keep the data consistent Different types of relationships –One-to-One –One-to-Many –Many-to-Many Creating a relationship –Menu Tools  Relationships