1. Introduction to Database Concepts and Microsoft Access 2000
Health Science Center
IT Center – Training

2. Database Concepts and Access 2000
Introduction
Database
Microsoft Access
Design and Creation
Plan
Tables
Queries
Forms
Reports

3. Data vs. Information
Data – a collection of facts made up of text, numbers and dates: Murray /18/86
Information - the meaning given to data in the way it is interpreted:
Mr. Murray is a sales person whose annual salary is $35,000 and whose hire date is July 18, 1986.

4. What is a Database? A structured collection of related data
An address book, a telephone directory, a timetable, etc.

5. Database Structure
Store
DATA
Sort
Best Method?
Retrieve

6. Why Use an Electronic Database?
Speed
Ease of Use
Versatility

7. Design and Document Your Database
A designers best tools are a pencil and paper
It is important to plan what you are going to do
The sooner you touch the computer the sooner you’ll make a mistake
If you don’t plan you will often have to start again
Document what you are doing, will you remember what you did in three months time?

8. Basic Database Concepts
Name: Barry Harris College: Medicine Tel:
File (Table)
A set of related records
Record
Name: Barry Harris College: Medicine Tel:
A collection of data about an individual item
Field
Name: Barry Harris
A single item of data common to all records

9. An Example of a File (Table)
Records
Name
GatorLink
Phone
College
Graff
rgraff
Pharmacy
Harris
bharris
Medicine
Ipswich
zipswich
PHHP
Fields

10. What is a Relational Database?
A relational database is a collection of tables from which data can be accessed in many different ways without having to reorganize the database tables.
That is, the tables can “talk” to each other. We can link (relate) our tables to find:
Which doctors are seeing a patient
Which students are in which class
Which item is selling the most on Friday’s

11. What is a Relational Database?
A relational database allows the definition of data structures, storage and retrieval operations and integrity constraints.
Integrity constraints provide a way of ensuring that changes made to the database by authorized users do not result in a loss of data consistency

12. Basic Design Rules of Relational Databases
Unique Field Names
Here we see an Address 1 & 2. One of them should be for Campus Addresses, and one for Home Addresses, but because of the vague field names, some data has been entered incorrectly.
Name
GatorLink
Address1
Address2
Graff
rgraff
PO Box Gainesville, FL 32610
123 West Main Street, Gainesville, FL 32601
Harris
Bharris
PO Box Gainesville, FL 32610
456 South 3rd Road Newberry, FL 32684
Ipswich
zipswich
846 West 52nd Ave Gainesville, FL 32609
PO Box Gainesville, FL 32610

13. Basic Design Rules of Relational Databases
No Calculated or Derived Fields
If we wanted to see how long an employee had been working with us, we can calculate their Length Employed by subtracting their hire date from today’s date. However, since today’s date is always changing, this data very quickly becomes stagnant.
Name
GatorLink
Date Hired
Length Employed
Graff
rgraff
05/15/2000
4 yrs, 2 mo
Harris
bharris
02/08/1986
18 yrs, 6 mo
Ipswich
zipswich
12/15/1999
4 yrs, 7 mo
Access will let you create calculations in queries, forms and reports.

14. Basic Design Rules of Relational Databases
Data is broken down into Smallest Logical Parts
Putting all of the home address in one field may make for convenient data entry, but it makes it very difficult to work with the data. For example, what if I needed to sort by City or Zip Code? Pulling fields together is fairly simple, pulling them apart is very difficult.
Name
GatorLink
Home Address
Graff
rgraff
123 West Main Street, Gainesville, FL 32601
Harris
Bharris
456 South 3rd Road, Newberry, FL 32684
Ipswich
zipswich
846 West 52nd Ave, Gainesville, FL 32609

15. Basic Design Rules of Relational Databases
Unique Records
If you don’t have unique records, your database can’t tell which record you may be referring to.
Name
GatorLink
Phone
College
Graff
rgraff
2-3900
Pharmacy
COP
Harris
bharris
Medicine
Ipswich
zipswich
PHHP

16. Primary Keys
Name
GatorLink
Phone
College
Graff
rgraff
Pharmacy
Harris
bharris
Medicine
Ipswich
zipswich
PHHP
To ensure that each record is unique in each table, we can set one field to be a Primary Key field.
A Primary Key is a field that that will contain no duplicates and no blank values.
Looking at the table above, what would be the best Primary Key?

17. Primary Keys
Name GL
Phone
College
Graff
rgraff
Pharmacy
Harris
bharris
Medicine
Ipswich
zipswich
PHHP
While each column in this particular data set has unique data, the field that will work best for us is GL (GatorLink). Many employees will work for the same college, have the same last name and possibly even share telephone numbers, but each employee should have a unique GatorLink ID.
When there is not a unique field in your data set, you can use an AutoNumber. Access can create incremented or random AutoNumbers for your primary key.

18. Questions To Ask Yourself
What do I want?
(Outputs)
What have I got?
(Inputs)
What do I need to do to get there?
(Process)

19. Database Example: Bird Study
What do I want?
I want to know what kind of birds come to my neighborhood.
Which birdfeeders work best to attract them.
What have I got?
Volunteers have offered their yards and bird feeders.
What do I need to do to get there?
I need to have the data collected by the volunteers.
I need to set up and enter the data in my database.

20. Table of Yards 2 1
Yards
Yard Number
Owner
Address
Phone Number 3 4

21. Table of Birdfeeders Bird Feeders Bird Feeder Number Material
- Wood, Plastic, Metal
Location in Yard
- Sun, Partial/Full Shade

22. Relationship: One Yard - Many Birdfeeders
There must be one field in both tables that is the same, so that the database knows how the tables connect. In this case, we need to know which yard each bird feeder is located.
Bird Feeders
Bird Feeder Number
Material
Location in Yard
Yard Number 1 ∞
Each Yard can have many Birdfeeders, but each Birdfeeder can only be in one Yard. This is called a one to many (1 - ∞) Relationship.
Yards
Yard Number
Owner
Address
Phone Number

23. Table of Birds Bird Data Data Number Date Time Bird Type
# of this type

24. Relationship: One Birdfeeder – Many Birds
Bird Data
Data Number
Date
Time
Bird Type
Bird Feeder Number
Again, there must be one field in both tables that is the same, so that the database knows how the tables connect. In this case one birdfeeder can be visited by many birds. 1 ∞
Bird Feeders
Bird Feeder Number
Material
Location in Yard
Yard Number
Most relationships will be One to Many. We will talk about One to One and Many to Many relationships in the Access: Tables and Relationships workshop.

25. Database Options 1,000’s of records Freeware/Shareware
0$ - $200
100,000’s of records
MS Access
$239 - $479
1,000,000,000’s of records
Oracle/SQL
$105 - $40,000

26. Why Use Access? Familiar look and feel of Windows
Easy to start building simple databases
Can build sophisticated systems
True relational database
It’s already on your computer

27. Things to Do
Contact your customer support
Backup

28. Introducing Access Tools
Tables
Queries
Employees
Customers
Reports
Customer
Company Name
Address
City
Telephone
Contact Name
Forms

29. Let’s Get Started Planning
Brainstorm

30. Starting Microsoft Access
Click on “Microsoft Access” in the Start menu
Or if you have set up a shortcut on your Desktop, click on the Access shortcut icon

31. Opening a Database To open a database when you start Access
Choose the Open an existing file option on the opening dialog, as illustrated
To open a database once you have already started Access - Choose Open from the File menu - OR press CTRL+O - OR click on the Open icon on the toolbar

32. The Access Database Window
Icons down the left hand side provide access to all database objects
Select the object by clicking the icon

33. Navigating Fields and Records
To move through records and fields
To move through records
Tab
Shift+Tab
Enter
Shift+Enter
Home
End
Ctrl+Home
Ctrl+End
Page Up
Page Down
The Arrow Keys
First Record
Current Record
Last Record
Previous Record
Next Record
New Record

34. Introducing Tables
Datasheet View
Design View

35. Table Design View
Fieldname
Data Type
Description
Properties

36. Introducing Queries A means of asking questions of your database
Can look across a number of Tables

37. Introducing Forms A friendlier view of the database
Used for data input, menus, display and printing

38. Introducing Reports
Output of information from your database in the form of a printed report
Allows you to group and summarize information
Can be previewed to the screen prior to printing

39. Let’s Create Our Database