© Boardworks Ltd 20031 of 20

Creating a Database

Handling Data

Designing Structure, Capturing and Presenting Data

For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

This icon indicates the slide contains activities created in Flash. These activities are not editable.

© Boardworks Ltd 20032 of 20

What is a database?

Data

Gender: male

Name: Mr James Brown

Salary £30,000

Marital status: single

Blood type: A+

Address: 6 High Street

Telephone: 0170 88691

© Boardworks Ltd 20033 of 20

Name: Mr James Brown

Telephone: 0170 88691

Gender: male

Address: 6 High Street

Blood type: A+

Salary £30,000

Marital status: single

Base

A database is a collection (base) of data that can be accessed as information.

© Boardworks Ltd 20034 of 20

Who uses databases?

© Boardworks Ltd 20035 of 20

Who uses databases?

© Boardworks Ltd 20036 of 20

For the record

Before computers were around, organizations kept information on record cards in card boxes, or on sheets of paper in files and filing cabinets.

These days, most databases are created and stored on a computer.

© Boardworks Ltd 20037 of 20

Files

J. Vincent

Address: 6 Broad Lane, Winsford

Telephone: 0987 654675

Date of Birth: 02.05.1980

Record

Then…

Filing cabinet

© Boardworks Ltd 20038 of 20

Now…

Database

Files

Record

© Boardworks Ltd 20039 of 20

Records

Fields

Each record is made up of fields – categories of information.

The fields here are Name, Surname, Address, Telephone and Date of birth.

File

© Boardworks Ltd 200310 of 20

© Boardworks Ltd 200311 of 20

Let’s get it right?

Here are some more field names and data types:

Fields are of a certain data type. For example, Name and Surname are text; Date of birth is not text but a date.

Data Types

text date

© Boardworks Ltd 200312 of 20

© Boardworks Ltd 200313 of 20

Using data types ensures that the data in the record is valid.

This means that if you try and type text in a date/time data type the program will not allow it.Mistakes are reduced by making sure the data is valid. However validation would not stop you typing in the wrong date!

Most database programs allow the user to create validation checks, such as the following:

character type (number or letter or both)length of field (how many characters)range (specify from and to, for example from 1 to 20).

© Boardworks Ltd 200314 of 20

Work it out

Use the keyboard to try out the data.

© Boardworks Ltd 200315 of 20

In addition to validating information you must also verify the information.

Not all data can be validated – for example, a spelling mistake or an incorrect amount entered may not be picked up by the validation process.

This is where the data has to be verified.

This is easily done by checking the data entered against the original document, or getting somebody else to ensure that the data being input is correct.

© Boardworks Ltd 200316 of 20

Searching and sorting

A database program is extremely useful for searching the data stored.

When you search, you may want to find a particular record: for example, search for the record for “J Vincent”.

You can search for more than one record: for example, search for all the records where the field Surname equals (=) Vincent.

For more detail, you can search for records with a combination of fields: for example, search for all the records where the field Surname = Vincent and the Date of birth = 02/02/1980.

© Boardworks Ltd 200317 of 20

© Boardworks Ltd 200318 of 20

Sorting is another useful feature of a database.

When you sort you may want to sort by a particular field, for example, sort by “Name”.

You can sort by more than one field, for example you can sort by field “Name” and field “Surname”.

You can choose which order you would like the sort:

ascending order – starting with the letter A or smallest number and going up

or

descending order – starting with the letter Z or largest number and going down.

© Boardworks Ltd 200319 of 20

© Boardworks Ltd 200320 of 20

A database is a collection of information which is stored in a way that can easily be accessed and found.

Databases are used by most organizations to store information.

A database is made up of files.

Each file is made up of records.

Each record is made up of fields.

Fields have a data type.

Data must be validated and verified to avoid mistakes.

A database can be used to search and sort data.

Summary

What can I remember?