Student Database Activity

EDUC 210: Computers in Education

Database Handout

Definition Webopedia - A collection of information organized in such a way that a computer program can quickly select desired pieces of data. You can think of a database as an electronic filing system.

Tables in traditional databases are organized by fields, records, and files.

· Field - a single piece of information

· Record - one complete set of fields

· Table - a collection of records

For example, a telephone book is a table. It contains a list of records, one for each subscriber. Each of the records consists of three fields: name, address, and telephone number.

A simpler example may be to look at one of the databases that we have already done.

CRN	Dept	Crs #	Description	Instructor	Location	Pass/Fail
4568	BIOL	110	Principles of Biology	Smith	LS 111	No
6166	CHEM	102	Chemistry II	Mattson	LS 209	Yes
8523	EDUC	210	Computers in Education	Johnson	BU 361	No
6541	ELEM	315	Methods of Teaching Reading	Rosenthal	SBE 104	No
6953	SPAN	110	Spanish I	Diaz	JKSA 301	Yes

Each of the column headings is a field. Each row is a record. In databases we refer to columns as fields, and rows as records.

The most common database objects are tables, forms, queries, and reports.

· Table – collection of records

· Form – more user-friendly interface for entering information into the table

· Queries – used to pull only certain information from tables. We use criteria to tell the query what to pull, for example, only classes starting with CHEM.

· Report – a printer-friendly representation of information in a table or query.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

· Access has wizards for just about every object. Wizards make it easier for people new to Access to create objects such as tables, queries, forms and reports.

· It is important to know that each object has different Views.

· In design view, you can make any changes that you want to the structure and appearance of the object. For instance, in the design view for a form, you can move the data boxes around so that the page is more appealing. You can also change the background and the font, etc.

· In datasheet or form view, you can enter information directly into a table. In report view, you can see how your report is laid out.

· Access 2007 has made using databases much easier. The ribbon and wizards make using the database much more like creating a document in Word.