I will now describe database fields. Each record of a database contains fields where the information can be stored. When a new database is being designed, many database packages request the user to specify the type of data that will be entered into each of the fields.
The different types of fields include:
- Auto Number - automatic number,
- Text field - letters or numbers,
- Number field - numbers that can be used for statistics or calculations.
- Date/Time field - these fields are specifically designed to store dates and times which can be displayed in different formats.
- Logical field - in these fields only a yes or no value will be accepted.
- Memo field - this is similar to a text field in that it can hold letters and numbers. Memo fields are used when larger amounts of data are entered into the field.
- Calculation field - this is used when the field displays a calculation based on numbers in other fields.
- Picture field - the data entered into this field by the user would include file details of the image to be displayed.
I also plan to describe each process in the method with a screen print that will be labelled. I will have to design membership forms, which I will enter data into the
Database, which are laid out by placing boxes and labels onto the screen where the data is to be typed into different fields. These data input screens are referred as forms
I will have to make forms for the membership table, video table and loans table. All of these will include the members, which I will create for my video store.
I will also have to add in how I will sort the data and queries. Sorting is an important function of a database. I will select the fields I wish to sort by; this might be a surname field. You could also choose a secondary field to sort which could be the forename in case there where other people with the same surname. You would then decide whether the data should be in ascending order (a-z) or in a descending order (z-a). When you do a sort the numbers will come before letters and depending on the database lower case letters will come before upper case letters.
I will also be describing searching, which is when you are able to retrieve information from a database, particularly from a large database. The computer taking the users request and searching for a match in the database does this. I will show all the steps used in the method. I will also do a validation.
Method:
Results:
I had two options in sorting my database. The first was by the doing a membership report that was accessed by accessing Microsoft Access and then a new menue came up with a scroll on the left hand side. You then scroll down to an option labelled report, then on the right it will have two options the first saying and the second saying “create by using wizard”. Next a new menue will appear and it will ask you what type of report you would like. You have a choice of doing a membership report, video report and a loans report. I will do the membership report which you then have to transfer all the information onto the other side by clicking on the >> button the information required from the membership table is the Membership No Forename, Surname, Address, Postcode, Telephone, Mobile No, Age, Gender, Email and Fax. You then go to next and the same menu comes up for the video table and the information needed is the Video title which is transferred over by using the > button. You then go to next and the same menu comes up for the loans table and the information needed to be transferred over using the > button is Date Out, Date Due and Returned. Next you will have another menu for the type of table it is and you must select membership table. In the next menu all the information selected in the previous menu’s will appear and will have to transfer each of these over to the right hand side, Membership Number which will appear in blue at the top of the page after the exchange, the Video Title which will also appear on the opposite side but you will have to move it underneath the Membership Number by clicking on the priority button. You will also have to do the same to Returned but you must place it underneath the Video Table. Next you have the chance to sort all the information you want, I will sort the Membership Number, Surname, Returned,
Date Due, Video Title and Price. After that you will have choose a layout style of how you want your report to look like, also on the same menu there will be a set of
options on the right hand side, you must choose Align Left 2 (at the bottom). After that will have to choose the style that you would like to present your work, the final step on doing your report is that you will have to save your work as “Membership Report”. You will also have to do a report for the Video Table and the Loans Table.
Finished Membership report.
The other way to sort out the data is by making a query for my 3 tables i.e membership table, video table and loans table. you first select queries on your video database then I selected 'create query by using wizard. a window will appear, from the tables/queries bar at the top select either the membership table, video table or loans table, from this selection the available fields will appear underneath the tables/queries menu. You then transfer all the available fields across to the left side of the screen. Select next, On the next screen I had to click on detail, next I had to save my work as, either video table, membership table or loans table query. Here are my video table queries below:
Video table query.
Membership table query:
Loans table query:
Evaluation:
My Database includes all of the users need's, such as the videos that have been loaned and the return by date.
Improvements I can make are to make my Cell's better formatted and make it show all the information needed, and all the information needed for the video store manager to examine customers choice in rental movies. To keep my work safe I will save it on to a floppy disk and it will be kept safe from any damage, I will also save my work to my user name, which requires a password. My self and my teacher only know this password, so if there are any errors either my teacher or I can correct them. I will also check for simple spelling or grammar mistakes by using the grammar or spell check functions. I could also have extra passwords for better safety precautions. These will be added on to the computer and my floppy disk.
