Introduction
This database has been created for Ickenham Video Shop, and is designed to manage the shop’s members’, DVDs’, and rentals’ details so that they can be rented out by customers and returned efficiently.
The database can be used to:
- Add new members to the company’s system
- Add a new DVD to the company’s stock
- Make a new rental and log the details of the booking
- Use queries to create reports for the company about members, DVDs, rentals, or a mixture of all three.
Opening the Database
The database is called ‘VidShop’ will be found as an icon on the company’s desktop or laptop. Double-click the icon and the database will appear on screen.
The first thing to appear will be the password box. The password for this database is ickenham. Type this into the text box and then click ‘ok’ to continue. Make sure that the word ‘ickenham’ is not in capitals because the password is case-sensitive.
If the password is invalid, an error box will appear on screen. Click ‘ok’ to try again. If the error box still appears, and you are sure you entered the right password, contact the database designer to have the password re-set.
If the password is correct, another box will appear on screen. Click ‘open’ to continue. The switchboard will then appear which means the database has been opened correctly.
Adding a new customer
Once the switchboard is on screen, you can now add a new customer to the database by using a simple form. On the main menu page of the switchboard, click on ‘Data Entry Menu’. Then click on ‘Add New Member’. The ‘new ‘member’ form will then appear with text boxes where you should type in the member’s details.
You do not need to type anything into the field ‘Member ID’, this will be done automatically. Type the surname and forename in each box, using only letters. For date of birth, the input mask should be, for example “07/05/2007”. 2 numbers (day) / 2 numbers (month) / 4 numbers (year).
For the postcode, it could be 6 characters, or 7 characters, depending on the area in the United Kingdom. If it is 6 characters, then type, for example, H A 3 _ 0 Y J. If it is 7 characters, then type, for example, U B 9 0 1 WY.
Adding a new DVD
To add a new DVD, go to the main page of the switchboard, and then click on ‘Data Entry Menu’, then ‘Add New DVD’.
When typing the ‘genre’, it must be either ‘comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi, romance, cartoon, crime, action, thriller, or other’. This field is not case-sensitive; however, if you type in an incorrect genre, then an error box will appear on screen.
When typing in the certification, is must either be a ‘U’, ‘PG’, ‘12A’, ‘12’, ‘15’, or ‘18’ or ‘Other’. An error box will appear if an incorrect certification has been inputted.
When typing in the ‘Star’ field, it must be a rating of 1-5. 0 or 6 will count as incorrect and an error box will appear.
Adding a New Rental
To add a new rental, go to the main menu on the switchboard, then click ‘Data Entry Menu’, then click ‘Add New Rental’. The new rental form will appear on screen.
The dates must be in the form of 00 (day) / 00 (month) / 0000 (year). You must type in the member ID and DVD ID to make a rental. You do not need to type in the rental ID.
