Class Schedule
21 Aug | intro
23 Aug | clients
28 Aug | servers
30 Aug | networks
04 Sep | basics lab
06 Sep | structural layer
11 Sep | presentational layer
18 Sep | working with layers
20 Sep | behavior layer
25 Sep | images & design
27 Sep | website lab
02 Oct | object layers
02 Oct | graphics
09 Oct | document markup lab
11 Oct | spreadsheets, formulas & functions
16 Oct | thoughts about data display
18 Oct | Fall Break
23 Oct | database tools
25 Oct | spreadsheets lab
30 Oct | relational databases |
Access- a RDBMS |
create a database |
next session
01 Nov | tables
06 Nov | relationships
08 Nov | input & output
13 Nov | SQL
15 Nov | complex queries
20 Nov | databases lab
22 Nov | Thanksgiving
27 Nov | presentation design
29 Nov | presentation delivery
04 Dec | presentation lab
13 Dec | 0800-1100 | final in class presentation
This work
is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
home & schedule | class blog | syllabus | contact | grades
We will use MSAccess as a tool to explore the principles of relational databases and relational database management systems.
When Access is first opened, a dialog box will appear. To create a new database, select New Blank Database. You have several choices. But when you try to create one, Access first prompts you for a name, and for a place to save your file.
Name your databases something useful. Don't use Database1.accdb because they will be difficult to find if someone else has used the same default names. Press Create and the Database Window appears.
Continuing with our color schema in which we use
terms relevant to entity relationship models
and their correlates in Access
and, when appropriate, their correlates in Excel
As with an entity set or a worksheet, it is a collection of data about a specific topic
entities with attributes in Entity Relationship Models
records with fields in Access
rows with column cells in Excel.
all databases contain one or more tables
type | ⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒⇒ | ⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓ |
ERModel entity set | composed of entities | which have attributes |
Access table | composed of records | which have fields |
Excel worksheet | composed of rows | which have column cells |
An entity set is the list of given entities/records within a given entity class that are currently in the database/table.
In Access, an entity set is a table.
a Primary Key is a set of
attributes/fields
that uniquely identifies
an entity/a record.
A Foreign Key is a copy of the Primary Key of one entity/record that appears as
an attribute/a field in another entity class/table
and helps define the
relationship between
entities/records
in the two
classes/tables
these keys link together the related entity classes/tables in a relational database
a Query is generated to view, change, and analyze data from one or more tables
Datasheet View, SQL (Structured Query Language) View, and Design View
A Form is an object designed primarily for data input and display
Form View, Layout View, and Design View
A Report is an object designed for formatting, calculating, printing and summarizing selected data
Report View, Layout View, Design View and Print Preview