2b. Create an Access Database Lingma Acheson Department of Computer and Information Science IUPUI CSCI N207 Data Analysis with Spreadsheets 1

Create a Database 2 Terms –Tables Chief structure in a database Each table should store a different type of object. All the information in a table should concern the same thing. Each table must have a unique name in one database, usually the table name indicates what is stored in the table Table names are all one word. Don’t use space in table names! E.g. STUDENT, ADVISER, STUDENT_INFO, PERFORMANCE_REVIEW

Create a Database 3 Terms –Tables STUDENT table: ADVISER table:

Create a Database 4 Terms –Records Specific instance of the subject in a table Can be viewed as rows E.g., The STUDENT table has 6 records, each record is information about a specific student.

Create a Database 5 Terms –Fields Also called attributes Can be viewed as columns Field names in a table must be unique, and should be all one word. E.g. Name, Phone, FirstName, Address1, Address2 E.g. Field names in the CUSTOMER table: CustomerID, LastName, FirstName, Address, City, State, ZIP, Phone

Create a Database 6 Terms –Fields field length – the maximum length of all the possible values, e.g. an appropriate length for the field FirstName would be 50 (normally no first names will be longer than 50 characters). field types – what kinds of values are stored in a field? E.g. CustomerID: numeric, Phone: text unique identifier - A field whose value can be used to uniquely identify a record. E.g., CustomerID

Access Data Types 7 What type of values are stored in a field? Text: Characters and Numbers, maximum 255 characters – E.g., name, address, job title, product type, … Memo: Large text, maximum 65,535 characters – E.g.,company information, mission statement, … Number: Numeric data, type varies – E.g., items sold, student ID, cost, … Date/Time: Dates and times from the year 100 to the year 9999 – E.g., date of birth, purchase date, …

Access Data Types 8 What type of values are stored in a field? Currency: Numbers with 1- 4 decimal places – E.g., price, cost, … AutoNumber: A unique sequential number that’s inserted by the software itself, each time a new record is entered, a unique number is assigned. – unique identifiers are typically defined as AutoNumber