Before I stated the database I had to save it into My Documents> ICT> You can do it> D201EPORTFOLIO> Evidence For the field group food item, I set the data type to text as it is a word answer which I require to be entered. I also set 50 as the field size because I inferred from the information they would be entering, that it would need to be any longer than 50.

For the field group “group there is only certain information that I want someone to be able to enter. Therefore, I created a “Lookup Wizard”. This creates a drop down box of the choices that they can pick from. I choice to create a “lookup wizard” because the Dida website tell me that there is only these certain compatible inputs, so by creating options means that anyone entering it will not make any mistakes which could make my database unreliable. To reinforce that you can only choose one of the two lettered options, I have limited my fields size to 2 so that the user can not enter anything that is not correct information. Not allowing people to insert their own results minimalizes any input errors and having a field size of 2 also reduces room for human error.

For the field group “unit” I kept it as text because the required information in this a word or a single letter. However I kept the field size at 20 because I do not know what type of measurement they might be enters, eg “a couple of pieces”. 20 allows a wide enough room for them to give the correct answer, yet small enough not to waste space or to allow them too much freedom of writing and open answer. This is important when I comes to analysing any results so that I don’t have lots of open ended answers which could be difficult to put into a table or chart. For the field group “Quantity” the information that would be entered into that field will be a number, therefore number is the appropriate data type. I set the field size as “integer” because the Dida website specifies that integer would be the best suited. This is because the information is easier to present as a rounded whole number. This is because the actual result may have many decimal places, this way makes all of the results easily comparable and also easier to turn into a graph if necessary.

For the field names “fibre” and “calories” I changed the data type from text to number. I then changed the field sizes to integer for both of these field groups. Integer is the appropriate field size because it shows the number to the nearest whole number. This is beneficial as the numbers will be easier to covert into graphs or other types of data comparison later on in the project. As I have entered integer into my field space, whenever any data in entered into the database even if it has multiple decimal places entered, the database will automatically convert it into the nearest whole number. This is good so that people don’t need to waste time working out the whole number therefore it eliminates human error

For both the field names “carbohydrates” and “fat” I have changes the data type to number as it is numbers which is going to be entered into that field. I then set my field size to “double”, this was because double allows for one decimal place. Allowing one decimal place makes the results more actuate however is not too long therefore are simple enough to analysis the information that is entered.

When inserting the data, I downloaded the “text file” which was provided by the Dida website. This contained a 335 sets of information that fit into my database I have created. This is a way for me to test that my database works and so that it accepts all the information without any errors. After I have entered my information, I now have a completed database.

I added 3 extra food products into my database, this helped to check that all of my validation rules work correctly. I used Tesco website as it gave me a clear representation of all the properties and quantities of the food. My 3 extra products are all from separate food groups. These are the products I added…

Here I tested that inserting another group other than the set ones wouldn’t work. I ignored the drop down box options and types in “ss” which I knew was not a validated entry. The validation box then appeared asking me to change what I imputed into the cell. This is proof that my validations work.

To test my reports were working correctly I created a tester query of fruit based items (“FT”) which were over 100 calories, from the query I then made a report. This report counted up the food items which matched the criteria I set in my query. the report said I had 7 items, I then manually counted the items to check that my count and the reports count. They did, this is one way of proving that my queries and reports are working.