What is a database u Two main uses

What is a database?

u. Two main uses: u. Storing information u. Sorting information

What kind of information could we store in a database? u Patient information u Telephone numbers u Car registration plate owners u Business clients u Name and phone numbers of friends u Parent’s contact information for children in a school

Key words Each person’s information is separate and that is called a record e. g. Name – Jo Bloggs Address – 33 Wood Lane, Haworth Phone number – 0474792927484

What kind of things could we do with these records? u. A search – this is called a query u Example 1 – a child is ill at school – we need to find out if they have any medical conditions quickly u Example 2 – we need to find who owns a car that has been caught speeding on the motorway

How do you create a database? u First you need to decide which fields you want to use u Name is a field u Colour could also be field u Then habitat could be our last field u You could also have picture as a field

Then what? u In softease database we can use the wizard to create a database u We want to create a new database u Not based on another one u Then we can select our fields

Now we can add the information u This is the symbol for a new record

Once all the records have been added we can start a query u Click the button with a ? u Choose which field to search u And what you want to search for

Finally u You can switch been two views: u Form and Report u What is the difference between them?