Microsoft Office Access

Microsoft Office Access

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Data Base: A collection of data items and the links between them that is organised and stored so that it can be interrogated.

Field: A place used to hold a single data item within a database.

Record: A collection of field containing information about one data subject or one object within a database.

Primary Key: The key which uniquely identifies each record. It can be of a normal attribute or it can be generated by the DBMS.

Table: A two-dimensional grid organised by rows and columns within a database. Each row of the table contains a record. Each column represents a field.

Query: The primary mechanism for retrieving information from a database and consist of questions presented to the database in a predefined format.

Report: A database report presents information retrieved from a table or query in a pre-formatted, attractive manner.

Validation Rule: A rule that controls property works to require a specific value or character.

Data Types: A characteristic of a field that determines what kind of data it can store.

How to reduce entry errors?

1. Add lots of edits to programs.

2. Allow prompting on important fields for help texts.

3. Store options in tables.

4. Do not allow incorrect entries.

5. Compare entries to the table, if not there, do not update but display error message.