Datasheet
A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a type of database management
system that stores data in related
tables.
For example, a table containing contact information (name, address, phone number)
may be related to a table containing items each contact purchases (product, quantity,
price). The RDBMS lets you retrieve answers to questions such as “What is the cost of
the products each contact ordered?” from the related tables.
Exploring the basic parts of Access databases
Access is an RDBMS that stores data in a relational database. Each Access database is
an automated version of the filing system where you define what type of information is
being stored. An Access database is the container for this information which is stored in
tables, plus other components such as queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules. You
learn more about these components (also known as
database objects) throughout this
book.
Here’s a brief overview of each of these database components.
Tables
A table serves as the primary container for the data in a database and has the following
characteristics (shown in Figure 1-1):
Each table contains records (rows) that represent a set of information.
For example, a record in a database of contact information for your clients con-
tains the client’s name, address, e-mail address, cell phone number, work phone
number, and so on depending on what fields the database contains.
Each record contains fields (columns) that represent attributes of the record.
For example, a table of contact information contains such fields as Name, Address,
and City.
Each field contains a value.
The
value is the actual information you’re storing.
Queries
A query retrieves or manipulates information in a database.
To retrieve information, you ask the database a question such as “What are all the
CDs that I purchased in 2007?” using a specialized language called
Structured Query
Language
(SQL).
Figure 1-1:
Viewing
the table
structure.
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Part I: Learning Database Fundamentals
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