About SQL Database Design, Relational Database Design, Database Design Development, Database Design Creation, Database Design, Custom Database Design etc.

Database Design and Creatio

Database design is a complex subject, no matter how easy some people think it is. This session only scratches the surface, but it is a good scratch.

A properly designed database is a model of a business, or some "thing" in the real world. Like their physical model counterparts, data models enable you to get answers about the facts that make up the objects being modeled. It's the questions that need answers that determine which facts need to be stored in the data model.

In the relational model, data is organized in tables that have the following characteristics: every record has the same number of facts; every field contains the same type of facts in each record; there is only one entry for each fact; no two records are exactly the same; the order of the records and fields is not important.

Problems Resulting from Poor Design<

A myriad of problems can manifest themselves as a result of poor database design:

The database and/or application may not function properly.

Data may be unreliable or inaccurate.

Performance may be degraded.

Flexibility may be lost.

The following section explains some common problems resulting from poor database design. The problems can be grouped under two categories: redundant data and modification anomalies. (For more info, visit: schools)

Simple Database Design

Have you ever noticed advertisements in the job classifieds for database architects? For database administrators? It makes database design sound pretty intimidating, doesny it? If they're so difficult to use that they require architects and administrators, what hope do they mere mortals have?

In fact, databases range from being ultra-simple to use to ultra-complex. In the world of personal computers, there are two main types of database programs. At the simple end of the scale are flat-file databases, also called single-file or list managers. These programs are as easy to learn as a word processor or spreadsheet. The initial concepts may take a little more time to absorb than word processing, but they're well within anyone grasp. If you're using a database at home, in a class at school or in a small club or organisation, chances are the simple flat-file database will fill your needs.

Relational Databases

Things can get more complex when you use the other type of PC database program, called a relational database. With a relational database program you can create a range of databases, from flat-file structures to demanding multi-file systems. If you're using a database in your small business, a large organisation, or an ambitious school project, you're likely to need at least some of the features of a more complex relational database.

Computer-less Design

One thing I hope you're noticed is that we're done all their design without the aid of a computer. This is as it should be: it lets you focus on the significance of the task without the distractions of trying to learn a database program at the same time.

You can design and test your database structure without going near a computer. The only thing you really need to know is the type of database program you use: if it's a flat-file database, such as Microsoft Works, you be limited to single-table database design. If it's a relational program, such as FileMaker's FileMaker Pro, Microsoft Access or Lotus Approach, you can design single- or multi-table databases.

In the next article in this series, they move on to relational design. You're seen how breaking down your fields into simpler components in a single table can help make it easier to get useful information out of your database. When they look at relational design, you discover how extending this process lets you address the other two goals of database design: eliminating redundant information and excluding inconsistencies.

Database Design and Development: An Essential Guide for IT Professionals

Description

The first and only database primer for today’s global economy

Today’s businesses depend on their databases to provide information essential for their day-to-day operations and to help them take advantage of today’s rapidly growing and maturing electronic commerce opportunities. The primary responsibility for the design and maintenance of these databases rests with a company’s information technology department.

Unlike other IT resources currently available that tend to focus on a particular product, Database Design and Development: An Essential Guide for IT Professionals was created to give today’s IT directors and other IT staff a solid basic knowledge of database design and development to help them make educated decisions about the right database environment for their companies. Today’s IT professionals must understand the fundamentals in order to determine their next steps for specializing in the vast field of database technology.

Database Design and Development: An Essential Guide for IT Professionals answers such common questions as:

(1)What is the purpose of a database system?

(2)What are the components of a database system?

(3)What type of data does your company need to capture?

(4)How do you design a database for a particular goal?

(5)How do you capture information through data modeling?

(6)How do you determine which database will best meet your business objectives?

(7)What’s involved in effective database management and maintenance?

(8)How are database systems used to interface with the Internet?

With more than twenty-five years of experience teaching IT courses and designing databases for some of America’s top institutions, the author has succeeded in creating an essential resource for today’s IT managers as well as for students planning a career in information technology.

Issues in the Design and Creation

Originally published in print form in forty-five volumes from the mid-nineteenth century, the colonial calendar series of British archival materials focuses on two broad subject areas: North America and the West Indies from 1574 to 1739, and China, Japan, and Persia, 1513-1634. The calendars are extensively used by historians, who value the range of materials they include and their extensive indexing. However, there are a number of limitations to the print versions, which suggested that the creation of an electronic edition may be desirable.

Problems with the print calendars include such issues as the fact that, though the indexes are good for personal and place names, they are weak for searches on more general topics, such as on specific trades, social historical themes, etc., and that the document references are generally in an old form, which is no longer in use at the Public Record Office (PRO), where all of the original documents reside. In addition, the physical size and number of the volumes is often an impediment to use, and the introductions within the volumes are considerably out of date.

In principle, an electronic edition could offer full text searching of the calendar text in a structured way so as to make retrieval of the information possible in novel ways, and could include linked images of the original documents. However, given a finite budget, one has to devise the most appropriate means of producing an intellectually coherent resource, which can have the facility to be expanded and developed in the future. This paper focuses on the design and functionality issues for this rather specific type of source material, and illustrates the roles of the archive and publisher in this activity.

Specifically, the issues in the design and creation of this electronic resource that will be covered include: the background market research and the setting of a target price for as broad an institutional base as practicable for a non-grant-funded project; results of academic/PRO consultation; practicalities behind the decision on whether or not to include facsimile images; the nature and purpose of new introductory materials; the extent and character of editorial intervention necessary in the data; data processing considerations in the updating of document references; and the question of whether to include the indexes from the original print editions.

The paper will also describe the development of the software, building on a generic browser model, that they have previously developed with Database Publishing Systems Ltd.3 It will also detail, where appropriate, some of the more interesting SGML issues arising, in particular, from the data management of the index.

Tips on Optimizing SQL Server Database Design

Bad logical database design results in bad physical database design, and generally results in poor database performance. So, if it is your responsibility to design a database from scratch, be sure you take the necessary time and effort to get the logical database design right. Once the logical design is right, then you also need to take the time to get the physical design right.

Both the logical and physical design must be right before you can expect to get good performance out of your database. If the logical design is not right before you begin the development of your application, it is too late after the application has been implemented to fix it. No amount of fast, expensive hardware can fix the poor performance caused by poor logical database design.

In SQL Server 6.5, when a null was stored in a fixed-length column, it is actually treated as a variable-length column. This was done to conserve space. But in SQL Server 7.0 and SQL 2000, this is no longer true. If a null is stored in a fixed-length column, then the entire column (even though it is null) still takes up the same amount of fixed space as established when the column was created. For example, a CHAR(100) field takes up 100 characters of storage, even if there is a null in the column.

This change has several implications. If you are upgrading a database from SQL Server 6.5 to 7.0 or 2000, then you may find that your database grows in size, sometimes a lot. The extra storage requirements require more data pages, which in turn reduces I/O performance. The same goes if you follow the same design style in your SQL Server 7.0 and SQL 2000 databases as you did in SQL Server 6.5.

To prevent the above "data explosion" problem, you will need to change your table design tactics. You will need to make your columns that hold many nulls variable-length instead of fixed-length, assuming the length of the column varies considerably. Of course, if the column length is not great, or if the number of nulls to be stored are few, then using fixed-length data types will work fine. (Want to read more articles about SQL Database Design, please visit: sql server)

Example Database Creation: AAA database

Database AAA -- Alpha Amino Ccid Properties

In this example they create a very small database of data about amino acids per se, called AAA. Some new server features are illustrated in the context of creating a database "from scratch". This example can also serve as template for creating databases.

Strategy

Probably the most important step in designing a database is to establish a clear idea of what it will be used for and it's role in an information processing environment. All other design decisions follow. (Corollary: when the goals or role of a database change even slightly, the design needs to be re-evaluated.)

The main goal of database AAA is to serve as an example of how to build databases for MUG '97. The number of data and kinds of data will be kept to a minimum. The database should contain a only a small amount of easily-understood data. Data will be keyed to structures, including stereochemical information as available. Robust structure-based retrieval is desired (e.g., query as molecular amino acid or carboxylate). Stereochemical information will be recorded in the structures. Although there is no need here to be concerned about speed/space, indirect referencing will be used whenever appropriate for the purposes of illustration. AAA should be suitable for use in all possible current and future Thor and Merlin clients, including CD-ROMS, so they well choose file names which are valid under the (very restrictive) ISO-9660 rules. AAA should be expandable to other data about amino acids as they become available. AAA will not be clustered (due to the small number of structures), but that might change in the future. (Continue to learn more about Database Design Creation, please visit: daylight)

Web Ecommerce Design

Ecommerce - If you're serious about selling on the web, then you know that those "cookie cutter" solutions out there just don't cut it. They develop e-commerce solutions for any size e-business effort and for any type of product or service that needs to be sold online.

They offer a complete e-commerce solution that includes site hosting, merchant account, payment gateway, back-end merchant management of your store and products, real-time order processing, real-time credit card authorization, customer account management, order history, sales tracking, and much more.

All of this functionality is built into a site that has a custom designed look and navigation. They also offer many solutions to market and drive targeted web traffic to your site.

Web Site Design and Hosting - Need to upgrade your presence on the internet? Or maybe you just need to get a presence? They believe that a web site is just a part of a company's overall marketing effort. They make sure that your website serves a specific business need and is consistent with your overall marketing strategy. Their staff will work with you to create a plan that suits your business needs and get your new internet site up and running in no time.

No web site project is too large or too small - they can handle anything from small sales and informational type sites to large database-driven dynamic sites. When it comes to the web, they create the most cost effective solution for your unique business needs. And they don't oversell you on technical "bells and whistles" you don't need. Some of their web capabilities include:

- standard web site design and creation

- custom online application development

- e-commerce and payment processing

- rich media and interactive web sites

- flash animation and application development

- search engine registration and optimization

- pay per click keyword setup and registration

- domain name services

- complete hosting services

- ongoing maintenance and support plans

- video and audio streaming

- database integration

- content management systems

- intranet and secure extranet development

Custom Database Software Development

Custom Software Development, Web Design, Database Programming

They have extensive experience in the design and development of custom database software systems. Their methodologies have been honed since 1993 to ensure the successful creation of these custom software systems.

Due to its effectiveness in the successful creation of custom database software systems, most of the time they use the Rapid Application Development (RAD) methodology for software development. These services include:

• System Analysis - We'll interview all appropriate participants to get the information needed to design your custom database software system.



• Rapid Prototyping - When you see the actual Graphical User Interface (GUI) that all users will be using to perform their work you'll feel a lot more comfortable when they write the real code. Many navigational and operational kinks can be worked out in this low-cost phase of system development.



• Database Design and Database Programming - They take the information from the analysis phase and create the database that supports your current and future needs.

By using a data driven design they will save you costs by ensuring that future capabilities are built into the system. To use the future feature an administrator simply modifies the system configuration instead of requiring another significant software development database design effort.

Once the database is created they write all of the database internal software (stored procedures, triggers, views) necessary to ensure your system is as fast as possible and has a high degree of data integrity.

• Data Conversion - They have completed many extensive data conversions using a wide variety of data sources. Data conversion means that they extract data from your old application/system and move it into the new custom database software system so you start with the new system right where you left off! They have performed data conversions between data sources like databases (Access, SQL database design Server, Oracle, Paradox, dBase, etc.), spreadsheets (Excel, Lotus, Quattro Pro, etc.), and text files (delimited, fixed length, free format requiring custom data recognition and parsing).



• Custom Software Development - They use the latest and most effective software tools available (hence their name - 21st Century Technologies, Inc.) to create your custom database software application. They currently create applications using:



• Visual Basic (VB6, VB.NET, VBScript, VBA)



• Active Server Pages (ASP)



• ColdFusion



• PHP



• Microsoft Access



• Microsoft SQL Server



• Oracle



• SQL Server Reporting Services



• Infragistics



• ActiveReports



• WebZinc - this component can perform any data driven task on a web page that you may require - enter data into a form, scrape page data, or perform a series of tasks.



• Software Documentation - All required and/or desired software documentation will be created for your system - user manuals, administrator manuals, software documentation (system/database structure, algorithms, standards used, etc.).



• Software Maintenance - After a limited Operational Verification (OV) period they turn the system over to you for full use. To complete the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) they will maintain the system for you and make enhancements as needed. If you want to maintain it yourself, they provide all information necessary for you to do it yourself.

Access - Introduction to Access

(Prerequisite: Introduction to Windows or equivalent experience.) Learn to use the Microsoft Access database system to keep track of inventory, update mailing lists, and manage information files, among other database applications. Master the skills necessary to plan and design a table as well as add, change, and delete data. Learn how to perform queries on single and multiple tables to find and display data. Discover how to generate simple forms and reports to access or print out the information that you need. Additional topics include global changes, sorting data, date arithmetic, modifying the table structure, and database management.

Intermediate Applications of Access

(Prerequisite: Introduction to Access or equivalent experience.) Increase your knowledge of Access by learning to create effective forms and reports. Learn to design effective forms so you can easily enter, edit, and delete information. Learn the principles of data validation and how to error-trap your inputs. Discover special techniques for creating sophisticated reports, grouping data for subtotals, and generating mailing labels. Additional topics include understanding field properties, working with indexes and primary keys, using functions in queries and reports, and creating summary reports.

Advanced Access: Database Design

(Prerequisite: Intermediate Applications of Access or equivalent experience.) Further your skills in database design by learning to effectively manage a relational database management system and work with multiple tables simultaneously. Learn how to identify items to be stored in a database, establish relationships between the items, and group the items in the appropriate tables. Topics include linking database tables, generating reports from multiple tables, querying multiple tables, and updating tables. Strong emphasis will be placed on effective database design and deciding how to structure tables within the database.

Accelerated Topics in Access: Database Security

(Prerequisite: Intermediate Applications of Access or equivalent experience.) Learn to use the security features in Access to protect your databases. Practice using passwords to limit access to the entire database. Learn to set up workgroups with user- level security to protect the design of your database objects. Additional topics include granting permissions to allow users varying levels of control and encrypting your database to render the data unreadable to disk utilities.

Advanced Applications of Access: Macros

(Prerequisite: Intermediate Applications of Access or equivalent experience.) Learn how to use Access macros to automate a database. Create forms with command buttons that guide users through the typical functions of a database, such as entering and modifying data, searching for specific records, and printing a selection of reports. You will design macros that control the startup of a database, filter data, synchronize multiple forms to the same record, and perform record searches based on user input.

Creating a Logical Design

A logical design is conceptual and abstract. You do not deal with the physical implementation details yet. You deal only with defining the types of information that you need.

One technique you can use to model your organization's logical information requirements is entity-relationship modeling. Entity-relationship modeling involves identifying the things of importance (entities), the properties of these things (attributes), and how they are related to one another (relationships).

The process of logical design involves arranging data into a series of logical relationships called entities and attributes. An entity represents a chunk of information. In relational databases, an entity often maps to a table. An attribute is a component of an entity that helps define the uniqueness of the entity. In relational databases, an attribute maps to a column.

To be sure that your data is consistent, you need to use unique identifiers. A unique identifier is something you add to tables so that you can differentiate between the same item when it appears in different places. In a physical design, this is usually a primary key.

While entity-relationship diagramming has traditionally been associated with highly normalized models such as OLTP applications, the technique is still useful for data warehouse design in the form of dimensional modeling. In dimensional modeling, instead of seeking to discover atomic units of information (such as entities and attributes) and all of the relationships between them, you identify which information belongs to a central fact table and which information belongs to its associated dimension tables. You identify business subjects or fields of data, define relationships between business subjects, and name the attributes for each subject.

Custom Web Site Design by WebFX

WebFX is a full-service web design and development company providing custom web site design, full-featured online stores, database web development, custom applications services, hosting, and online marketing.

By choosing WebFX for your custom web site design and web development requirements, you get more than their programming and design work. You also get their years of experience and expertise in developing a web site unique to your business needs.

They have been providing Internet solutions since 1998 and are committed to providing clients with the highest quality custom web site design and to deliver quality attention getting web sites. Their requirement is to offer the best in custom web site design and web site development. They strive to keep their staff equipped with the latest skills and tools as Internet technology rapid changes. WebFX offers custom web development and a number of other technical solutions that can open up possibilities for competing in new ways, entering new and established markets, and creating new business opportunities.

Their years of experience include, but are not limited to, custom web site design, professional logo design and web interface design, database web development and integration, e-commerce web site development, online marketing, and business web hosting services. Individual strengths such as custom web development complement each other to form a well-qualified team capable of developing the most demanding web site.

Database Creation and Maintenance Tools

This section tells you how to create a slapd database from scratch, and how to do trouble shooting if you run into problems. There are two ways to create a database. First, you can create the database on-line using LDAP. With this method, you simply start up slapd and add entries using the LDAP client of your choice. This method is fine for relatively small databases (a few hundred or thousand entries, depending on your requirements).

The second method of database creation is to do it off-line, using the index generation tools. This method is best if you have many thousands of entries to create, which would take an unacceptably long time using the LDAP method, or if you want to ensure the database is not accessed while it is being created.