Fall Semester 2003

Date

Oct 17, 2003

Note

Homework Five will be collected today.

Due today

Project Nine - Last (Lab Manual)

Starting today

Preparations for the last week of classes.

(See deadlines listed above, and the documents that they link to).

Due next time

Semester Project

Today's grading

Administering a Database System

You will have mastered the material in this project when you can:

1. Convert a database to an earlier version of Access
2. Use the Table Analyzer, Performance Analyzer, and Documenter
3. Use an input mask
4. Specify referential integrity options
5. Set startup options
6. Set and remove passwords
7. Encrypt a database
8. Use replication
9. Create PivotTables and PivotCharts
10. Create and run SQL queries
11. Split a Database
12. Create an MDE File
13. Specify user-level security

Questions that you will receive today will focus on the topics listed above.

Additional help with the last assignment.

Problem 1. We will be listing comments to the individual user views:

1. Director is an independent entity, and the features (attributes) are listed.
2. Notice that one attribute could be NULL (as in the case of the sample practical).
3. Movie is an independent entity with the listed attributes.
4. Movies and Directors are related. Additional attributes are listed for the Movies.
5. Among these attributes there's also an indication repeating groups could be used.
6. With the repeating groups one could relate Movies and Directors.
7. Actors are just another entity. Some attributes are listed.
8. Movies are related to Actors too. How do we do that?
9. (Of course the answer is that we use repeating groups for each MovieNum).
10. At each stage we need to normalize and merge tables.
11. Some user vies are going to be redundant. See User View 6 on Page 191.
12. Still, one needs to verify all User Views, and carefully mark them as implemented.

• Director
• Movie
• Actor
• Movie-Actor

Note that

• there's always only one Director per Movie, but
• seldom only one (or less) actor(s) per Movie.

(Also: these are only ideas, your design may vary).

Problem 2. With this problem (regarding memberships) we approach entity subtypes.

1. Entity subtypes are described on pages 208 and following.
2. There's really nothing extra special about them.
3. Then there are also some attributes of members, which are listed.
4. But other than that the rest is simply vanilla.
5. (That means lacking pizzazz and/or basically plain, ordinary).
6. So there's another entity, call it DVD, with some attributes...
7. ... and that's about it.

To summarize, one might have to add two tables:

• Member, and
• Tape (or DVD)

Please indicate with care all the FK's.