Download Using the Database Documenter Tool

by Mary Anne Poatsy, Keith
Mulbery, Eric Cameron, Jason
Davidson, Rebecca Lawson, Linda
Lau, Jerri Williams
Chapter 9
Fine-Tuning the
Database
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
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Verify first normal form
Verify second normal form
Verify third normal form
Create relationships
Use the Database Documenter tool
Use the Performance Analyzer tool
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
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Use the Table Analyzer tool
Use the Database Splitter tool
Create a menu system
Encrypt and password-protect a database
Digitally sign and publish a database
Save a database as an ACCDE file
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• Normalization – the process of deciding which
fields should be grouped together into which
tables
• Benefits:
– Minimization of data redundancy
– Improvement of referential integrity enforcement
– Ease of maintaining data
– Accommodation of future growth
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• Anomaly – an error or inconsistency within a
database
• Normal forms – rules of normalization
• Majority of database design only requires the
first three normal forms
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• First normal form (1NF) – a table that
contains no repeating groups or repeating
columns
• Problem with repeating groups:
– Difficult to add new entries
– Difficult to update existing entries
– Difficult to properly extract information
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• Second normal form (2NF) – meets 1NF
criteria, and all non-key fields are functionally
dependent on the entire primary key
• Functional dependency – when the value of
one field is determined by the value of another
• Non-key field – any field that is not part of the
primary key
• Composite key – primary key that is made of
two or more fields
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• Third normal form (3NF) – meets 2NF
criteria, and no transitive dependencies exist
• Transitive dependencies – when the value of
one non-key field is functionally dependent on
the value of another non-key field
– Allows corrections to be made in one place
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• Create relationships after the normalization
process
• Enforce referential integrity
• Relationships can test normalization
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• Database Documenter – creates a report that
contains detailed information for each selected
object
• Does not identify flaws in the design
• Only choose information you want to see
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• Database Documenter use:
– To verify and update the properties of one object
using a printout of the properties of a similar object
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• Performance Analyzer – evaluates a database
and makes recommendations for optimization
• Three kinds of analysis results:
– Recommendations
– Suggestions
– Ideas
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
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• Add an Index
– Index – reduces the time it takes to run queries and
reports
– Appears frequently in Analysis Notes box
– Simple change to field(s) that improves performance
– Added to fields that will be searched often
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• Table Analyzer – analyzes and normalizes
tables
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• Database Splitter tool – enables you to split a
database into two files:
– Back-end database contains the tables
– Front-end database contains queries, forms, and
reports
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• Work with the Front-End Database
– Tables from original database replaced with linked
tables with the same names
– Linked tables have an arrow icon
– Pointing to a linked table name shows path in a
ScreenTip
– Data in linked tables in the front-end database
appear in back-end database
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• Computer security – the protection of data from
unauthorized access, change, or destruction
• Two general security categories:
– Physical security – protecting assets you can touch
(computers, storage devices, backup tapes)
– Logical security – protects information on physical
devices (databases, software)
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• Database security – protects a database from
unintended use:
– Unauthorized viewing of data
– Unauthorized copying and selling of data
– Malicious attacks
– Destruction of data by employees
– Inadvertent employee mistakes
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• Navigation form – tabbed menu system that
ties the objects in the database together to make
it easy to use
• Six preset templates
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• Start a Navigation Form Automatically
– Click the FILE tab, click Options, click Current
Database, select the navigation form using the
Display Form option
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• Encryption – process of altering digital
information using an algorithm to make it
unreadable to anyone except those that possess
the key (password)
• Database must be opened in exclusive mode to
add a password
• Exclusive mode guarantees that you are the only
person currently using the database
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• Digital signatures – electronic, encryptionbased, secure stamps of authentication that
confirm:
– Who created the file
– That the file is valid
– That no changes have been made to the file after
authentication
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• Certification authority (CA) – commercial
company, such as VeriSign, that issues identities
using digital signatures for a fee
• Users can purchase a signature from a CA or
create their own
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• SelfCert Tool
– Included with Microsoft Office
– Allows users to create a security certificate
• Digital Signature
– Can digitally sign and publish an Access 2013
database
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• Access Database Executable (ACCDE) file
will:
– Remove all VBA source code
– Prohibit users from making design and name
changes to forms and reports
– Prohibit users from creating new forms and reports
• Use Save As to save a database file in ACCDE
format
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• Keep the Original Database File Safe
– Once converted to .accde, a database cannot be
converted back to original format (.accdb)
– Changes must be made in original database
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• In this chapter you learned to:
– Verify first normal form
– Verify second normal form
– Verify third normal form
– Create relationships
– Use the Database Documenter tool
– Use the Performance Analyzer tool
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
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– Use the Table Analyzer tool
– Use the Database Splitter tool
– Create a menu system
– Encrypt and password-protect a database
– Digitally sign and publish a database
– Save a database as an ACCDE file
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
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Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the
United States of America.
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