Chapter 1. Database Basics

IN THIS CHAPTER

• What Is a Database?

• Business Cases

• Tables and Fields

• Manipulating Data with Objects

• Data Types

• Creating a Database Schema

• Relationships

• Normalization

• Creating a User Interface in a Windows Forms Application

A database lies at the core of many business software applications. Databases are prevalent in the world of business because they permit centralized access to information in a way that's consistent, efficient, and relatively easy to set up and maintain. In this chapter we cover the basics involved in setting up and maintaining a database for a business, including what a database is, why databases are useful, and how you can use databases to create business solutions.

If you've used Visual Basic before or done any database programming, you might find this chapter to be rather old hat. However, we do bring you up to speed on some jargon that can vary from one database system to another.

Although database concepts tend to be the same from one database system to another, things tend to have their own names from one vendor implementation to the next. What's called one thing in one vendor's system is often called something completely different in another. For example, many client-server programmers refer to queries stored in the database as views; however, Microsoft Access programmers refer to them as queries or QueryDefs. The two are basically the same.

If you're upgrading to Visual Basic.NET (VB.NET) from a previous version of Visual Basic, you need to be aware of several new aspects of database programming with VB.NET. It takes a fundamentally different approach to data access than any version of Visual Basic you've ever worked with. This approach is largely based on Internet standards, with an eye toward enabling your applications to access data online remotely. Visual Studio.NET (VS.NET) includes a rich set of visual, intuitive tools that facilitate rapid, consistent development of databases and allow you to be more interactive in that process. Previously, creating and maintaining a database relied heavily on knowledge of many different tools. With .NET, you often can take advantage of wizards that work without adding extraneous code or limiting the flexibility you need.

If you're already familiar with database development in Visual Basic 6.0, you may want to jump ahead to Chapter 4 for information on new methods of accessing data in VB.NET.