dbf_1 | Flatfile DB

What is a flatfile database?	[1]

Definition

Flatfile database ( or File management system )
is a simple data management system that can perform many of the activities needed to manage single-file systems, such as; create, edit, search, update, report.

It combines the features of a database (where the data and the definitions about that data are stored) and the database management system (the tool used to store, organise and retrieve the data).

Create a manual database

Say we want to collect some personal data about a set of students.

Firstname, lastname, preferred name, computer level (0-none, 10-guru), interests and favorite music.

We can collect the data in one of two ways.

The first is to get a piece of paper and create columns called firstname, lastname etc.

Name
Computer
Level Interests Music

First Last Preferred

Terry Dactil Terry 5 bones oldtime

Diana Saw Di 6 guitar regge

Problems occur when;
You get someone with lots of interests.
Deleting students from your list also makes you page very messy, and you need to re-write the list to sort it.
You can't fit all of the columns across the page.

A second way is to create a page (called a form) for each student. You write down the headings of the data you want to collect, and leave a space for the data to be filled in.

Exercise: Student data.

To get you started print out (or draw you own) 5-10 student record forms to enter student data. If you are working on your own, fill out the forms by making up the data. In a class complete the form for yourself and create a class database.
Questions

1.	Sorting: How would you sort the data? By name. By computer level.
2.	Searching: How would find out if a particular person is in the class?

3.	Reporting: What is required to produce a class list for everyone in the class.
4.	Privacy: Some people object to certain data being collected. For example birthdate, gender (male/female), ethnic origin. Why is this? Do you have any data that you would not like collected?

When designing a database questions such as these need to be considered.

Basic definitions

In a (flat-file) database

Field is a data item. For example a persons name.
Record is related data about one thing (called an entity). For example, data about Terry Dactil.
Table stores the raw data. Most often viewed as a list (in columns).

Form displays one record. (one row in the table)
Report summarises and presents the data from the tables either on-screen (print preview) or on-paper.

Forms and reports are two of the tools that process the data into information.

What is a flatfile database?