Moderator Ramblings
From the Database Community Forum
March 2004
Choosing Between Microsoft Access and FileMaker Pro
For those of you who have a choice between Access and Filemaker Pro, here's a little article I found: Choosing Between Microsoft Access and FileMaker Pro . There are also some nice database links on the right side of the article body that you all might find worthwhile :-)
Chapter excerpt from a book about Access 2000 Programming
I think this is the book that was recommended for Access 2000 VBA - in any case, you might want to bookmark this chapter excerpt from Teach Yourself Microsoft Access 2000 Programming in 24 Hours :-): Hour 20: Adding Data to Web Pages.
May 2004
ACID Model
Here is an online reprint of an article from the About Databases site:
The ACID model is one of the oldest and most important concepts of database theory. It sets forward four goals that every database management system must strive to achieve: atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability. No database that fails to meet any of these four goals can be considered reliable.
Let's take a moment to examine each one of these characteristics in detail:
Atomicity states that database modifications must follow an "all or nothing" rule. Each transaction is said to be "atomic". If one part of the transaction fails, the entire transaction fails. It is critical that the database management system maintain the atomic nature of transactions in spite of any DBMS, operating system or hardware failure.
Consistency states that only valid data will be written to the database. If, for some reason, a transaction is executed that violates the database's consistency rules, the entire transaction will be rolled back and the database will be restored to a state consistent with those rules. On the other hand, if a transaction successfully executes, it will take the database from one state that is consistent with the rules to another state that is also consistent with the rules.
Isolation requires that multiple transactions occurring at the same time not impact each other's execution. For example, if Joe issues a transaction against a database at the same time that Mary issues a different transaction, both transactions should operate on the database in an isolated manner. The database should either perform Joe's entire transaction before executing Mary's or vice-versa. This prevents Joe's transaction from reading intermediate data produced as a side effect of part of Mary's transaction that will not eventually be committed to the database. Note that the isolation property does not ensure which transaction will execute first, merely that they will not interfere with each other.
Durability ensures that any transaction committed to the database will not be lost. Durability is ensured through the use of database backups and transaction logs that facilitate the restoration of committed transactions in spite of any subsequent software or hardware failures.
Take a few minutes to review these characteristics and commit them to memory. If you spend any significant portion of your career working with databases, you'll see them again and again. They provide the basic building blocks of any database transaction model.
Note from Karla - the last section of my [in]famous "The Chocolate Malt Story formerly known as the Margarita Story" tries to explain ACID, too :-)
Careers in Databases
databases.about.com has a nifty list of database career links. Enjoy!
Academic Cross-Training
databases.about.com has just introduced a new 10-week long emailed Access course, "Building An Access Database from the Ground Up". This would be a great addition to whatever Access training you're getting through Element K, or a nice brush-up for those who may not be currently taking any courses. If there's enough interest, I could have a discussion thread here in the Database Community Forum, too :-)
Follow-up: one of the students posted this link: http://databases.about.com/cs/tutorials/a/widgetmenu.htm, which shows all 10 lessons in one place.
Learn VB and ASP Tutorial
Here's a nifty About.com tutorial on VB and ASP: Learn VB and ASP. The first section discusses what ASP (Active Server Pages) is and why you might want to know about it :-)
June 2004
Access New Table Wizards and Such
One of the magazines I subscribe to is the Access VB SQL Advisor. They had a recent article (see below - in pdf format) on how to change the order of the new table options in Access. I've also included a zip file that has two Registry merge files - one will change the new table options to have Design View first and Datasheet View last. The other one will return to the status quo with the Datasheet View first, Design View second, and so on. These files assume you're using Office XP/2002/version 10, so if you're using an earlier version, you'll have to modify the Registry merge files (in Notepad, for instance) to work with your version of Access. If you have questions, please let me know :-)
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