On Wednesday 08 February 2006 08:30, Perry Spiller wrote: Hi Perry, > I still have no idea what those SQL acronyms actually mean and > what their relevance is.
Structured Query Language >Nor what the equivalents are for field, > record, etc. Or is it simply a matter that I don't need to know? A field is a sector of a record that has one type of information in it. Such as text, Integer, long integer, Date, and so on. A record is a group of fields. A bunch of records make up a File or database in the case of a flatfile. The difference between a flat file and relational database is that in a relational database you can have different types of records in different files, but a Record also has to include one field that is common to the other types of records. That field is called a key. Those other records may have entirely different information except for the Key. So one record may be "Perrys Books" and another record "Perrys cash flow". Then the primary key field in both records could be "MoneySpentOnBooks". So one Flatfile has a relationship with another flatfile and that relationship in this case is "MoneySpentOnBooks". It can and often does get a lot more complex than that with really powerful databases but that's where the Structured Query Language comes in, being able to create quite complex structured queries to generate data that use those relationships between files. So for instance in our fictitious "Perrys database" you could structure a query that would tell you that you've overspent on books this month. :) That's a really basic explanation, like saying the Human body is made of single celled animals with a nucleus and by getting a whole pile of these cells to interact a person can walk. >Not only do I want to help, I also > want to make use of the Base program! My geriatric MS-DOS > pop-up database can't go on forever! Get in and throw things at it Perry, If you can handle a flatfile you're a good step of the way there. Heck, my first steps in a Database were in PFS First Choice . :) Then give us the feedback. > > Perry > New Zealand Cheers Yo -- Graham Lauder OpenOffice.org Marcon New Zealand [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html INGOTs Gold Assessor Trainer www.theingots.org Member Open Document fellowship http://www.opendocumentfellowship.org
