Displaying

DISPLAYING – the process that controls the format of information presented to the participant or user

Reporting on Relevant Information Held in a Database

• Report → formatted and organised presentation of data from the database based on certain requirements
  • i.e. invoices, sales summaries, telephone lists, formatted query etc.
• DBMS contains a report generator which controls what data is displayed in the report; they control:
  • design elements (font, headers, footers, etc.)
  • which fields & records are displayed
  • Functions to count
  • sum & average to perform calculations
• reports are based on queries bc they select the required records in the report
  • i.e. you want a report of which parents haven’t paid school fees so you construct a query showing all the records of parents who haven’t paid and then format it into a report
• layout of a report:
  • Report Header → appears at the beginning; contains report title, date & logo
  • Page Header → contains column heading (fields) & any extra info at the top of every page
  • Details → displays the actual info (i.e. the records)
  • Page Footer → bottom of every page, displays date, page no. and any footnotes (extra info)
  • Report Footer → appears at the end; displays report totals

• There’s several types of fields in a report:
  • Static fields → data not retrieved from database fields i.e. title and date in the heading
  • dynamic fields → records taken directly from the database i.e. studentID
  • calculated fields → contains formulae that performs calculations using data i.e. calculate total revenue gained in 10 kmart (each kmart location’s revenue is a record and the field is revenue; find the sum of all the locations’ revenues)

Constructing different views of a database for diff. purposes

Different views of a database can be obtained using a form.

• Forms can view, enter, and change data within a table. The layouts and fields, can be changed for different display.
  • A well-designed form provides info about the required data and any rules that apply to certain fields (i.e. for gender use M/F)
  • Forms can be designed using form generators which give you complete control over layout and appearance.
• It can also be a prototyping tool for developing data input and display screens.