Understanding Databases

Lesson 6
Objective Domain Matrix

Skills/Concepts MTA Exam Objectives

Understanding Relational Understand relational database management
Database Concepts systems (6.1)
Understanding Database Understand database query methods (6.2)
Query Methods
Understanding Database Understand database connection methods (6.3)
Connection Methods
Data Anomalies
BookId BookName CategoryId CategoryName
1 Cooking Light 1001 Cooking
2 Prophecy 1002 Mystery & Thriller
3 Shift 1003 Business
4 The Confession 1002 Mystery & Thriller

• Insert Anomaly
– You cannot insert new data because of unrelated dependency
• Delete Anomaly
– Deleting one piece of data causes unintended loss of other data
• Update Anomaly
– Updating a single data value requires multiple rows to be updated
Data Normalization
• The process of data normalization ensures
that a database design is free of any
problems that could lead to loss of data
integrity.
• This lesson discusses three normal forms
– First Normal Form
– Second Normal Form
– Third Normal Form
First Normal Form (1NF)
• In order for a table to be in the first normal form
(1NF), none of the columns in the table should
have multiple values in the same row of data.
• The following table is not in 1NF because the
PhoneNumber column is storing multiple values
Id FirstName LastName PhoneNumber

1 Jane Doe (503) 555-6874

2 John Doe (509) 555-7969,

(509) 555-7970
3. Howard Steel (604) 555-3392,
(604) 555-3393
Second Normal Form (2NF)
• For a table to be in second normal form (2NF), it must first
meet the requirements for 1NF.
• 2NF also requires that all non-key columns are functionally
dependent on the entire primary key.
• The following table violates the 2NF because the non-key
columns are functionally dependent on only part of the
primary key.
OrderId CustomerId OrderDate CustomerName

101 1 10/1/2010 Jane Doe

102 2 10/5/2010 John Doe

103 1 10/4/2010 Jane Doe

Third Normal Form (3NF)
• For a table to be in third normal form (3NF), it must first
meet the requirements for 2NF.
• 3NF also requires that that there is no functional
dependency between non-key attributes.
• The following table violates the 3NF because the non-key
columns are functionally dependent on only part of the
primary key.
ItemId SupplierId ReorderFax

101 100 (514) 555-2955

102 11 (514) 555-9022

103 525 (313) 555-5735

Structured Query Language (SQL)
• SQL is the language used by most database
systems to manage the information in their
databases.
• SQL is declarative in nature -- you tell the database
what needs to done, and it’s the database’s job to
figure out how to do it.
• There are two main ways to submit T-SQL to SQL
Server:
– Ad-hoc SQL statements
– Stored procedures
SQL Queries
• SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements
are the four main types of SQL statements used to
manipulate SQL Server data:
– SELECT statement: retrieves data
– INSERT statement: adds new data
– UPDATE statement: modifies data
– DELETE statement: deletes data
Running SQL Queries
• There are many way to communicate with SQL
Server in order to run database queries:
– Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment
– C# application
– SQL Query Analyzer
– osql command prompt utility
Selecting Data
• The SELECT statement is used to retrieve data
from one or more database tables.
SELECT list_of_fields
FROM list_of_tables
WHERE where_clause
GROUP BY group_by_clause
HAVING having_clause
ORDER BY order_by_clause
SELECT Examples
• The following SELECT statement matches each
order with corresponding customer:
SELECT OrderID, Customers.CustomerId, ContactName
FROM Orders INNER JOIN Customers
ON Orders.CustomerId = Customers.CustomerId

• The following SELECT statement gets all orders

shipped to Canada:
SELECT *
FROM Orders
WHERE ShipCountry = 'Canada'
Updating Data
• The UPDATE statement is used to update
information in database tables.
• The following statement a specific customer’s
contact name:

UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName = 'Maria Anderson'
WHERE CustomerId = 'ALFKI'
Inserting Data
• The INSERT statement is used to add one or more
rows to a database table.
• The following statement inserts a new record to the
Order Details table:

INSERT INTO [Order Details]

(OrderId, ProductId, UnitPrice, Quantity, Discount)
VALUES (10248, 2, 19.00, 2, 0)
Deleting Data
• The DELETE statement is used to remove
information from database tables.
• The following statement deletes a record from the
Customers table:

DELETE FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerId = 'ALFKI'
Stored Procedures
• A stored procedure is a set of SQL statements that
is stored in a database.
• Stored procedures benefits:
– You can use them to save complex SQL statements
for future execution.
– SQL Server compiles stored procedures so that they
run faster than ad hoc queries.
Creating Stored Procedures
• You use T-SQL’s CREATE PROCEDURE statement to
create a stored procedure.
• The following stored procedure, when executed,
returns all customers from France:

CREATE PROCEDURE GetCustomersFromFrance

AS
SELECT * FROM Customers
Where Country = 'France'
RETURN
Parameterized Stored Procedures
• The following stored procedure, when executed,
returns total sales for a given customer:
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.GetCustomerSales
(
@CustomerId char(5),
@TotalSales money OUTPUT
)
AS
SELECT @TotalSales = SUM(Quantity * UnitPrice)
FROM (Customers INNER JOIN Orders
ON Customers.CustomerId = Orders.CustomerId)
INNER JOIN [Order Details]
ON Orders.OrderId = [Order Details].OrderId
WHERE Customers.CustomerId = @CustomerId
RETURN
Working with Flat Files
• The data in a flat file can be plain text or binary.
These files are called “flat files” to distinguish
them from more structured forms of storage, such
as relational databases and XML files.
• The StreamReader and StreamWriter classes
allows you to manipulate text files.
• The BinaryReader and BinaryWriter classes allows
you to manipulate binary files.
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
• XML is a text-based format for representing
structured data.
Working with XML
• The classes that work with XML data are organized
in the System.Xml namespace:
– XmlReader and XmlWriter: These classes provide a
fast, non-cached, forward-only way to read or write
XML data.
– XmlDocument: This class is an in-memory
representation of XML data and allows navigation
and editing of the XML document.
Working with DataSet
• A DataSet is an in-memory representation of relational
data.
• A DataSet can have tables, relations, and data-integrity
constraints such as unique constraints or foreign-key
constraints.
• The DataAdapter acts as a bridge between the data source
and the DataSet.
• The DataAdapter stores the data connection and data
commands needed to connect to the data source. The
DataAdapter also provides commands for retrieving data
from the data source and commands for updating the data
source with any changes.
Recap
• Relational Database Design
– Entity Relationship Diagram
– Data Normalization
• Database Query Methods
– Working with SQL Queries
– Working with Stored Procedures
• Database Connection Methods
– Working with Flat Files, XML, DataSet