May 16, 2021 MS Access
Microsoft Access has the look and feel of other Microsoft Office products, in terms of its layout and navigation, but MS Access is a database, and more specifically, a relationship database.
Prior to MS Access 2007, the file extension was .mdb, but in MS Access 2007, the extension was changed to .accdb extension.
Earlier versions of Access could not read the accdb extension, but MS Access 2007 and later could read and change earlier versions of Access.
The Access desktop database .accdb or .mdb) is a fully functional RDBMS.
It provides all the data definitions, data operations, and data control capabilities you need to manage large amounts of data.
You can use the Access desktop database (.accdb or .mdb) as a stand-alone RDBMS on a single workstation or as a shared client/server mode across the network.
The desktop database can also be used as a data source for the data displayed on the web pages of internal web pages.
Access is RDBMS when building applications using the Access desktop database.
Now let's see what the data definition is -
In a document or spreadsheet, you are usually completely free to define the contents of each cell in the document or spreadsheet.
In a document, you can include text paragraphs, tables, charts, or multiple columns of data displayed in multiple fonts.
In a spreadsheet, you can have text data at the top to define column titles for printing or displaying, and depending on the functionality of the rows, you may have various number formats in the same column.
RDBMS allows you to define the type of data you own and how it should be stored.
You can also generally define rules that RDBMS can use to ensure the integrity of your data.
For example, validation rules ensure that users do not accidentally store letter characters in fields that should contain numbers.
Using data in RDBMS is very different from working with data in word processing or spreadsheet programs.
In a word processing document, you can include table data and perform a limited set of functions on the data in the document.
You can also search for text strings in the original document and use ActiveX controls, including tables, charts, or pictures from other applications.
In a spreadsheet, some cells contain functions that determine the desired results, and in others, enter data that provides source information for the function.
RDBMS gives you many ways to process data. For example:
You can search for a single table for information, or request a complex search across multiple related tables.
You can update a single field or many records with a single command.
You can write programs that use RDBMS commands to get the data to display and allow users to update the data.
Access uses the powerful SQL database language to process the data in the table. Sql allows you to define the set of information needed to resolve a particular problem, including data from many tables.
Spreadsheets and word processing documents are ideal for solving individual user problems, but they are difficult to use when multiple people need to share data.
RDBMS gives you the flexibility to allow multiple users to read or update your data when you need to share your information with others.
RDBMS, designed to allow data sharing, also provides features to ensure that no two people can change the same data at the same time.
The best system also allows you to group changes (also known as transactions) so that all changes or all changes do not appear in the data.
You may also want to make sure that no one else can view any part of the order until you enter all the parts.
Because you can share your Access data with other users, you may need to set some restrictions that allow various users to view or update.