Database Management Systems: Application Features, Design, and Organization, Slides of Introduction to Database Management Systems

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Database Management Systems

1

Objectives

• What features need to be included in finished

applications?

• How do you create a consistent application design?

• How are forms and reports integrated and organized?

• How can users gain easy access to standard operations

across the application?

• How do you create custom help files?

• What does your application do when something goes

wrong?

• How do you know your application works correctly?

• How will your application be installed?

2

Application Design

• Customer Form
• Order Form
• Bad design:
  • Enter data twice.
• Poor design:
  • Memorize data (ID) on one form to enter on second.
• Better design:
  • Automatically transfer data across forms.

4

Order Customer: 1592 Jane Doe

Customer CID: 1592 First: Jane Last: Doe Address: 123 Oak

Edit

Page Design Template

5

Menu Main Print Help Customer ID (^1523)

First (^) Mary

Last (^) Jones

Phone (^) 123-

Initial Form

Title Label (^) Input

Template

Customer ID (^1523) First (^) Mary Last (^) Jones Phone (^) 123-

Consistent Form

Application Importance

• User interface
  • Make users’ jobs easier.
  • Tie input forms and reports.
  • Automate basic tasks
  • Tie to external data collection devices.
  • Help system.
• Ensure data integrity
  • Validate data.
  • Perform computations.
  • Verify totals.
  • Control user access.
  • Maintain related transactions.
  • Backup and recovery.
    • Decision Support
      • Monitoring of events.
      • Analysis, Graphs, Reports.
      • Statistical analysis and optimization.
      • Forecasts and simulation.
      • Linking to other software.
    • Expert Systems & Intelligence
      • Logic and forward chaining.
      • Analysis and decisions in code.
      • Databases of cases, situations and solutions.

7

Application Organization

• Organized by user needs.
  • Identify user.
  • Outline tasks.
  • Organize forms and reports.
• Direct users to tasks.
• Potential drawbacks
  • Too many layers makes it difficult for users to find anything.
  • Poor organization confuses users and requires additional support and training. - Build forms and reports. - Start with a core concept. - Identify most important features. Get them correct. - Add features, forms and reports. Issue application updates--number and date! - Use menu stubs for incomplete

and future work.

• Make them invisible to the user with the Visible property.
• Be sure they are disabled.

8

User Orientation

• Database application is a model of

the organization.

• Applications based on user jobs.
• Flexibility and user control.
• Application organization
• User tasks.
• User control over sequence.
• Forms
• Minimize user entry.
• Anticipation.
• Reports
• Easy access from forms.
• User selection of scope and conditions or filters.

10

Sally’s Pet Store: Poor Organization

11

Order

Merchandise

Item

Receive

Merchandise

Item

Sell

Merchandise

Item

Get

Customer

Data

What is wrong?

Focus needs to be at higher level

(Order, Receipt, Sale); not Item.A

You cannot go from Order to Receipt.

You cannot go from Receipt to Sale.

You need to get customer data before

recording the sale.

Collaboration Diagram for Sales

13

Sales

Customers

Animals

Sales Clerk

Animal Health

Genealogy

Receipts

Merchandise

Initial Menu / Switchboard

• Starting point for users.
  • Identify the user.
    • From network if possible.
    • Separate log in if needed.
  • Customized for users.
    • Hide restricted options.
    • Different forms as needed.
• Avoid cluttered screens.
  • Use graphics and color to enhance the presentation.
  • Limit the number of options.

14

Menus

• Why a custom menu?
  • Place it on a toolbar.
  • Limit user actions.
  • Simplify user interface.
  • Add custom actions.
  • Menus can be activated by keystrokes. - Accessibility - Touch-typists and heads- down data entry.
  • Sometimes need different menus for each form.

16

File Help Contents Search About Rolling Thunder

File Edit Help Add Customer Delete Customer Ctrl+D Modify Customer Data

Creating Menus

• View | Toolbars | Customize
• Drag and Drop
  • Multilevel menu.
    • Sublevels/hierarchy.
    • Each level is a separate menu with its own name.
  • Menu choices
    • Each entry has a name.
    • Access key: & (e.g., &File).
    • Status Bar Text
  • Actions
    • Submenu.
    • Run any code.

17

Toolbars

• Why toolbars?
  • Single click for complex actions.
  • Commands available across the application / shortcuts.
  • Position and customization by user.
• Toolbar components
  • Button
    • Text
    • Icon/graphic (bitmap)
  • Tool Tip
  • Status Bar description
  • Action

19

Print

·Identify report ·Ask for single or multiple pages. Switchboard ·Preview or print.

Weekly Sales Analysis Build graphs Print reports Export data to spreadsheet

Creating Toolbars

• View | Toolbars | New

• Customizing

– Add new button.

• Select from DBMS list.
• Bring up query/form/report.
• Run code.

– Change icon.

• Modify existing icon.
• Replace icon.
• Create your own icon and paste it on the button.
• Place text label on button.

• Tool tips are vital.

• Status bar for description.

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