Data Handling Software

A field is one piece of data or information about a person or thing.

A record is a collection of detail about a person or thing. Includes a number of fields.

A table is displayed below.

Mobile# / Name / Model / Network / Monthly Rate / Mins / Text / Contract Expiry / Insurance
07547474937 / B. Davies / Sony Ericsson / 3 / £22.50 / 100 / 200 / 30/12/2006 / No
07567235172 / C. Miles / Samsung D600 / 3 / £25.00 / 250 / 250 / 21/04/2007 / Yes
07786289231 / L. Evans / Nokia 3510i / T-Mobile / £35.00 / 500 / 1000 / 24/10/2007 / Yes
07789317512 / J. Edwards / Nokia 7610 / Orange / £27.99 / 200 / 400 / 12/05/2007 / Yes
07874569842 / T. Jenkins / Nokia 6310i / T-Mobile / £35.00 / 500 / 1000 / 14/08/2007 / Yes
07921345791 / W. Smith / LG 316 / 3 / £24.99 / 100 / 250 / 21/02/2007 / Yes
07986172822 / A. Saunders / Samsung 389 / Orange / £35.00 / 500 / 1000 / 12/10/2007 / No

Validation are checks performed by a computer to ensure that data entered is valid.

  1. Give an example of a range check that could be used.
  2. What is verification?

Complete the data structure table below:

Field Name / Data Type
Mobile# / Text
Name
Model
Network
Monthly rate
Mins
Text
Contract Expiry
Insurance

Which field would be the key field? Why is the key field important?

When the details are sorted by Contract Expiry in descending order who would be the first name on the list?

When searching you must state the Field Name, Condition and the Value an example to find people with phone insurance is displayed below:

Insurance=Yes

Field NameConditionValue

Write searches for the following questions.

  1. Display all phones on the 3 network.
  2. Display all phones with greater than 500 texts.
  3. Display all phones whose contract set to expire before the 12th May 2007.
  4. Display all phones that have 500 mins exactly.

A complex search asks two questions as part of the same search. An example to find all T-Mobile phones with exactly 1000 texts is displayed below:

Network =T-Mobile

AND

Text= 1000

The use of the ANDoperator means that both criteria have to be met. You could use an OR operator which means either condition can be met. An example is displayed below:

Network=3

OR

Network=Orange

Write complex searches for the following questions.

  1. Display all phones on the 3 network with phone insurance.
  2. Display all phones with greater than 500 texts or greater than 400 mins.
  3. Display all phones whose network is orange and monthly rate is less than £30.00.

Mail Merge

A mail merge is where the information from a database table is combined (merged) with a standardized letter to create a number of individualized letters. For example if there was a special offer for all customers at the mobile phone shop, one letter would be written and their details stored in the table would be merged to create individual letters.