Computer Programming Concepts and Visual Basic David I. Schneider

Creating and Designing Databases 343
FIGURE 11-2 Visual Data Manager’s File Menu
Let’s focus on creating a new database. After you select New, you are presented with a
drop-down menu used to choose the type of database as shown in Figure 11-2. Choose
Microsoft Access and then specify a version. (Version 7.0 is the latest version of Access, the
one that comes with the Professional Edition of Office 97.) Then a standard file-naming dialog
box titled “Select Microsoft Access Database to Create” appears. See Figure 11-3.
FIGURE 11-3 Dialog Box Used to Name the Database
After you name the database, say as MEGACITY.MDB, and click Save, the Database
window and SQL Statement box appear. We will work solely with the Database window.
FIGURE 11-4 Database Window. (Appears After the Database is Named. Initially the Window
Will Contain Only the Properties Line. Additional Lines Will Appear as
Tables are Created. )
Suppose you want to create a database with two tables. Starting from the Database window,
the basic steps are as follows:
1. Create the database and the two tables.
(a) Click on the right mouse button within the Database window. Click on New
Table and use the Table Structure window (Figure 11-5) to name the first
table and to specify the fields and their data types. The steps listed after
Figure 11-5 show how to carry out these tasks.
(b) Repeat Step 1 for the second table.