The Elements of a Database

What elements comprise a database? This article deals

mainly with the objects that comprise a database. Several
concepts are worthy of coverage within the scope of the
database as it relates to database design. As you work
with data and databases, you will see how the origination
of business information and databases is formulated into
database elements. The intent here is to provide a brief
coverage of basic database elements to provide you with
a basic understanding of the elements found in a
database.
Several topics are discussed in the following sections.
These topics include:

The database schema

Schema objects
Indexes
Tables
Fields and columns
Records and rows
Keys
Relationships
Data types

Database Schema :
A schema is quite simply a group of related objects in a
database. Within a schema, objects that are related have
relationships to one another, as discussed earlier. There is
one owner of a schema, who has access to manipulate
the structure of any object in the schema. A schema does
not represent a person, although the schema is
associated with a user account that resides in the
database.
The three models associated with a schema are as
follows:

The conceptual model, also called

the logical model, is the basic database model, which
deals with organizational structures that are used to
define database structures such as tables and
constraints.
The internal model, also called the physical model,
deals with the physical storage of the database, as
well as access to the data, such as through data
storage in tables and the use of indexes to expedite
data access. The internal model separates the
physical requirements of the hardware and the
operating system from the data model.
The external model, or application interface, deals
with methods through which users may access the
schema, such as through the use of a data input
form. The external model allows relationships to be

created between the user application and the data

model. Figure 1 depicts a schema in a relational
database.

Figure 1 - Collection of objects that comprise a database schema.

NOTE.

A schema object is an object that resides within a

schema. The most typical object found in a database is a
table. Other types of objects can reside in a schema, such
as indexes, constraints, views, and procedures
The table is the most fundamental element found in a
database schema. Columns and rows are associated with
tables. Tables, columns, and rows are discussed in the
following subsections.

Table:
A table is the primary unit of physical storage for data in
a database. When a user accesses the database, a table
is usually referenced for the desired data. Multiple tables
might comprise a database, therefore a relationship
might exist between tables. Because tables store data, a
table requires physical storage on the host computer for
the database.

Figure 2 illustrates tables in a schema. Each table in the

figure is related to at least one other table. Some tables
are related to multiple tables.
Figure 2 - Database tables and their relationships.

Four types of tables are commonly used:

Data tables store most of the data found in a

database.
Join tables are tables used to create a relationship
between two tables that would otherwise be
unrelated.
Subset tables contain a subset of data from a data
table.
Validation tables, often referred to as code tables,
are used to validate data entered into other database
tables.
Tables are used to store the data that the user needs to
access. Tables might also have constraints attached to
them, which control the data allowed to be entered into
the table. An entity from the business model is eventually
converted into a database table.

Columns:
A column, or field, is a specific category of information
that exists in a table. A column is to a table what an
attribute is to an entity. In other words, when a business
model is converted into a database model, entities
become tables and attributes become columns. A column
represents one related part of a table and is the smallest
logical structure of storage in a database. Each column in
a table is assigned a data type. The assigned data type

determines what type of values that can populate a

column. When visualizing a table, a column is a vertical
structure in the table that contains values for every row
of data associated with a particular column.
In Figure 3, columns within the Customers table are
shown. Each column is a specific category of information.
All of the data in a table associated with a field is called a
column.
Figure 3 - Columns in a database table.

Rows :
A row of data is the collection of all the columns in a table
associated with a single occurrence. Simply speaking, a
row of data is a single record in a table. For example, if
there are 25,000 book titles with which a bookstore deals,
there will be 25,000 records, or rows of data, in the book
titles table once the table is populated. The number of
rows within the table will obviously change as books'
titles are added and removed. See Figure 4 for an
illustration of a row of data in a table.

Figure 4 - Row of data in a database table.

Data Types :
A data type determines the type of data that can be
stored in a database column.
Although many data types are available, three of the
most commonly used data types are

Alphanumeric
Numeric
Date and time

Alphanumeric data types are used to store characters,

numbers, special characters, or nearly any combination.
If a numeric value is stored in an alphanumeric field, the
value is treated as a character, not a number. In other
words, you should not attempt to perform arithmetic
functions on numeric values stored in alphanumeric
fields. Design techniques such as this will be discussed in
more detail throughout the book. Numeric data types are
used to store only numeric values. Date and time data
types are used to store date and time values, which
widely vary depending on the relational database
management system (RDBMS) being used.

Keys:
The integrity of the information stored in a database is
controlled by keys. A key is a column value in a table that
is used to either uniquely identify a row of data in a table,
or establish a relationship with another table. A key is
normally correlated with one column in table, although it
might be associated with multiple columns. There are two
types of keys: primary and foreign.
Primary Keys

A primary key is the combination of one or more column

values in a table that make a row of data unique within
the table. Primary keys are typically used to join related
tables. Even if a table has no child table, a primary key
can be used to disallow the entry of duplicate records into
a table. For example, an employee's social security
number is sometimes considered a primary key candidate
because all SSNs are unique.
Foreign Keys

A foreign key is the combination of one or more column

values in a table that reference a primary key in another
table. Foreign keys are defined in child tables. A foreign
key ensures that a parent record has been created before
a child record. Conversely, a foreign key also ensures that
the child record is deleted before the parent record.
Relationships

Most databases are divided into many tables, most of

which are related to one another. In most modern
databases, such as the relational database, relationships
are established through the use of primary and foreign
keys. The purpose of separating data into tables and
establishing table relationships is to reduce data
redundancy.
The process of reducing data redundancy in a relational
database is called normalization and is discussed in detail
in Chapter 8 Of our book, Database Design.
Three types of table relationships that can be derived are
as follows:

One-to-one--One record in a table is related to only

one record in another table.
One-to-many--One record in a table can be related
to many records in another table.
Many-to-many--One record in a table can be related
to one or more records in another table, and one or
more records in the second table can be related to
one or more records in the first table.
Figure 6 briefly illustrates table relationships in a
relational database. A relational database allows parent
tables to have many child tables, and child tables to have
many parent tables. The figure shows two tables. Table 1
has an ID column (primary key) and Table 2 has an FK
column (foreign key). In the one-to-one relationship
example, notice that for every ID in Table 1, there is only
one ID in Table 2. In the one-to-many relationships
example, notice that the ID of 1 has many occurrences in
Table 2. In the many-to-many relationship example,
notice that the ID in Table 1 might occur multiple times in
Table 2 as a foreign key, and the ID in Table 2 might occur
multiple times in Table 1.

Figure 6 - Available table relationships in the relational

model.