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Monday, October 26, 1998 Dear SQL Server Professionals, The purpose of this message is to provide you with the latest information about the Heartland Users Groups' SQL Server SIG. This e-mail message was sent to you as a "blind copy" to protect your privacy. Please feel free to forward this message on to whomever you feel may have an interest in the Heartland Users Groups and/or the SQL Server SIG. If you wish to be removed from this e-mail list simply send a reply to this message and indicate so. RECAP of OCTOBER 22nd SQL SERVER SIG MEETING ************************************************************ The October SQL Server SIG meeting was held on Thursday, October 22, 1998 at 5:30 PM at the offices of Analysts International Corporation, located in the Broadway Summit Building, 3101 Broadway, Suite 101, Kansas City, MO. A big "thank you" to Analysts International Corporation for providing us with refreshments and the meeting place. SQL Server SIG officers were elected at this meeting (see separate item below for election results). Brent Huscher, SQL Server DBA from Payless Cashways, Inc. was this meeting's presenter and the topic was "Database Design 101". Brent's presentation was an introductory lesson about logical database design concepts and techniques. Attendees were presented with logical design concepts such as entities, attributes, relationships, keys, IDEF1X notation, and normalization. Brent also demonstrated the use of Platinum's ERwin data modeling tool. Brent related that database design and the creation of an entity relationship diagram (also known as an "ERD" or data model) is an important yet often overlooked part of the application development lifecycle. An accurate and up-to-date data model can serve as an important reference tool for DBAs, developers, and other members of the joint application development team. The process of creating a data model helps the team uncover additional questions to ask of end users. Effective database design also allows the team to develop applications that perform well from the beginning. By building quality into the project, the team reduces the overall time it takes to complete the project, which in turn reduces project development costs. The central theme behind database design is to "measure twice, cut once". Brent shared that effective database designers will keep in mind the principles of normalization while they design a database. Normalization is a database design approach that seeks the following four objectives: [1.] minimization of data redundancy, [2.] minimization of data restructuring, [3.] minimization of i/o by reduction of transaction sizes, and [4.] enforcement of referential integrity. Brent discussed the following concepts and techniques for designing an effective database: 1. An entity is a logical collection of things that are relevant to your database. The physical counterpart of an entity is a database table. Name your entities in singular form and in ALL CAPS. For example, an entity that contains data about your company's employees would be named EMPLOYEE. 2. An attribute is a descriptive or quantitative characteristic of an entity. The physical counterpart of an attribute is a database column (or field). Name your attributes in singular form with either Initial Capital Letters or in all lower case. For example, some attribute names for your EMPLOYEE entity might be: Employee Id (or employee_id) and Birth Date (or birthdate). 3. A primary key is an attribute (or combination of attributes) that uniquely identify each instance of an entity. A primary key cannot be null and the value assigned to a primary key should not change over time. A primary key also needs to be efficient. For example, a primary key that is associated with an INTEGER datatype will be more efficient than one that is associated with a CHAR datatype. Primary keys should also be non-intelligent; that is, their values should be assigned arbitrarily without any hidden meaning. Sometimes none of the attributes of an entity are sufficient to meet the criteria of an effective primary key. In this case the database designer is best served by creating an "artificial" primary key. 4. A relationship is a logical link between two entities. A relationship represents a business rule and can be expressed as a verb phrase. Most relationships between entities are of the "one-to-many" type in which one instance of the parent entity relates to many instances of the child entity. For example, the relationship between EMPLOYEE and STORE_LOCATION would be represented as: one STORE_LOCATION (parent entity) employs many EMPLOYEEs (child entity). 5. The second type of relationship is the "many-to-many" relationship. In a "many-to-many" relationship, many instances of one entity relate to many instances of the other entity. "Many-to-many" relationships need to be resolved in order to avoid data redundancy. "Many-to-many" relationships may be resolved by creating an intermediate entity known as a "translate" entity. The translate entity is made up of the primary keys from both of the two original entities. Both of the two original entities become parent entities of the translate entity. Thus, the "many-to-many" relationship becomes resolved as two "one-to-many" relationships. For example, the "many-to-many" relationship of (many) EMPLOYEEs are assigned (many) TASKs can be resolved by creating a new entity named EMPLOYEE_TASK. This resolves the "many-to-many" relationship by creating two separate "one-to-many" relationships. The two "one-to-many" relationships are EMPLOYEE (parent entity) is assigned EMPLOYEE_TASK (child entity) and TASK (parent entity) is assigned to EMPLOYEE_TASK (child entity). 6. A "foreign key" exists when the primary key of the parent entity exists in a child entity. A foreign key requires that values must be present in the parent entity before like values may be inserted in the child entity. The concept of maintaining foreign keys is known as "referential integrity". 7. Relationships between two entities may be classified as being either "identifying" or "non-identifying". Identifying relationships exist when the primary key of the parent entity is included in the primary key of the child entity. On the other hand, a non-identifying relationship exists when the primary key of the parent entity is included in the child entity but not as part of the child entity's primary key. In addition, non-identifying relationships may be further classified as being either "mandatory" or "non-mandatory". A mandatory non-identifying relationship exists when the value in the child table cannot be null. On the other hand, a non-mandatory non-identifying relationship exists when the value in the child table can be null. 8. Cardinality helps us further understand the nature of the relationship between the child entity and the parent entity. The cardinality of a relationship may be determined by asking the following question: "How many instances of the child entity relate to each instance of the parent entity?". There are four types of cardinality: [1.] One to zero or more (common cardinality), [2.] One to one or more (P cardinality), [3.] One to zero or one (Z cardinality), and [4.] One to exactly N (N cardinality). In conclusion, effective database design can help the development team reduce overall development time and costs. Undertaking the process of database design and creating a data model helps the team better understand the user's requirements and thus enables them to build a system that is more reflective of the user's requirements and business rules. The act of performing database design is platform-independent so persons who use database systems other than SQL Server should also be able to benefit from these concepts. RESULTS OF SQL SERVER SIG ELECTIONS ************************************************************ The results of the 1998-1999 SQL Server SIG elections are as follows: president: Brent Huscher mailto:brenth@payless.cashways.com vice-president: Matt Crouch mailto:mrcmail@sprintmail.com treasurer: Bob Van Cleave mailto:bvanclea@cgro.com These officers have been elected to serve for one year commencing in October 1998 and until the next SQL Server SIG election in October 1999. No one was elected to the positions of membership chair and programs chair. The duties of the two remaining positions will be fulfilled by the above elected SQL Server SIG officers. Please contact any SQL Server SIG officer if you would like to volunteer to serve in either of the open positions. See the following web page for descriptions of the duties of all of the SQL Server SIG officers: http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlofficers.html . NEXT SERVER SIG MEETING: Thursday, 11/05/1998 ************************************************************ The November SQL Server SIG meeting will be held on Thursday, November 5, 1998 at 5:30 PM. This meeting will be hosted at the offices of Analysts International Corporation, located in the Broadway Summit Building, 3101 Broadway, Suite 101, Kansas City, MO. This building is situated on the SOUTHEAST corner of 31st Street and Broadway. AIC's offices are on the first floor. Please use the entrance located on the SOUTH side of the building. Parking in the building lot is FREE. The focus of this meeting will be a roundtable discussion to allow all participants to "show and tell" what their environments are doing with SQL Server. Come prepared to discuss how your organization is using SQL Server and also to find out what other SQL Server SIG participants are doing with SQL Server. SQL SERVER 7.0 LAUNCH: Monday, 11/16/1998 ************************************************************ Microsoft will launch SQL Server 7.0 at Comdex in Las Vegas on November 16, 1998. Locally, you can join in the celebration by viewing the event live via satellite. This FREE event runs from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Monday, November 16, 1998 at the Conference Center of the Business Technology Association, 12411 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO. See the flyer at http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlmsevent.html for more details or to register, go to http://www.microsoft.com/midamerica/events and enter event code 20411 and VIP code E99. To register by phone: 800.550.4300 or by FAX: 800.896.9329. BUILDING GREAT SQL SERVER 7.0 APPS: Wednesday, 11/18/1998 ************************************************************ Join Microsoft as they provide specific recommendations for building well-designed SQL Server 7.0 applications for the Windows DNA platform. Topics include API selection, server extensibility methodologies and approaches to multi-tier application development with SQL Server 7.0. Also discussed are locking/concurrency strategies, cursor selection and application migration issues. This FREE event runs from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM on Wednesday, November 18, 1998 at Penn Valley Community College, 3201 Southwest Trafficway, Kansas City, MO. To register, go to http://www.microsoft.com/midamerica/events and enter event code 20945. To register by phone: 800.550.4300 or by FAX: 800.896.9329. GENERAL INFORMATION ************************************************************ 1. The regular meeting time for the monthly SQL Server SIG meeting is 5:30 PM on the first Thursday of every month. This time is in effect for all SQL Server SIG meetings for the rest of 1998. 2. Please let me know if you have an opinion about what time to hold SQL Server SIG meetings in 1999. Some persons have expressed that 5:30 PM is too early to allow for some persons to attend. I need to know your feedback, whether it is in favor of 5:30 PM or for another time. Please submit your feedback to me via e-mail or by telephone (see below for contact information). 3. Here is the schedule for the next three SQL Server SIG meetings: a. Thursday, November 5, 1998 @ 5:30 PM at AIC, 3101 Broadway, Suite 101 b. Thursday, December 3, 1998 @ 5:30 PM at AIC, 3101 Broadway, Suite 101 c. Thursday, January 7, 1999 @ time and place TBA UPCOMING HEARTLAND USERS GROUPS EVENTS ***************************************************************** All Heartland Users Groups' meetings are open to the general public. Joining the Heartland Users Groups entitles you to receive door prizes and the monthly newsletter. Please consider joining -- an annual membership is only $25.00. You can obtain a membership form at any of the Heartland Users Groups' events. Here is a calendar of upcoming Heartland Users Groups events: Tuesday, October 27, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Visual Basic SIG At Johnson County Community College Room CEC 234, OP, KS See http://www.kcx.com/accessvb/logon.asp for details Monday, November 2, 1998 at 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM HUG Board Meeting (for HUG officers and SIG leaders) At Security Benefit Companies Corporate Woods, Building #27, Suite 150, OP, KS (northeast of College BLVD and Grandview RD) Wednesday, November 4, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM JAVA SIG At Step 1, Inc. 10551 Barkley, Suite 117, OP, KS See http://www.qni.com/~brisk/JavaSIG/Default.html for details Thursday, November 5, 1998 at 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM SQL Server SIG -- Roundtable discussion; "Show and Tell" what your environment is doing with SQL Server At Analysts International Corporation 3101 Broadway, Suite 101, KC, MO See http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html for details Tuesday, November 10, 1998 at 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Win NT SIG At Solutech 7300 College BLVD, OP, KS Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM C++ SIG At Step 1, Inc. 10551 Barkley, Suite 117, OP, KS See http://www.kcx.com/c/ for details Thursday, November 12, 1998 at 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM Digital Nervous System (presented by Microsoft) At American Heartland Theater - Crown Center 2450 Grand BLVD, KC, MO See http://www.microsoft.com/midamerica/events Register in advance; use event code 20948 Phone:800.550.4300 / FAX:800.896.9329 Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM Win 9x SIG -- topic TBA At COMP-USA 11421 Metcalf, OP, KS Monday, November 16, 1998 at 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM SQL Server 7.0 Launch (presented by Microsoft) At Business Technology Center 12411 Wornall RD, KC, MO See http://www.microsoft.com/midamerica/events Register in advance; use event code 20411 Phone:800.550.4300 / FAX:800.896.9329 Monday, November 16, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM General Meeting At Johnson County Community College Room GEB 233, OP, KS see http://www.hugkc.org for details Tuesday, November 17, 1998 at 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Smalltalk SIG At Information Systems Corp. City Center Square, 1110 Main, Suite 1540, KC, MO See http://www.kcx.com/smalltalk/ for details Wednesday, November 18, 1998 at 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM Guidelines for Building Great SQL Server 7.0 Applications (presented by Microsoft) At Penn Valley Community College 3201 Southwest Trafficway, KC, MO See http://www.microsoft.com/midamerica/events Register in advance; use event code 20945 Phone:800.550.4300 / FAX:800.896.9329 Wednesday, November 18, 1998 at 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Access SIG At Johnson County Community College Room CEC 211, OP, KS See http://www.kcx.com/accessvb/logon.asp for details Tuesday, November 24, 1998 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Visual Basic SIG At Johnson County Community College Room CEC 234, OP, KS See http://www.kcx.com/accessvb/logon.asp for details MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS ************************************************************ The Heartland Users Groups' home page is at: http://www.hugkc.org . The SQL Server SIG's home page is at: http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html . Feel free to offer any ideas for improving the SQL Server SIG's page or for adding any links. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, criticisms, and/or referrals of persons who may be potentially interested in the SQL Server SIG. |