Beginning InfoPath™ 2003

3.1. A Quick Database Primer

As you work with computers, you quickly realize that everything you do on a computer deals with data in one sense or another. Whether you are creating a Word document or crunching numbers with Excel, it is all data. However, not all data belongs in a database, and not all programs are meant to be used as databases, although if you look at some people's documents and worksheets, you may wonder if they are trying to use them as databases. This section explains a few things about databases and shows how you use real-world databases everyday.

If you have been using Microsoft Office products for a while, you have probably had some experience with or at least heard of databases. In fact, even if you haven't used databases on the computer, you have used them in real life.

3.1.1. Databases in the Real World

In the real world there are a never ending number of tasks and subjects that work as an example of databases. Every day from the time you get up until the time you go to bed, you are dealing with databases of one kind or another. Here are just a few examples of real-world data:

• Mailing lists

• School registrations

• Checking account information and history

• Membership lists

• Customer information

And the list goes on and on. While some of these items look like simple topics in themselves, undoubtedly each topic could be fleshed out with additional data so that more than one topic, (what are called tables in database jargon) would be necessary.

The last entry in the ...