Build Your Own ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site Using C# & VB, Second Edition

the line, we include the Employee ID column, the function of which is to assign

a unique number to each employee in the database. This gives us an easy way to

refer to each person, and let us keep track of which employee is which. We’ll

discuss such database design issues in greater depth shortly.

So, to review, Figure 7.1 shows a four-column table with four rows, or entries.

Each row in the table contains four fields, one for each column in the table: the

employee’s ID, name, username, and telephone number.

Now, with this basic terminology under your belt, you’re ready to roll up your

sleeves and build your first database!

Creating your First Database

The SQL Server 2005 engine does a great job of storing and managing your

databases, but in order to be able to do anything meaningful with the data, we

first need to connect to SQL Server. There are many ways to interact with SQL

Server, but for starters, we’re just interested in using it as a visual tool to facilitate

basic administrative tasks.

Because you’re using SQL Server 2005, your key tools will be either:

❑

Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition

❑

SQL Server Management Studio Express Edition

That’s right, Visual Web Developer has everything you need to get started with

SQL Server! However, we’ll use SQL Server Management Studio for most database

tasks—most tasks are easier in SQL Server Management Studio than they are in

Visual Web Developer, as SQL Server Management Studio’s interface has been

designed specifically for working with databases.

We’ll call the database that will store the data for our sample project

“Dorknozzle.” In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create its structure, and in the

next chapter, we’ll begin to work with the database. You can use either Visual

Web Developer or SQL Server Management Studio to create the Dorknozzle

database. I’ll show you both approaches, so you’re comfortable with both options.

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Chapter 7: Database Design and Development