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Functional Skills check
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This lesson will cover:
Importing data into a database.
Exporting data from a database.
Reasons for using external data.
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Importing data
Organizations rely on being able to use, move, buy or sell data.
What advantages does importing/exporting data bring?
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Importing data
If you have an external set of data, you may wish to importthis into your database.
To import external data, goto File, Get External Data and select Import.
You can then choose to import the data into a new tableor import it into an existing table.
If you are importing data into an existing table, you must make sure your field headings match up and are in the right order. Otherwise you will end up with invalid data.
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Importing and exporting data
The most common types of files for importing data are.csv files. If you have spent time creating the correct fieldsin the right order, then any data imported should automaticallybe inserted into the correct place.
You can also export data from your database and create your own .csv files.
You will then be able to import this data into spreadsheetsand other applications.
To export, simply select File, then Export and choose to save your file as a text file.
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Zipping files
Sending really large amounts of data can be difficult via e-mail due to file size constraints.
One way of dealing with this is to zip database files to reduce the size.
Zipping involves using software that applies a compression algorithm to data to reduce its size.
Many organizations will zip large database files but also encrypt them to avoid breaking the Data Protection Act.
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Validation
When importing data into a database you need to do what you can to ensure the new data will be free from errors.
To do this you should:
ensure that you format your data or database so that the field headings match uphave existing validation rules in place, as this will highlight if any data being imported is invalid.
If there are errors, the database software may prevent you from importing all the data, and instead generate an error report.
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