Logical database design is one of the most important tasks in any database project, and yet is probably also the least well understood. This part of the book specifically hopes to change that by mixing a little database theory with some practical advice, as well as considering some common techniques that are often overlooked.
In this section we lay the foundations for the physical implementation of our design in the second half of the
book and in doing so cover the following material:
❑ Chapter 1 Introduction to Database Methodologies – As its name implies, a brief introduction
to the different database methodologies that are commonly used to implement a fully featured
database system, such as OLTP databases, Data Warehouses, Operation Data Stores and Data
Marts.
❑ Chapter 2 Gathering Information for a Database Project – In this chapter we give an overview
of the process of determining the requirements that the users will have of the database system, by
looking at some of the more obscure places where important data hides.
❑ Chapter 3 Fundamental Database Concepts – A basic understanding of the concepts of relational
theory is fundamental to the process of database design and is considered here. This will provide a
basis for the development of our design.
❑ Chapter 4 Entities, Attributes, Relationships, and Business Rules – In this chapter we will begin
the process of turning the information gathered in Chapter 2 into a logical design of our relational
database, in particular by devising the entities we will require.
❑ Chapter 5 Data Modeling – Once we have discovered objects, we need to have a way to display
and share the information with programmers and users. The data model is the most effective tool for
depicting database design information.
Chapter 6 Normalization Techniques – Normalization is the process of taking the information we
gathered in Chapter 2, and developed in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, and turning it into a well
structured draft of the data model. In this chapter we consider the normalization rules we must
follow in designing a well-structured model for our system.
❑ Chapter 7 Advanced Normalization Topics – This chapter builds on the previous one by
extending the basic normalization techniques beyond those familiar to most programmers. In this
way we are able to fine-tune our logical design so as to avoid, as far as is possible, any data
anomalies.
❑ Chapter 8 Ending The Logical Design Phase – Once we have designed the “perfect” database, we
need to return to the original specifications to ensure that the data we expect to store will serve the
data needs of the users. By this point many programmers are ready to code away, but it is important
to finish off the logical design phase, by double checking our model and its documentation to try
and minimize the level of changes required when we come to physically implementing it.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Visual Quickpro Guide on Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Advanced
Need to take your Macromedia Dreamweaver skills to the next level? You don't have to be a programmer to build interactivity into your site. You just need Dreamweaver 8Macromedia's powerful new Web design and development toolaccess to a Web server and an application server, and a copy of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Advanced for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide.
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Takes a visual, task-based approach to guiding you through advanced topics and applying what you learn
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Works like a reference book - you look up what you need and then get straight to work
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Concise, straightforward steps and explanations offer the fastest way to learn tasks and concepts
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Companion Web site includes sample files
This valuable reference picks up where the Visual QuickStart Guide leaves off with advanced step-by-step tutorials on working with servers, setting up database connections, using SQL, and building dynamic pagesand that's just in the first half of the book! The book's second half includes clear, concise instructions on how to build dynamic forms and dynamic tables, create a search page for your site, and control access to your site with a user log-in and password. You'll get real-world examples and detailed illustrations of how and when features should be put to use, including what's new in Dreamweaver 8: code-editing improvements such as the coding toolbar and code collapse, drag-and-drop integration of XML data, server-side transformations with XSLT, support for PHP 5 and ColdFusion MX 7, and more!
What the content:
Setting up for Web-application development
The first three chapters of the book introduce you to Web servers, application servers, and the Dreamweaver interface. They help you to set up a Web server and an application server on Windows and on Mac OS X. You'll learn how to configure a Dreamweaver site for dynamic database-driven site development, including designating a testing server and enabling Dreamweaver's site-management features. In addition, you'll learn about Dreamweaver tools for code editing, including Code Collapse and the Coding toolbar
Working with databases
Chapters 4 through 6 show you how to work with databases. You'll learn how to connect to a database from Dreamweaver, and how to install and configure MySQL. In addition, you'll learn how to use SQL (Structured Query Language), the standard database query language, to create database queries for selecting, sorting, and editing database information. You'll also learn about recordsets (sets of data resulting from database queries) and how to use Dreamweaver to create both simple and complex recordsets.
Using dynamic content
Chapters 7 and 8 show you how to add dynamic content to your Web pages. You'll learn how to add dynamic text, images, HTML attributes, and Flash parameters. You'll also learn how to use the Live Data window to preview dynamic content in Dreamweaver. In addition, you'll learn how to create dynamic forms that include database content, add JavaScript behaviors to form objects, use URL and form parameters to send data from one page to another, and add JavaScript validation rules to your forms.
Adding server behaviors and application objects
In Chapters 9 and 10, you'll learn how to use server behaviors and application objects. Server behaviors are prewritten blocks of server-side code that you can add to your pages, while application objects are server behaviors that add both HTML and server-side code to your pages. You'll learn how to use both to display multiple database records in a dynamic table, navigate through data-base records, and create master/detail page sets to display data.
Putting it all together: Creating Web applications
Chapters 11, 12, and 13 show you how to create Web applications by combining several skills that you learned in earlier chapters. You'll learn how to create search and results pages and display the search results in a dynamic table. You'll also learn how to create Web pages for editing database records, including adding new records, and updating or deleting existing records. In addition, you'll learn how to control access to your Web site with user registration, passwords, and login pages.
Using XML, XHTML, XSLT, and XPath
In Chapter 14, you'll learn how to use XML, XHTML, XSLT, and XPath in Dreamweaver. You'll learn how to create XHTML documents and convert HTML files to XHTML. In addition, this chapter shows you how to use the new XML, XSLT, and XPath features in Dreamweaver 8. You'll learn how to create XML files and attach Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). You'll also learn how to convert an HTML file to XSLT, attach an XSLT style sheet to an XML file, create an XSLT fragment and add it to a dynamic page, and use Dreamweaver's XPath Expression Builder. This chapter also shows you how to use an XSLT fragment to incorporate an RSS feed into a dynamic page
Broadband Optical Access Networks and Fiber to the Home
The huge successes during the last decade of the Web and digital video (first as DVDs, then
as satellite and cable entertainment, now as video recording, HDTV, and flat-panel displays)
have changed people’s habits and their demands for service delivery.
Consequently,consumer adoption of broadband access to facilitate use of the Internet for knowledge,
commerce, and entertainment is following these same patterns, outpacing the ability of
some technologies to keep up. A growing number of service providers – old and new – are
turning to solutions capable of exploiting the full potential of optical fiber for service
delivery: ‘FTTH: fiber to the home.’ In the laboratory for 30 years, and successfully meeting
the technical objectives of worldwide field trials throughout the 1980s, FTTH was nevertheless
stymied by high costs. In recent years, however, costs have fallen as service demand
rose dramatically so that FTTH has become cost-effective in more and more situations.
The ongoing pressures to reduce costs of integrated circuits and other technologies for massmarket
products, especially PCs, Ethernet data networking, and digital video, combined with
similar progress in electro-optics and fiber have all contributed to driving down the cost of
FTTH. Ongoing operational cost savings from moving fiber to the very edges of the network
are better understood and also improve the business case. In light of the rising consumer
demand for so-called ‘triple-play’ services (digital video, broadband Internet access, and
fully featured voice services including Internet delivery), the time is right to understand what
the new FTTH systems and strategies offer.
This book you are about to read addresses the need. Chinlon Lin and two dozen eminent
authors, representing the spectrum from developers and manufacturers to network and service
providers, treat the systems aspects of FTTH comprehensively. This includes passive optical
networks, standardization of PONs which has accelerated product availability and deployment,
the ongoing evolution to deliver a Gigabit per second Ethernet, and the growing trend to
migrate to dense wavelength-division multiplexing. Business and operational issues, trends,
and evolution strategies are also discussed.
In organizing this book, Chinlon Lin has brought with him his broad perspective.
Having a career path at Bell Labs, Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies),
and Jedai Broadband, he worked intimately with the R and D of the underlying
optical technologies and architectures, as well as some of the deployment strategies. His past
interactions ranged from telecommunications companies to broadband cable service providers.
In the chapters of this book, recognized experts provide international perspectives along these
lines for the reader to develop their own knowledge base and business perspective of FTTH
access networks, including even the popular use of wireless once the premises are reached.
I know you will find this book timely, offering accurate and authoritative information for
those interested in the topics of broadband optical access and Fiber to the Home. Enjoy it!
as satellite and cable entertainment, now as video recording, HDTV, and flat-panel displays)
have changed people’s habits and their demands for service delivery.
Consequently,consumer adoption of broadband access to facilitate use of the Internet for knowledge,
commerce, and entertainment is following these same patterns, outpacing the ability of
some technologies to keep up. A growing number of service providers – old and new – are
turning to solutions capable of exploiting the full potential of optical fiber for service
delivery: ‘FTTH: fiber to the home.’ In the laboratory for 30 years, and successfully meeting
the technical objectives of worldwide field trials throughout the 1980s, FTTH was nevertheless
stymied by high costs. In recent years, however, costs have fallen as service demand
rose dramatically so that FTTH has become cost-effective in more and more situations.
The ongoing pressures to reduce costs of integrated circuits and other technologies for massmarket
products, especially PCs, Ethernet data networking, and digital video, combined with
similar progress in electro-optics and fiber have all contributed to driving down the cost of
FTTH. Ongoing operational cost savings from moving fiber to the very edges of the network
are better understood and also improve the business case. In light of the rising consumer
demand for so-called ‘triple-play’ services (digital video, broadband Internet access, and
fully featured voice services including Internet delivery), the time is right to understand what
the new FTTH systems and strategies offer.
This book you are about to read addresses the need. Chinlon Lin and two dozen eminent
authors, representing the spectrum from developers and manufacturers to network and service
providers, treat the systems aspects of FTTH comprehensively. This includes passive optical
networks, standardization of PONs which has accelerated product availability and deployment,
the ongoing evolution to deliver a Gigabit per second Ethernet, and the growing trend to
migrate to dense wavelength-division multiplexing. Business and operational issues, trends,
and evolution strategies are also discussed.
In organizing this book, Chinlon Lin has brought with him his broad perspective.
Having a career path at Bell Labs, Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies),
and Jedai Broadband, he worked intimately with the R and D of the underlying
optical technologies and architectures, as well as some of the deployment strategies. His past
interactions ranged from telecommunications companies to broadband cable service providers.
In the chapters of this book, recognized experts provide international perspectives along these
lines for the reader to develop their own knowledge base and business perspective of FTTH
access networks, including even the popular use of wireless once the premises are reached.
I know you will find this book timely, offering accurate and authoritative information for
those interested in the topics of broadband optical access and Fiber to the Home. Enjoy it!
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