Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours

By Ron Plew and Ryan Stephens

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Authors
  • Acknowledgments
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • Introduction
  • Part I: A SQL Concepts Overview
  • Hour 1. Welcome to the World of SQL
  • Part II: Building Your Database
  • Hour 2. Defining Data Structures
  • Hour 3. Managing Database Objects
  • Hour 4. The Normalization Process
  • Hour 5. Manipulating Data
  • Hour 6. Managing Database Transactions
  • Part III: Getting Effective Results from Queries
  • Hour 7. Introduction to the Database Query
  • Hour 8. Using Operators to Categorize Data
  • Hour 9. Summarizing Data Results from a Query
  • Hour 10. Sorting and Grouping Data
  • Hour 11. Restructuring the Appearance of Data
  • Hour 12. Understanding Dates and Times
  • Part IV: Building Sophisticated Database Queries
  • Hour 13. Joining Tables in Queries
  • Hour 14. Using Subqueries to Define Unknown Data
  • Hour 15. Combining Multiple Queries into One
  • Part V: SQL Performance Tuning
  • Hour 16. Using Indexes to Improve Performance
  • Hour 17. Improving Database Performance
  • Part VI: Using SQL to Manage Users and Security
  • Hour 18. Managing Database Users
  • Hour 19. Managing Database Security
  • Part VII: Summarized Data Structures
  • Hour 20. Creating and Using Views and Synonyms
  • Hour 21. Working with the System Catalog
  • Part VIII: Applying SQL Fundamentals in Today's World
  • Hour 22. Advanced SQL Topics
  • Hour 23. Extending SQL to the Enterprise, the Internet, and the Intranet
    • SQL and the Enterprise
    • Accessing a Remote Database
    • Accessing a Remote Database Through a Web Interface
    • SQL and the Internet
    • SQL and the Intranet
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Workshop
  • Hour 24. Extensions to Standard SQL
  • Part IX: Appendixes
  • Appendix A. Common SQL Commands
  • Appendix B. Using MySQL for Exercises
  • Appendix C. Answers to Quizzes and Exercises
  • Appendix D. CREATE TABLE Statements for Book Examples
  • Appendix E. INSERT Statements for Data in Book Examples
  • Appendix F. Glossary
  • Appendix G. Bonus Exercises

SQL and the Internet

SQL can be embedded or used in conjunction with programming languages such as C and COBOL. SQL can also be embedded in Internet programming languages, such as Java. Text from HTML, another Internet language, can be translated into SQL to send a query to a remote database from a Web frontend. After the database resolves the query, the output is translated back into HTML and displayed on the Web browser of the individual executing the query. The following sections discuss the use of SQL on the Internet.

Making Data Available to Customers Worldwide

With the advent of the Internet, data became available to customers and vendors worldwide. The data is normally available for read-only access through a front-end tool.

The data that is available to customers can contain general customer information, product information, invoice information, current orders, back orders, and other pertinent information. Private information, such as corporate strategies and employee information, should not be available.

Home Web pages on the Internet have become nearly a necessity for companies that want to keep pace with their competition. A Web page is a very powerful tool that can tell surfers all about a company—its services, products, and other information—with very little overhead.

Making Data Available to Employees and Privileged Customers

A database can be made accessible, through the Internet or a company's intranet, to employees or its customers. Using Internet technologies is a valuable communication asset for keeping employees informed about company policies, benefits, training, and so on. However, great caution must be taken when making information available to Web users. Confidential corporate or individual information should not be accessible on the web if possible. Additionally, only a subset, or copy of a subset of a database, should be accessible online. The main production database(s) should be protected at all costs.

Front-End Web Tools Using SQL

There are several tools that can access databases. Many have a graphical user interface, where a user does not necessarily have to understand SQL to query a database. These front-end tools allow users to point and click with the mouse, to select objects that represent tables, manipulate data within objects, specify criteria on data to be returned, and so on. These tools are often developed and customized to meet a company's database needs.

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