RostaJecna / database-editor-for-user-app

My work on a school project. The goal was to create a simple possibility for the user to manage his database.

Database Editor For User [DEFU]

• My work on a school project. The goal was to create a simple possibility for the user to manage his database.

My project is customized for a specific database (as an example). If you want to use it for your own purposes you will have to rewrite the source code.

Table of contents

• Introduction
• How to use
• How it works

Introduction

The project I created was specifically adapted to work with a particular database, so it may not be practical or even possible to use it in other projects.

I aimed to create a user-friendly, functional and attractive interface so that users could use my work easily. This was my first big project within the Windows Forms App (.NET Framework), so there might be some bugs, flaws and sub-optimalities in the code.

I wanted to create an interface that was not only practical but also visually appealing, so I spent a lot of time developing it. I don't claim to be perfect and I know there is room for improvement, but at the moment I'm happy with what I've created and am willing to share my work with other users.

How to use

1. After downloading from GitHub, you will need to unlock the archive.
   • Right-click on the archive. Select Properties, there will be a Security at the bottom. Select Unlock and Apply the changes.
2. You have two ways of starting a project:
   • In the project itself, navigate to the bin folder and then to the Debug folder. There you will find the DatabaseEditorForUser.exe file which you can open.
   • Or open with any IDE as DatabaseEditorForUser.sln.
3. To make the database work, you need to create tables.
   • The query script can be found in the Resources/Database/Сloud.sql project. Open this file in SSMS (SQL Server Managment Studio) and run (F5). A new database will be created with already prepared empty tables.
   • After that you can start the project.
4. Once started, a small window will open in which you can connect to the local database immediately, or click on the gear icon to set your own connection parameters.
   • There is another method where you can set the connection parameters.
     • If you want to use an .exe file, you can manually set the connection in DatabaseEditorForUser.exe.config (can be opened with Notepad).
     • For those who have opened a project in the IDE. The configuration file is located in the project itself under the name App.config.
5. After clicking on Connet To Database and successfully connecting to the database a new window will open in which you can import data from the json file.
   • To do this click on Import in the Homepage and select one of the two files in Resources/Database/Imports/ in the project.
   • If you have done everything correctly, all the data will be imported into the database and you can work with it.

Config cheat sheet

Keys (config)	Explanation
DataSource	Name of your server.
IntegratedSecurity	True - requires no user input. False - requires a user name and password.
InitialCatalog	Name of database.
UserID	User name.
Password	User password.

How it works

Structure of the database:

erDiagram
	Account {
	  INT ID PK
    VARCHAR(25) FirstName
    VARCHAR(25) LastName
    VARCHAR(25) Email "UNIQUE"
    VARCHAR(64) HashedPassword
    DATE Registered
	}
  FolderColor {
    INT ID PK
    VARCHAR(15) ColorName "UNIQUE"
  }
  Folder {
    INT ID PK
    VARCHAR(45) FolderName
    INT ColorID FK
    BIT IsShared
    DATE CreatedAt
  }
  Access {
    INT ID PK
    INT AccountID FK
    INT FolderID FK
  }
  AttachmentType {
    INT ID PK
    VARCHAR(45) TypeName "UNQIUE"
  }
  Attachment {
    INT ID PK
    INT FolderID FK
    INT TypeID FK
    VARCHAR(20) AttachmentName
    FLOAT SizeMB
    DATE CreatedAt
    DATE UpdatedAt
  }
  Account ||--o{ Access : ""
  Folder ||--o{ Access : ""
  FolderColor ||--o{ Folder : ""
  Folder ||--o{ Attachment : ""
  AttachmentType ||--o{ Attachment : ""

Loading

• The file DEFUForm.cs contains many interacting functions

  • Switching between tables creates a new instance of a sub-form, which can be found in the Subforms folder in the project.
    • It is possible to create an abstract class and inherit all these forms (Subforms).
    • This would improve code readability as well as optimization.
  • BUG: If you press the Refresh button and then switch to another table and back, the cool down disappears.

• If you do not see some panels in the forms that are visible in the project. Hover your mouse over the empty panel space and then right-click and select Send to Back.