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Creating database tables

In a database, a table stores information for a group of things we call

fields. For example, a table might hold an address book, a stock list, a

phone book or a price list. A database can have from one to several

tables.

To work with tables, click the Tables icon in the Database list, or press

Alt+a. The three tasks that you can perform on a table are in the Tasks

list (see Figure 183).

Using the Wizard to create a table

Wizards are designed to do the basic work. Sometimes this is not

sufficient for what we want; in those cases we can use a wizard as a

starting point and then build upon what it produces.

The Table Wizard in Base contains two categories of suggested tables:

business and personal. Each category contains sample tables from

which to choose. Each table has a list of available fields. We can delete

some of these fields and add other fields.

A field in a table is one bit of information. For example, a price list

table might have one field for item name, one for the description, and a

third for the price.

Since none of the fields we need for our Automobile database are

contained in any of the sample wizard tables, we will create a simple

table using the wizard that has nothing to do with our database. This

section is an exercise in explaining how the Wizard works.

The Wizard permits the fields of the table to come from more than one

suggested table. We will create a table with fields from three different

suggested tables in the Wizard.

Caution

Every table requires a Primary key field. (What this field does

will be explained later.) We will use this field to number our

entries and want that number to automatically increase as we

add each entry.

Click Use Wizard to Create Table. This opens the Table Wizard

(Figure 184).

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OpenOffice.org OpenOffice - 3.2 Guía de inicio rápido Pagina 255