OpenOffice Database issue

PeaB4YouGo · 07 Jan 2011

After working with Access and SQL, I thought I'd try my hand at OpenOffice 3.1's "Base" program. Things went well creating tables and forms. What I was trying was to create a list of books I have in a library, including "Author", "Copyright Date", "Publisher", and "Price" (in case we should decide to sell them at any of our yard sales).

Here's my problem:

If I have more than one book from, say, John Grisham, I have a problem with entering the second book because the program spits an error regarding unique values in the "AuthorID" field. I know that this field, "Price" and the one for "CopyrightDate" will create duplicate values, and this error will get in the way.

Having seen this in Access and SQL, I know that I can change the properties of the field to allow duplicate entries, but I have no idea where to do that in Base. The Help function is no help to me.

It's probably a simple question to answer, but I need help, this time.

Thanx in advance.

Anak · 07 Jan 2011

Would this be something you could use?

Someimes when entering data one needs to create a number of records that are almost identical - in this case a copy record function would be useful.

Base - Copy column and copy row functions (View topic) • OpenOffice.org Community Forum

Anak · 07 Jan 2011

My apologies in not being able to help you directly, I do use OOo, but not Base.

If you go to this OOo projects site documentation: Documents & files: Mid level Base tutorial
You will see a 1.07mb pdf Base Tutorial that may be of some help.

PeaB4YouGo · 08 Jan 2011

Anak said:

Would this be something you could use?

Someimes when entering data one needs to create a number of records that are almost identical - in this case a copy record function would be useful.

Base - Copy column and copy row functions (View topic) • OpenOffice.org Community Forum

Nah.... I'm not duplicating the field, just the value IN the field. Thanx though.

PeaB4YouGo · 08 Jan 2011

Anak said:

My apologies in not being able to help you directly, I do use OOo, but not Base.

If you go to this OOo projects site documentation: Documents & files: Mid level Base tutorial
You will see a 1.07mb pdf Base Tutorial that may be of some help.

Actually, this DID help. I never got the chance to check out tutorials, or any of that, because I HAVE used the other two solutions. I just thought it would be easier to find that option.

Anak · 08 Jan 2011

Glad I could help a little bit. Did the tutorial explain how to allow duplicate entries?

Anak · 09 Jan 2011

PB4, your gonna get me to learn Base yet!

I was looking for a Calc/Xls solution, and found this, It may be easier to follow, not sure?:
Plan-B for OpenOffice.org Base - Table of Contents

Just scroll down the list click on a topic, and it will start a "screencast"
Hover the mouse cursor over any of the OOo icons to the left, and it covers all the sub-programs in OOo.

It says it's in a public-beta phase, but from what I can tell its been ongoing since 2006, but so far it's free.

WOT gives it a green.

nolakenoforest · 31 May 2011

My answer to this question is a little late, but thought I would throw this into the discussion anyway. An Open Office table needs to have an index field. This field contains a unique value to identify that particular record. It has to be UNIQUE. Usually, when setting up to table, OO will ask you if you want it to set up an index field. If you answer, yes, it will add a field and auto enter 1,2,3 etc as you enter data. If you answer, no, it will use the first field as the index. Thus, all entries in that field MUST be unique.

Anak · 31 May 2011

Hi! nolakenoforest, welcome to 7F :)

Better late than never, added information can lead to clarity!

Correct me if I am wrong as I have limited knowledge of databases.
But, I believe what you are describing about the indexed fields is a requirement for any database in order for it to function properly, in returning useful information to the user.

PeaB4YouGo · 01 Jun 2011

nolakenoforest said:

My answer to this question is a little late, but thought I would throw this into the discussion anyway. An Open Office table needs to have an index field. This field contains a unique value to identify that particular record. It has to be UNIQUE. Usually, when setting up to table, OO will ask you if you want it to set up an index field. If you answer, yes, it will add a field and auto enter 1,2,3 etc as you enter data. If you answer, no, it will use the first field as the index. Thus, all entries in that field MUST be unique.

Anak said:

Hi! nolakenoforest, welcome to 7F :)

Better late than never, added information can lead to clarity!

Correct me if I am wrong as I have limited knowledge of databases.
But, I believe what you are describing about the indexed fields is a requirement for any database in order for it to function properly, in returning useful information to the user.

I thought I mentioned that. Yes, I did index the tables. I had a need to and indexed off of the ISBN number for the books in the library that I wanted.

In the meantime, it's a project I'll end up revisiting soon, as I've gotten pretty busy with other things since.

Thanx again for piping in, though. One day, SOMEONE will have the answers I seek. LOL

OpenOffice Database issue

OpenOffice Database issue

Index Field