Table - Design

Launches design dialog to change the structure of a table. In tables, columns are fields. We use the words "field" and "column" interchangeably. The Design dialog is resizable.

This dialog may be used to alter the structure of linked tables as well as local tables. It is therefore a popular way of administering database tables even in databases outside of Manifold. To do so, use the Database Console to open the data source and link a desired table into the Manifold project. Next, open the linked table and use the Design dialog to alter the structure.

$images\btn_new_thing.gif$	New Column - Add a new column (field). By default, columns are added as 32 bit integers.
$images\btn_delete_thing.gif$	Delete - Delete highlighted column.
$images\btn_move_to_top.gif$	Move to Top - Move the highlighted column to the top of the column stack. This displays it as the leftmost column in a table.
$images\btn_move_up.gif$	Move Up - Move the highlighted column up one position in the column stack. This displays it one column position to the left in a table.
$images\btn_move_down.gif$	Move Down - Move the highlighted column down one position in the column stack. This displays it one column position to the right in a table.
$images\btn_move_to_bottom.gif$	Move to Bottom - Move the highlighted column to the bottom of the column stack. This displays it as the rightmost column in a table.
$images\btn_tbl_design_editvalues.gif$	Edit Values - Reserved for future expansion.
$images\btn_tbl_design_showdefaults.gif$	View Default Values - Show a column in the design pane for default values field.
$images\btn_tbl_design_showtypes.gif$	View Types - Show a column in the design pane for database types for each field.
$images\btn_tbl_design_showtransferrules.gif$	View Transfer Rules - Show transfer rules for each column. The transfer rules may be adjusted by double-clicking into a rule.
$images\btn_tbl_design_viewextprops.gif$	View Extended Properties - Enabled for linked tables. Show extended properties in a "Unique" column. A typical extended property is to note which field is the primary key.

To add a new field to a table

1. Open the table.

2. Choose Table - Design

3. Click on the Add Field button. A new field appears in the design pane.

4. Double click into the Name field and change the name as desired.

5. Click in the View Types button. Type and Size columns appear in the design pane.

6. Double click into the Type column for the new field and change the database type as desired for this field.

7. Double click into the Size column for the new field and specify the size as desired. Some defaults, such as a size of 1 for 8-bit integers, cannot be changed.

8. Press OK.

When adding a new field to a linked table, the Unique column will be enabled and a combo box will allow specifying the value of the Unique column to primary key, unique or blank. This column is made visible by pushing in the View Extended Properties button in the Design dialog's toolbar.

Default Values

Some database operations and record-creation operations benefit from knowing what a default value for a particular field is supposed to be.

$images\btn_tbl_design_showdefaults.gif$ To specify defaults for any field, first click the View Default Values button to show a Default Value column in the design pane. Double click into the Default Value cell for a field to specify a default value that should be used.