Planning a Database

Getting Started with OpenOffice 4

Chapter 7: Getting Started with Base

< Previous Section

Next Section >

• What is Base?
• Planning a database
• Creating a new database
• Creating database tables
  • Using the wizard to create a table
  • Creating a table by copying an existing table
  • Creating tables in design view
  • Creating auxiliary tables for data entry
• Defining relationships
• Creating a database form
  • Using the wizard to create a simple form
  • Using the wizard to make a form with a subform
  • Laying out a form with multiple controls
  • Creating forms and subforms in design view
• Accessing other data sources
• Using data sources in Apache OpenOffice
• Creating queries
  • Using the wizard to create a query
  • Using the design view to create a query
  • Make a query with a calculated field
  • Query with two related tables
  • Query that summarizes data
  • Query summarizing over a calculated field
• Creating reports
  • Simple static report
  • Grouped dynamic report

< Previous Page

Next Page >

Planning a Database

Planning a database's structure is a very important step which should not be skipped or minimized. A well planned database can answer all the questions you know you will want to ask and can be adapted easily to changing needs. A poorly planned database will likely be hard to use and may have to be restructured for even a modest change in the data or in the questions to be answered.

The first planning step is to define the purpose and use of the database as carefully as possible. What information do you want to get out of the database and what information has to go in to achieve that? Be sure to consider not only the immediate questions you want to answer but how those questions might change with time.

The second step is to decide how to store the data in one or more tables to facilitate producing the results you want. Answering this question for a broad range of cases is far beyond the scope of this guide. We will work through a simple case of tracking the expenses and sales of a group of people to illustrate some concepts. It would also be very beneficial to understand database normalization, about which there are many tutorials on the internet. A key point is that there may be a clear difference between structuring the data to take advantage of how database engines work and how the data are best presented for humans to read. The former should govern the database table structure, the latter should be handled with Forms.