Lesson: Navigation - editing/showing/finding records

This describes how to navigate through the database using the data entry forms. Below is an example of the data entry form for Accounts.





All these data entry forms are at the bottom of the main window. Notice in the picture above that 'Account' is highlighted among the buttons at the bottom of the page. It was this button I pushed to show this account window. For the purposes of this lesson, I could have chosen any of the buttons there at the bottom of the screen because they all work very similar.

• Data Entry Buttons

  These buttons will allow you to move between records and do any type of entering or deleting of records.

  First

  If you want to go through the list of already entered data, this button must be the first pressed (alternately you can press FIND described below).  This button will take you to the very first record in the entire database.  If there are no records then after pressing this button you will see a blank form.

  Next

  This button can only be used after FIRST or FIND.  This button will take you to the next record in the database.  If you have gone through all the records in the database, then pressing this button will show a blank form.  You must then press either FIRST or FIND to go throught the list again

  Find

  With this dialog you kan specify critera för searching in the database.  You may be shown one or several rows of fields to choose from .  If you leave the center column in its default position then that field is not used in the search.  Choose a comparison type in the center column and then the comparison data in the right hand column and a field to search on in the left hand column.
  
  Press OK when done. When you return to the main form, you need to press NEXT to get the next record in the list

  Find list

  This will produce a dialog box which shows all the available records to choose from in a list. You may then select from the list the record you want to edit

  Clear

  This button will simply clear the form.  You might need to do this to make it easier to enter new data into the form but this button is not normally necessary to use.

  Add

  After you have entered new data, then you must press this button to enter the data into the database permanently.

  Change

  After you have used the FIRST, FIND, NEXT buttons to show a specific record, you can then make changes in the record and press this button to enter the changes in the record.

  Delete

  After you have used the FIRST, FIND, NEXT buttons to show a specific record, you can use this button to delete the record you see.  Deleteing records can have severe consequences.  A record may be linked to other records and deleting the record will permanently break the link thus ruining the records it was linked to .

  Exit

  This will exit this form

  Help

  This will take you to the appropriate help information

Copyright 2002 Lazy Eight Data HB