Kexi/Handbook/Building Simple Databases/Entering Data Into Tables

Entering Data Into Tables

You have designed the two tables Persons and Phones. None of them contain any data yet. You can enter some, and in this chapter you will learn how to do this fast and effectively.

Start with the Persons table. Open it in Data View using Open in the Project Navigator's context menu or the toolbar button. The current cell is marked with (usually black) thicker border, a cell cursor. The contents of the cell, if present, are highlighted with a different color. The current row, i.e. the one you have placed your rectangular cursor in, is marked on the left hand with an arrow symbol.

You can navigate through table cells using the arrow keys, Page Down, Page Down, Home, End keys; you can also click with the mouse in a cell to select it.

Initially, after opening the table Persons, the cursor is placed in the id column. The column has autonumber property defined, marked with blue (autonumber) text in the last row. It means you do not have to enter values there by hand when entering data for a new row because the cell will be filled automatically with successive numbers.

Inserting new rows and entering data for them in Kexi is different from the way of doing this in spreadsheets. To enter data for a new row, you need to use the arrow keys or mouse, to move your cursor to the special empty last row marked with a plus sign. Place your cursor in the (second) name column and enter a person's name. Also enter surname, street, house number and city. When done, move the cell cursor to the last empty row either by using the Down key or by clicking in the last row with the mouse to append a new row.

Details About Actions Available While Entering Data Into Tables

• As soon as you enter the first character, the current row is being edited. A pencil symbol appears on the left side of the data table.

• Double clicking a cell with the left mouse button or pressing Enter or the F2 key also starts editing of the current row.

• Pressing the Esc key when the contents of a cell is edited cancels changes made to this cell. However, the pencil symbol will not disappear because you can still move to a different cell of the edited row to change its contents. To cancel changes made to the entire edited row, press the Esc key again.

• Instead of pressing the Esc key, you can click the Cancel Record Changes toolbar button.

• Press the Shift + Enter keys to accept changes made to all cells in the currently edited row.

Fill the Phones table with data. In the persons column you need to provide a number of the person existing in the Persons table.

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