Database User Tools

Open up your databases

Databases are often thought to be strictly for techies. If you don't talk Structured Query Language (SQL), then your database won't talk to you. OpenOffice.org 1.1 changes all that. Its Database User Tools gives you all the tools you need for day to day database work in a simple spreadsheet-like form. They also make it simple to 'drag and' drop data into other OpenOffice.org 1.1 programs like Calc and Writer .

Maintaining your data

Using OpenOffice.org 1.1, you can:

• Create new tables for your data - and also change them as your needs change
• Maintain indexes on the tables to make data access faster
• View a table in an editing grid and add, change, and delete records
• Use the Report AutoPilot to produce impressive reports from your data 1
• Use the Form AutoPilot to create 'instant' database applications

Using your data

Using OpenOffice.org 1.1, you can not only browse your data, but also:

• Perform simple (single column) or complex (multi-column) sorts
• View subsets of your data with simple (one-click) or complex (logical query) filters
• Create powerful queries to show your data in new ways, including summaries and multi-table views
• Produce reports in a wide variety of formats using the Report AutoPilot

Technical footnotes

For simple database applications, OpenOffice.org 1.1 supports dBASE (.dbf) databases without any additional software.

For more advanced requirements, OpenOffice.org 1.1 supports the MySQL database natively 1 , or any database through ODBC and JDBC drivers. There is a MySQL / OpenOffice.org 1.0 HOW-TO on the unixODBC site .