Entering and reviewing data on a data sheet

Starting with a blank data sheet

If the data sheet is already displayed for the correct entity type, click New or press Ctrl+W. If you are currently working on another record, then you must first save your changes or cancel them.

Editing existing data in a data sheet

If a blank data sheet is already displayed, click Select to find the entity you want to edit. If the entity is already displayed, for example as a result of showing it, click Edit or press Ctrl+E instead.

Working on the main entity

1. Use the upper part of the data sheet to enter, or edit, the details of the main entity. The information that is required for the main entity might be organized into a series of pages.

   Notice that:

   • Mandatory fields, those that you must complete, are displayed with a blue label.

   • Fields into which you can enter data are displayed with a white background. For more information about entering data into the different iBase field types, see Entering and editing data.

   • If the database designer has set this up, you can be able to get help on what to enter in each field by moving the mouse pointer over the field labels. This displays a tooltip that will tell you something about the type of data to enter in each field.

   If you start to enter an entity that matches one that is already in the database, then you might see a message similar to:

   1 record with matching discriminators has been found in the database.

   For more information, see Creating an entity.

2. Click Save or press Ctrl+S to save the details of the main entity. If you see a message similar to the following, you are trying to save an entity that matches one that is already in the database:

   WARNING: 1 matching record has been found in the database.

For more information, see Creating an entity.

Note: To continue working on a data sheet after you save it, click Edit or press Ctrl+E.

Working on the links and link end entities

Depending on the data sheet, you can define the entities that are linked to the main entity, and the relationship between them. There can be more than one link between a main entity and another entity.

1. In the lower area of the data sheet, go to the appropriate page by clicking its tab or hyperlink. This determines which entity and link types you can select or add. The page can be further subdivided with its own tabs or hyperlinks, and you might need to use the scroll bar in order to see all the fields.

2. Specify the entity or entities that are linked to the main entity. For example, you can:

   • Select an existing entity for the link end by clicking Select. Depending on the data sheet, you might then need to enter some additional information for the link between this entity and the main entity.

   • Enter the details of a new entity for the link end. This entity is saved when you save the data sheet.

   • Add a second entity or link by clicking New (or press Ctrl+W) or Copy and then entering the details. If you click Copy, you need to change some of the details in the copy otherwise you create a duplicate record.

   • Remove the displayed link from the data sheet by clicking Remove.

3. If required, change the line style of the link. You can choose between Confirmed, Unconfirmed, or Tentative.

4. You can review the linked entities by clicking '>' to step through all the link end entities, if there is more than one. The status of the link is shown. For example, ** New Link ** (Changed) means that you have edited the link but not yet saved it.

5. Save your work by clicking Save or pressing Ctrl+S. To continue working on this data sheet, click Edit or press Ctrl+E.

Reviewing data using a data sheet

To review entity and link data in a data sheet:

1. Click Select to find the main entity that is the subject of the data sheet. Depending on the design of the data sheet, this will display the links from the entity and the other entities to which it is linked - the link and entity types will depend on the design of the data sheet.

2. Review the entity and link details on the main page. You can go to the other pages (if any) by clicking the tabs or hyperlinks.

   For the link end entities in the lower half of the data sheet, you can change between a summary list view and a more detailed record view by clicking these two buttons:

   • 
     Record

     Display the details of the selected record. Click > to step through all the link end entities, if there is more than one. For example, to display record '1 of 2' and then record '2 of 2'.

     You can edit the selected record by clicking Edit or pressing Ctrl+E.

   • 
     List

     View summary details of all the records.

3. To review other aspects of this data, for example, all the links from the main entity, right-click on the icon in the upper left of the dialog, and select from the shortcut menu.

Deleting the records in a data sheet

You can delete the main entity of a data sheet and its links by clicking Delete or pressing Ctrl+D in the Datasheet dialog. This will not delete the link end entities. To delete these:

1. Find the link end entity. For more information, see Finding records.

2. Right-click on the entity that you want to delete and from the shortcut menu, select Show to display the Show or Datasheet dialogs.

3. Click Delete to remove the link end entity.

Starting other operations with the entities in the data sheet

You can start other operations with the main entity and the linked entities shown on the data sheet.

For the main entity:

• Click the toolbar buttons at the top of the dialog:

  • Show links - List full details of its links in the Links dialog.

  • Link chart - View the entity and all its links on an iBase link chart.

  • Matching records - Find out if other records in the database share common features with this record.

For a link end entity:

• Click the Links button to see full details of the links from this entity (in list form), or click the drop-down arrow and select from the shortcut menu.