Ron, et al,
'Response' ... I have felt all along that OpenOffice will do what I want and probably more and be easier to use being communication friendly with MS products. I......... >>>>>>>> (((Several lines cut from long messages to save space))) 'Response' Yes they are; Worksheet=Base (containing every line, column and field to which all 'outputs' are linked), it looks just like an Excel Spreadsheet/Lotus-123/OOo Calc but I assume has special properties; Forms in Approach can be produced in different layouts but the Standard I use is just like an OOo Writer page with Mail Mergs links to columns/fields displayed as one wishes. Nothing complicated. >The mini-spreadsheet layouts are just queries or forms in Base. 'Response' Yes exactly, selected columns extracted from the Base/Worksheet for printing. In Word format they could be attached to other documents. 'Response' Excellent just what I want provided I can have several 'Views' and be able to print them etc. > 'Response' Yes I can do envelopes OK, have not tried labels. > > You say you need to export Excel spreadsheets for other, well here is... 'Response' Again excellent. > 'Response' Agreed. What I have is 'read only' what I would like is the ability to Edit any and all Fields. ...... What is the difference between Base and a native Base database. >
Context, I suppose. Very rarely, if indeed, do I recall hearing of native MSAccess database, or native Approach or Filemaker. The reason is that all of these applications use, by design, a particular database storage engine. The Base module in OpenOffice, in contrast, works with a database document that supplies a collection of items that includes a connection to some database. By design if you take the default settings for creating a new database file in Base, then the database file also includes the database specific files for an HSQL database and has a connection that uses an OpenOffice supplied embedded HSQL engine. I suppose one way to look at that is by comparison. Suppose I wanted to create a database application that uses data in a MSSQL server. In MSAccess I would create an mdb file, in the file I would designate all my tables to come from the MSSQL server. This would establish a connection to the server for the user. But the mdb file is still utilizing the Jet database to supply the actual data to the forms, reports and code modules in the mdb file. It is still a native database if you will with all of the system tables, etc needed for he JET engine. In Base I create a new database file that includes the information for a connection to the MSSQL Server. The is no use of an HSQL database nor the HSQL engine. Currently Base supports this single default connection in it's user interface. Base's support for secondary connections ( linking external datasources to tables ) is, I believe, actively being looked at. To the POV of a more experienced developer I don't think this is such a big deal as the OpenOffice API makes the use of data supplied by multiple connections on a single form or in scripting modules, possible. On the other hand there is no way to get around supporting joining tables form multiple datasources in a Query - either one can do it or not.
I had a MS Excel spreadsheet with about half of the columns on it so only had to add the other columns. ...... 'Response' It would be very interesting as an exercise but a long learning curve so I regret ..... > 'Response' I think you have got the point exactly that OOo will do what I want, it is just getting the terminology right and putting it to work. Is there guidance available in downloadable printed (PDF) .....
Your request for help has gotten me thinking in a few new directions regarding the creation of an example database. Prompting me to take a look at a number of current resources on the net The first was to go to the OO.o main web site, select 'Support' then Documentation ( The new page design is quite nice ). I used the search function first with the string 'Base Tutorial' and found nothing that interested me enough to click thru to it - I searched on 'Base Example' and this led me, via another click, to find: http://documentation.openoffice.org/files/documents/75/3482/Getting_Started_with_Base.odt Continue looking from the main documents page and there are more and more articles and documents showing basic Base functionality, or I should say examples of tasks using OpenOffice that include some datasource functionality. ( Base, Mail Merge, Address Labels, Data Forms, Reporting - so I won't list them here ) The next stop was the oooForum.org site. Under the Base list there are now a number of very simple 'Your First Database' type of examples. After this a visit to the oooAuthors.org site leads to some good How To and Tutorial documents, but the section for Base Users Guide is still scanty. Looking at the OO.o wiki for Base Example finds http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Category:Base_Example This is pretty much a jumble of ideas from last year that so far lead to nothing publishable. The piece still missing, IMO, is a tutorial that shows a full implementation of a narrowly and well defined set of tasks utilizing OpenOffice and the Base module specifically as an integral part of that solution. I was attempting to find such a 'well defined set of tasks' last year with the entry's on the wiki. Your succinct description of your needs jumped out, to me, as just that "set of tasks". That is all a way of explaining, I suppose, why I was so forward with the offer to work together on a solution for you needs - and - with that said it should be no surprise that I went ahead and began. This weekend I spent a few hours creating a Base database that reflects, as best I could, the requirements you describe. ( short of the address labels ) In actuality I did it twice - the second time snapping screen shots and entering a few lines of description into a Writer document, based on the oooAuthors chapter template, as I went. The database file as it stood after about 1 hour of my time using base wizards and designers ONLY is at http://www.paintedfrogceramics.com/OpenOffice/club_members/members23.odb This raw unedited screen captures and a few lines of text up to the creation of the forms, as an html export of the "running commentary" Writer file is at http://www.paintedfrogceramics.com/OpenOffice/club_members/Club_Membership_Tutorial.html Which along with the instructions for creation of the reports would be the next step. Finishing with the steps to generate our mail merge and address labels. The goal, for me, is to produce a step by step guide to building this generic, actually useful, implementation of a small club's membership rolls. The object of the tutorial is to impart enough basic knowledge such that the new Base user would feel comfortable using and then customizing the database to their own needs. One of my major goals is have this step by step guide use ONLY wizards or designers and ZERO macro scripts. If at all possible it should not need to use the word SQL nor HSQL beyond the database type, but needs to show how to use simple HSQL supplied stored procedures / functions in designer built Queries. The other major goal is to have the database and attendant files delivered in such a way that using the extension manager only, the files are installed into the users configuration. This allows a new Base user to use the example either by building the actual file by following the steps in the tutorial, suited for someone with little or no experience with desktop database applications. - or - Just installing the database application, using the tutorial as a reference for what they can see themselves by looking at the database in edit mode. This would be the most likely path for new users experienced with MSAccess, Lotus Approach, FileMaker and the like. The fact that you are basing everything on a single table makes the difference - and reminds myself of the old adage about how sometimes one can be so focused on the trees they forget about the forest. -so- Ron, What I was, shamelessly, soliciting in reality was a little more of your time to briefly describe for me what data you managed with the separate forms along with the types of reports you would normally need to generate. If you could find any time to something along those lines I would be greatly appreciative. I'll be working on this at least for the next few weeks, on and off. If you find yourself looking into porting this again I hope to have added another source of help in answering your question
it is just getting the terminology right and putting it to work. Is there guidance available in downloadable printed (PDF) .....
with the database and tutorial. *smiling* and if you proffer the requirements it would be a very close answer to your specific needs. et al, I might as well be bold and come right out and ask for help from others also - I am not looking for anyone to generate files or write the documentation. Rather I could use some -input about what a club membership application ACTUALLY needs to do? I have never done that. :>) Perhaps it is not much more then the four forms and reports already in the database. - feed back from people reading the rough drafts of the tutorial. My plan on this is to use Writer2MediaWiki ( unless I can't get it to work ;>) to publish the tutorial directly from the Writer source file onto the OO.o wiki, as well as offering ODT and PDF versions. Because I plan on having no use of macro scripts I can't see why the tutorial should include any custom toolbars or menus. What I would be aiming for is the tutorial to be in two parts. Neither part should require more then one hour for a reasonably experienced OO.o user to accomplish. For now I see the first part being all the steps needed to recreate the database just as it is now. ( I will need to finalize the master members list report being the caveat there ) The second part would first go through the steps to print mailing labels for all members and generate a welcome letter to all new members. It will also include the steps to enhance the data entry forms for usability. Keeping in mind that I want to include only functionality I can build using wizards or designers - no macro scripting. My target for this tutorial being OO.o 2.0.4 or greater. To that end I will be testing the steps on versions 2.3 ( XP ), 2.2 ( XP, Linux ), 2.0.4 (Linux). I think that targeting this far back also means that the example database 'application' should not include any files other then the ODB file. The user would have to create the two writer files by following the steps described in the second part of the tutorial. Drew --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
