The Visual Data Manager is a Visual Basic tool for designing databases. Although it’s rather crude, you can use the Visual Data Manager to create and modify tables, to implement security, and to experiment with SQL. When you open an existing database, the Visual Data Manager displays a database window listing the tables and properties of that database. Figure 17.7 shows the Visual Data Manager window with the BIBLIO database open in design mode. We’ll look at the structure of the BIBLIO database Shortly, but first let’s explore the basic operations of the Visual Data Manager application.
To create new tables, right-click in the database window to open the shortcut menu and select New Table. In the Table Structure dialog box that appears, create your fields.
Each time you add a new field to the table by clicking the Add Field button, the Add Field dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 17.8.
The Add Field dialog box has the options-shown in Table 17.5.Some of the options are disabled in the figure and may not be readable, Follow the steps outlined to open the Add Field dialog box and see all the options on it.
Specifying Indices with the Visual Data Manager
You can also use the Visual Data Manager to manage indices within-a database, At the bottom of the database window is a list of the indices currently in the database. Click the Add Index button to open the Add Index To dialog box, shown in Figure 17.9. The Add Index To dialog box has the options listed in Table 17.6.
Entering Data with the Visual Data Manager
In addition, You can use the Visual Data Manager for data entry. Double-clicking the name of a table in the Database window opens-the table in data entry ,mode, as shown in Figure 17.10, and you can edit, add, and delete records.
You will learn how to implement these operations from within your code in the following sections, but first we must look at the basic concepts of database design by exploring the structure of the BIBLIO database.
