Friday, February 27, 2009
Setting Up Your Own Database
It is easy to setup and define your own database. Before you get started think about how you are going to use the database. If you are going to email to one set of contacts on a monthly basis and another set of customers on a weekly basis you should set up two different databases. To define a new database in Relevant Tools click on the 'Database' icon. Then click on 'create,edit, delete a database' in the "Database Functions' section. Then enter a name for your new database and press the create button.
Now that you have your new database define you need to define the fields that go into the database. To get started quickly you can copy the field definitions from an existing database and then make changes as needed for the new database. This is a very important step if you ever might want to move or copy records from one database to another. If they have the same field names for common fields such as first name and last name you will be able to move records back and forth easily.
To define your fields enter a short descriptive field name. This is the name that will be used internally in the xml database. You will not be able to change this field name later. Then you can enter a longer field label. You will be able to change the label at any time, even after your database has records in it.
You have many choices for field types - text, text area, pulldown menu, check boxes and radio buttons. We will leave the discussion of the field types to another tutorial. Let us know if you have any questions about how to set up your database.
Now that you have your new database define you need to define the fields that go into the database. To get started quickly you can copy the field definitions from an existing database and then make changes as needed for the new database. This is a very important step if you ever might want to move or copy records from one database to another. If they have the same field names for common fields such as first name and last name you will be able to move records back and forth easily.
To define your fields enter a short descriptive field name. This is the name that will be used internally in the xml database. You will not be able to change this field name later. Then you can enter a longer field label. You will be able to change the label at any time, even after your database has records in it.
You have many choices for field types - text, text area, pulldown menu, check boxes and radio buttons. We will leave the discussion of the field types to another tutorial. Let us know if you have any questions about how to set up your database.
Labels: databases, fields, tutorial
Setting Up Your Own Database posted by Jean Christofferson @ 4:10 PM 
