Base/Features/Pool

The following is a wild collection of ideas for new features (or mere simple improvements) in Base. The order does imply nothing, in particular no priority ...

The "client" column in the below table is a very rough categorization whether the designer or the user of a database/application benefits from the feature. This separation of course does not always exist in reality, since end users tend to design their own database/application, too.

Ideas	Client
Tables
allow printing a table structure	designer
have a SQL preview in the table designer, reflecting the DDL necessary to create the current design of the table. This would be a live preview, and should also allow last-minute changes to the statement (before actually sending it to the server)	designer
"lookup fields" in table design, i.e. declare a (foreign key) field to be displayed in a list box. Then use such a list box in all places where the field is to be displayed: table data view, forms, queries.	designer
link tables from different sources (aka DBs) into one database.	user
user interface for HSQL's text table feature (aka reading/writing CSV files)	user
more intelligent deletion of table data (don't delete every single record, but the set of records described by the current filter in the table data view)	user
HSQLDB: allow to link in dBase files	user
copy in the table data view (make it possible to copy a whole dataset and insert them as new dataset at the end of table)	user
Queries
Query design: better support for functions: all supported and known functions should be listed in the respective field, so that e.g. HOUR() is displayed the very same way as SUM(<count>) would be displayed.	designer
Query design: function auto pilot	designer
Query design: cope with "compositions" of SELECT statements sub selects: should be little table windows, like queries and tables already are UNION support query navigator, displaying the hierarchical structure of a query	designer
Query design: live preview of the statement even in the graphical view	designer
Query design: consolidate with the "Execute SQL" dialog: (persistent!) history of executed statements execute all kind of statements, not only SELECTs load .sql files containing SQL scripts to execute	designer
Query design: support UPDATE/INSERT/DELETE in graphical view	designer
Query design search and replace in SQL view	designer
updatable queries based on other queries	user
Forms
templates for forms	designer
styles for form controls	designer
a "Button Wizard", which allows easy creation of button controls associated with certain common actions	designer
more wizards for generatiung code snippets for common tasks	designer
direct creation of new macros/scripts from within the "Assign action" dialog	designer
property browser "browse button" should be right-aligned with input controls in other lines separate some of the "General" properties into a "Appearance" tab have an "All" tab which displays all available properties at once	designer
Add into Form wizard step for editing labels (i85770)	designer
make the form and control properties window more visible (maybe dockable like the "navigator")	designer
make attaching macros to controls easier and shorter, currently the dialog is three or four layers deep and I've got to buy a new mouse every now and then ;)	designer
allow embedding existing forms into a new form (Insert/Form in form design)	designer
Storing and extracting a binary file: easier way to store binary file accompanied by its file name. Requires complicated macros currently.	designer
dialog-based forms	user
filter list box (more general: filter controls), i.e. a list box which filters the form it belongs to, depending on the user selection	user
charts in forms	user
easy possibility to open forms from within forms (without extensive macro knowledge)	user
click-able fixed text controls ("Hyperlink Controls")	user
"Click Action Wizard", i.e. a wizard for inserting a button or hyperlink control, and associates a certain common action with this control	user
allow for "form based workflow", i.e. buttons in forms which open another form, where the second form has a button to return to the first form ...	user
Better / new integration with other OOo apps. Example - if I store an image in Base, I might want to look / edit / update it via Impress / Draw.	user
more convenient default dates in date controls, preferrably with full formula support (=TODAY() etc.)	user
sort a table control by the *display values* of a list box. Currently, you can sort by the foreign key only, but not alphabetically by list entries.	user
A Tab control for forms (and dialogs)	user
storing of ODF files in Base	user
calculated fields in forms	user
Reports
wizard for creating a report containing a single chart only	designer
SRB should be the standard report engine	designer
support styles in reports (for controls, drawing objects, sections?)	designer
sub reports	user
support a "CanGrow" property for fields in a report - with the meaning that the respective control (and thus the respective section) will be as high as necessary to display the complete text of the current row	user
report wizard for single records (for invoices)	user
Database
dedicated UI (wizard) for creating a switchboard	designer
graphical view of the relationships between database objects display all relationships between queries, views, forms, reports (so you e.g. see which report is based on which query/table) different such views (managed by the DB user/designer) relation designer: filter on the displayed tables (i.e. deleting tables from the view without actually dropping all their relationships) in-place change of the design of a table (imagine the "table" windows in the relation designer having an additional "new column" entry, and the like) printing (of the relation design) exporting (the relation design) to some Draw format	designer
export the complete database/application as web application as JavaFX application	designer
better UI for selecting the JDBC driver for a JDBC-based database (e.g. by allowing to enter this as per-.odb property, not in the installation-wide application options)	designer
allow embedding the JDBC driver (.jar) into the database document (.odb)	designer
allow arbitrary documents (not only forms/reports) within a database document	designer
example database	designer
graphical creation of "tables as forms", by creating a form whose controls implicitly define the structure of the underlying table: inserting/removing a control inserts/removes the respective table field	designer
allow to specify a form/report which is automatically opened when the database document opens (with optionally hiding the database document window?)	designer
when programmatically opening forms/reports, allow passing filter/sort/etc.	designer
allow protecting forms/reports from unintentional changes (password?)	designer
A runtime engine for Base applications	designer
allow opening a DB object (form/report/table/query) via the command line, by passing the DB doc plus the type/name of the object to the OOo process	user
the DB doc should open itself in the section in which it was closed	user
improve the usability of the first page of the "New database" wizard	user
MDI (multiple document interface) application window	user
support Derby/JavaDB, inclusively using Derby as query ultimate query engine (since Derby already supports JDBC's virtual table interface, i.e. is able to link in (nearly) arbitrary tables from arbitrary external databases)	user
allow updates to arbitrary result sets (tables/queries), no matter whether they include a primary key or unique index	user
allow updates to joined tables	user
import/export from/to CSV/dBase/Calc/SQL-script single table/query complete DB	user
supply the MySQL-JDBC driver together with OOo, so MySQL/JDBC connections work out of the box	user
native driver for accessing MySQL databases	user
support access to Microsoft Access databases on Unix	user
allow import/export of forms/reports from/to Microsoft Access databases	user
search and replace in the table data view	user
own section "Macros" in the left hand side pane of the application window	user
when connecting to a spreadsheet, re-use the column format (formatting, alginment, etc.) of the spreadsheet cell	user
allow inserting (and thus also displaying) images into tables without a form, i.e. in the table	user
make import from a calc table (copy and paste) respect the column format for setting the column type (i.e. using "datetime" if data in calc is formatted as "date")	user
Native support for MySql PostgreSql SQLite3 Firebird.	user
File/Templates sub menu is missing in Base	user
example templates	user
Miscellaneous
performance: opening forms starting the Java-based wizards creating a new HSQLDB (which implies starting the JVM) saving a form flickering when starting the New Database wizard from within the start center More speed for record operations / navigation
"grokking" of database objects/data (similar to what Grokker offers)
implement mail merge with reporting => implies "free flow" reports	user