Talk:Base

Proposed change to page Drew 06:07, 12 September 2007 (CEST)

OpenOffice.org Base is the database application of OpenOffice.org, similar to Microsoft Access. Base allows the creation and manipulation of databases and the building of forms and reports to provide easy access to data for end-users. As with Access, Base is able to work as a front-end to a variety of database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC data sources, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.

Base was not available in the 1.x versions of OpenOffice.org, becoming part of the suite starting with version 2.0. Base enables you to manipulate database data seamlessly within OpenOffice.org. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, either using your own database or Base’s own built-in HSQLDB database engine. Base offers a choice of using Wizards, Design Views, or SQL Views for beginners, intermediate, and advanced users.

Features

With Base, you can:

• Create new tables for your data - and also change them as your needs change
• Maintain indexes on the tables to make data access faster
• View a table in an editing grid and add, change, and delete records
• Use the Report Wizard to produce impressive reports from your data
• Use the Form Wizard to create 'instant' database applications

Using Base, you can not only browse your data, but also:

• Perform simple (single column) or complex (multi-column) sorts
• View subsets of your data with simple (one-click) or complex (logical query) filters
• Create powerful queries to show your data in new ways, including summaries and multi-table views
• Produce reports
  • The Base module includes the Report Wizard for creating quick tabular reprts
  • With Version 2.3 the SUN Report Builder is available as an extension for more complex reprting needs
• Base allows you to extend it's functionality via built in scripting capabilities

BASE includes a full version of the HSQL database engine. It can also access dBASE files natively for simple database work, but it cannot open MS-Access files natively.

For more advanced requirements, Base supports many popular databases database natively (Adabas D, ADO, Microsoft Access, MySQL), or any database through industry-standard ODBC and JDBC drivers. It also supports any LDAP compliant address book, as well as common formats such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Windows, and Mozilla.

Resources

User Documentation

• started with Base as single PDF file.
• User Guide as single PDF file.
• Andrew Pitonyak's Base documents

Technical Documentation

• Specification Documents
  • Sun Report Builder (SRB)
  • Conditional formatting dialog in SRB

• Base New Driver Tutorial

Wiki Articles and more

• Base Query functions
• Working with MS Access files
• Standard Distributed Schema
• A club membership database
• Bibliographic Database
• The embedded data engine HSQLdb
  • HSQLDB:Tips and Tricks
  • HSQLDB Localization
  • HSQL Text Table Integration
• SUN Report Builder
  • DesktopLinux.com article April 2007[Chris Preimesberger]

Official sites

• Base project page
• Base marketing page
• Base QA

the mailto and owner would need to be changed appropriately
Ahutor: Base page Drew 21:01, 11 September 2007 (CEST) '
Please do not change the logical content of this site without acknowledge of the author or the OOo QA Project Lead/Co-Leads.