Using the Design View

Accessing and Saving Data > Viewing Data Sets > Using the Design View

When working with a data table, it is often important to have access to its structure. Strata enables you to view and change the structure of a table through the Design view. To go to the Design view of a table, select "Design" from the View menu or toggle the View icon on the upper right-hand corner.

When you toggle to the Design view, the following page will appear:

design_view

The Design view provides a structural look at your data table and includes the following items:

•	Field Name: This is the current field name. You may change this by double-clicking on the name and editing the name.

•	Type: This is a drop-down menu with various data types to choose from. Click on the type to activate the drop-down menu.

•	Width: This is the width of your field; change the length by editing the value.

•	Decimals: For numeric types, you also have the option of changing the decimal places.

•	Formula: This area shows the formulas used when you have created a calculated field. Formulas can also be edited by double-clicking on them.

If you make any changes to the structure, you will be asked to confirm if you want to save your changes. By selecting Yes, you will overwrite your previous structure.

NOTE: Changing structure will make permanent changes to your data set. Please do so with caution. For example, if you change the structure of a numeric field to a character field, you could lose data including your decimal places. It may be advisable, instead, to change the structure by using a calculated field and a conversion function (in this example, STR).

Reserved Words and Invalid Characters

In order for the software to interpret and parse various commands and file types, it needs to prevent certain words and characters from being used in different circumstances. If you receive an error message, for instance, when you change a field name, it is likely due to the use of a reserved or unallowed character. These items and scenarios are listed below.

Reserved Words

The software reserves certain words that cannot be used to name fields or data sets. The reserved words are:

ADD, ALL, ALTER, AND, ANY, AS, ASC, BEGIN, BETWEEN, BOOL, BOOLEAN, BOTH, BREAK, BY, CASE, CHAR, CHARACTER, CHECK, CLOSE, COLLATE, COLUMN, COMMIT, CONNECT, CONTINUE, CREATE, CURRENT, CURSOR, DATE, DATETIME, DECIMAL, DECLARE, DEFAULT, DELETE, DESC, DESCRIBE, DISTINCT, DO, DOUBLE, DROP, ELSE, ELSEIF, END, EXISTS, FALSE, FETCH, FLOAT, FOR, FOREIGN, FROM, FULL, FUNCTION, GOTO, GRANT, GROUP, HAVING, IF, IN, INDEX, INNER, INSERT, INT, INTEGER, INTERSECT, INTO, IS, JOIN, KEY, LEFT, LEVEL, LIKE, LONG, MATCH, NEW, NOT, NULL, NUMERIC, OF, ON, OPEN, OPTION, OR, ORDER, OUTER, PRIMARY, PRIVATE, PRECISION, PRIVILEGES, PROCEDURE, PROTECTED, PUBLIC, READ, RESTRICT, RETURN, REVOKE, RIGHT, ROWS, SELECT, SESSION, SET, SIZE, SHORT, SIGNED, SMALLINT, SOME, SWITCH, TABLE, THEN, THIS, TO, TRUE, UNION, UNIQUE, UNSIGNED, UPDATE, USER, USING, VALUES, VARCHAR, VARYING, VIEW, VOID, WHEN, WHENEVER, WHERE, WHILE, WITH

Invalid Characters

The following are lists of invalid characters for various scenarios:

Invalid column characters:

~ !@#$%^&*()+{}|:"<>?`-=[]\;',./

Invalid column starting characters:

~ !@#$%^&*()+{}|:"<>?`-=[]\;',./0123456789

Invalid object characters:

~ !@#$%^&*()+{}|:"<>?`-=[]\;',./

Invalid object starting characters:

~ !@#$%^&*()+{}|:"<>?`-=[]\;',./0123456789

NOTE: All of the above circumstances include a space as an invalid character. The space in the lists above is between the tilde (~) and the exclamation point (!).