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.

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).

You may insert and hide existing fields/columns using the options in the Table View. However, if you wish to add new fields or delete existing fields from your table, you must use the Design View:

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Add Fields/Columns: To add a new field, right-click on any existing field and select "Insert Field" and a new row will appear for the field. You can then name the field and enter the structure type. All fields added in the Design view are fixed fields. You may add calculated fields from the Table View.

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Delete Fields: To delete an existing field, right-click on the field you wish to remove and select "Delete Field". The field will be removed from the Design view. If you make a mistake and want to undo your delete, switch to the Table View and a prompt will appear asking you if you wish to save your changes. Select "No" if you wish to revert to the structure prior to your changes on the page.

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Move Fields/Change Field Order: You may also move the fields from one position to another if you wish to change the underlying order of the fields in the structure by selecting a row and dragging it up or down. If you just wish to change you column view and not affect the underlying structure, you may do this in the Table View.

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.

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

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 (!).