On Dec 6, 2007 2:10 PM, J Diggan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > /I am using version 2.3.1 of OpenOffice.org. My problem is : > > How do I change an existing table field to required ? > > John,
Base is not real graceful about this. If you've got a field to change to "reqired" and the field is not filled in for every row in the table the change will fail. So.. Instructions(A) - IF the field that you want to make required already has a value for every row... 1. right-click the table name 2. select Edit from the popup menu 3. click on the field name you wish to change in the field list list 4. in the Field Properties options at the bottom of the dialog box, change the Entry required option to "Yes" 5. save your change Instructions(B) - IF the field you wish to make required is not currently filled in on every row then you have to fill in the blanks before you can make it required... 1. make a copy of your table to practice with, errors from what follows aren't easily undone. 1.1 right-click on your table 1.2 select Copy from the menu 1.3 right-click again 1.4 select Paste from the menu (this will create the copy of the table that you will practice with) 2. click on the Tools menu and select the SQL option 3. in the area where it reads "Command to execute" type the following SQL statement UPDATE "tablename" SET "fieldname1" = 'newvalue' WHERE "fieldname2" IS NULL then click the Execute button For #3 note the following: tablename - substitute the name of your practice table fieldname1 - substitute the name of the field that needs to have the blanks filled in fieldname2 - for what you need to do, put a value in empty fields, it is the same as fieldname1 newvalue - something you want to fill in the empty fields with, should be something you can identify as boilerplate so it can be updated to something meaningful later " (double quotes) - are required in the SQL statement where they are shown ' (single quotes) - are required in the SQL statement where they are shown I've presumed the field you need to fill in is text hence the single quotes. If the value is numeric you can dispense with the single quotes. If the field needs to be filled in with some other type of value please post more details on this list. Practice these steps until you are able to fill in the blanks in your copied table without error. Once you are able to do so change tablename to the name of the table that you really want to change and execute the query again. Now that the query is run go back to Instructions(A) to make the field required.
