Inserting New Fields 

Procedure

  1. Position the cursor on the field before which the new field should be inserted and choose Edit ® Insert line.

    2. An empty line appears in which you can insert an additional field definition.

  2. Select Initial if the new field should be created in the database as NOT NULL.

    3. In this case the entire table is scanned and filled with the initial value at activation. This can be very time-consuming for large tables! The initial values depend on the data type of the field.

    Key fields are always defined as NOT NULL. When a new key field is inserted, the primary index of the table is built again.

  3. Save your entry and activate the table.

The new field is added in the database at activation.

You can append several new fields at the end of the table with Edit ® New fields.

If the table is a check table in a foreign key, new key fields can only be appended to the previous primary key. When the check table is activated, the foreign keys involved are defined as generic with regard to the new fields. Using the activation log you can find out which foreign keys were adjusted in this way. If necessary you can then maintain them.

Inserting a client field in a table results in a table conversion (see Adjusting Database Structures). The data is copied to all the clients listed in client table T000.

If the table is a check table, it is not possible to insert a client field. In this case you must first delete the existing foreign keys.