Managing Data with OpenOffice.org Base

Those who are used to using Microsoft Access, or who have to interact with a variety of database products, have in the past been left scratching their heads and wondering how best to handle these needs under Linux. Well, wonder no more! OpenOffice.org Base provides an interface to both Microsoft Access files and to other databases.

Getting Help from the Wizard

There are many different ways you can use this program. The essentials involve creating a database from scratch in a file on your system, working with Microsoft Access files, and working with databases that were created to use with many of the major database servers — even over the network. Because approaches abound and my space is limited, I focus on two of the more common choices: creating new database files, and opening existing files, which include Microsoft Access files.

The first interface you encounter when opening anything but a document you already worked with from the FileRecent Documents menu option is the Database Wizard (Figure 12-6).

Figure 12-6. The OpenOffice.org Base Database Wizard, used to open existing databases and create new ones.
Creating a new database file in the Database Wizard

In the Database Wizard dialog box, do the following to create ...

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