Progress
Results User’s Guide
for Windows


The Structure of a Table

Another way you can think of a database table is to view it as a paper table that you use to organize and present data. A paper table is made up of rows and columns, and the intersection of each row and column contains one specific piece of data.

A database table is similar to a paper table, but the terminology differs a little. A row in a database table is called a record and a column is called a field.

Figure 1–3 shows a section of the Customer table.

Figure 1–3: Fields and Records in the Customer Table

This section of the Customer table contains four records, and each record contains a complete set of information about one customer. In this example, each record contains a customer number, name, and street. These items are called fields.

A field contains two elements: the name of the field and the data stored in the field. Note that the name of the field is common to all the fields in the same column. However, the data contained within a field varies from record to record. For example, the data in the field Cust-Num ranges from 101 to 104. Figure 1–4 shows the structure of a field.

Figure 1–4: Structure of a Field

The field name and the type of data the field stores is determined when the table is created. The data can be entered as an initial value when the database is created or later when the database is used.


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