Retro video games delivered to your door every month!
Click above to get retro games delivered to your door ever month!
X-Hacker.org- dBsee 4.6 - The Library - Norton Guide http://www.X-Hacker.org [<<Previous Entry] [^^Up^^] [Next Entry>>] [Menu] [About The Guide]

   After having defined all the files and fields, the indexes can be created.
   An index is a sorted list, ordered according to a specific sort key. This
   list is stored within a separate file, called an index file. An index is
   used to logically order data within a file, thus making it faster to
   search, order and group records (for instance, when printing) and allowing
   to control or recognise records uniquely.

   In the index file, the sorted key values are associated to a record
   number. While the program considers only the key values, the system will
   jump to the correct record number automatically.

   Consider the index file as the Table of contents in a book. The
   index contains the key values, for instance the paragraph titles, which
   are associated to the record numbers, here the page number. The table of
   contents logically orders the book, without sorting the book itself.

   The main usage of the index files is that of allowing to quickly find data
   and to group records with common information. As this technique is also
   used in relating files (find the first occurence, then list while the data
   is common), the index files are also necessary for creating relations.

   It is possible to associate up to 15 indexes (Clipper limit) to each file
   of the Data Dictionary. In the generated dBsee programs, each time a data
   file is opened, all the indexes associated to it will also be opened. This
   guarantees the automatic update of the indexes when records are added or
   modified.

   If an index with a composite key, based on two or more fields, is to be
   created, the field types must be homogenous. If they are not, dBsee
   automatically converts the fields, with the help of appropriate Clipper
   functions.

   The indexes can be created and their parameters modified, by pressing the
   Indexes button, found in the Data Dictionary main menu. The list of
   indexes are those created on the highlighted file.

Online resources provided by: http://www.X-Hacker.org --- NG 2 HTML conversion by Dave Pearson