Panorama has a bunch of ways to create new fields.

You can also create multiple fields at once using the Construct Multiple Fields dialog in the Fields menu. All of these options are covered in more detail below.

Note: The data sheet is normally limited to 150 visible columns at a time. If you need to use more than 150 fields, see Limiting the Maximum Number of Data Sheet Columns.

Add/Insert Field

Clicking Add in the toolbar or choosing Add Field from the Field menu will immediately add a new field at the end of the database. The new field is always a text field, and is named alphabetically (A, B, C, etc.) but it will not duplicate a name already in use. The Field Properties Panel will open automatically if it wasn’t already open, allowing you to customize the name and other properties.

Clicking Insert in the toolbar or choosing Insert Field from the Field menu is similar, but will insert the new field in front of the current field, instead of adding it to the end.

By the way, you can always rearrange the order of fields by dragging the field headers around.

These examples all show an empty database, but you can add, insert and rearrange fields even if your database contains thousands or even millions of records of data.

Quickly Adding Common Fields

Adding a field is usually a multi-step process – first you add the field, then you give it a name, then set up the type, alignment, width, output pattern, capitalization, etc. Panorama has a shortcut that makes it easier to quickly set up common fields like Name, Address, Phone, Email, Total, Date, Price etc. To add a common field, right click on the star next to the field name in the Field Properties Panel. In this example the menu is used to quickly set up six fields. The first field already exists, so I simply click on the star to set up the Name field, but then I right-click to add the Address, City, State, Zip and Country fields. Notice that when I right-click, an icon appears next to each name in the menu, indicating that the new field will be added, instead of changing the current field.

Hold down the Shift key and right-click to insert a common field, for example I can insert an Organization field between the Name and Address. Notice that when the Shift key is held down, the icons in the menu change to reflect the fact that the new field will be inserted instead of added to the end.

Of course you can edit the field attributes at any time after creating the field. So if the exact field you need isn’t listed in the menu, simply choose the closest one and then make adjustments as necessary.

Construct Multiple Fields Dialog

If you need to create a bunch of fields in a hurry, there’s a faster way – the Construct Multiple Fields dialog. Just open the dialog and type in the list of fields you want to create, then BAM – Panorama creates the fields for you.

If the field name is one of the hundred or so that Panorama knows about (all of these are), Panorama will automatically set up the width, type, and other attributes for you. Your fields are ready to go.

You can also customize the specifications for the generated fields quite a bit. To learn all the details, see Construct Multiple Fields.


See Also


History

VersionStatusNotes
10.0UpdatedCarried over from Panorama 6.0, but with new options for field title, editing options, formulas and code.