So far I’ve modified existing records in the Rails table, but I can also add new records and enter new data. Before I do so, however, I’m going to make a few slight adjustments to my local database to make the job of entering new data easier. To do that I’ll use the Field Properties dialog, which I can open by double clicking on any column name at the top of the data sheet. (I can also open this dialog by single clicking anywhere in a column, then choosing Field Properties from the Setup menu.)
I’ll start by double clicking on the Railroad column name, which opens the dialog shown below. I’ll use the pop-up menu to change Auto-Capitalize to Word. This tells Panorama to automatically capitalize the first letter of any word entered into this field (for example santa fe will automatically become Santa Fe). Next, I’ll switch the Clairvoyance option from Off to On. Clairvoyance™ is a special Panorama feature for auto-completion of data entry, I’ll demonstrate its use in a moment.
Once these options are set up for the Railroad field, I’ll repeat the same steps for the Category, SubCategory, Manufacturer, and Scale fields (for the Scale field I’ll set the Auto-Capitalize option to All.
Now I’m ready to actually add a new record, which I’ll do with the tool on the left hand side of the data sheet window.
The new record appears at the bottom of the data sheet, and I can use the pop-up window described earlier to start entering data.
Normally I would go ahead and finish entering the record, but instead I’ll jump the gun a bit and use the Upload All Changes to Rails command (in the Rails menu) right now. Whoops! Looks like that wasn’t such a great idea.
The catalogs Rails table has validation code designed to prevent data entry problems, and my new record doesn’t meet the required criteria. To see exactly what the problem is I choose Validation Errors (Current Record) from the Rails menu.
There are actually five different validation problems with my new record — mostly complaints about fields I haven’t entered yet.
Ok, let me try again. This time I’ll enter the entire record. When I get to the Railroad field the Auto-Capitilization and Clairvoyance™ options I set up earlier kick in. Because of Clairvoyance, I only have to type sa and Panorama will fill in the rest. Then I can simply tab to the next field (or I can keep typing if Santa Fe isn’t the railroad I want).
When using Clairvoyance Panorama will automatically guess what you are typing when there is only one value already in the database that matches what you are typing. When I get to the Category field I only have to type in one letter, s, and Clairvoyance does the rest.
I continue until I have get to the end of the record.
Now when I use the Upload All Changes to Rails command the new record is successfully added to the Rails table.
Now that you’ve learned how to modify data, I'll show you how to massage and analyze it using Panorama’s lightning fast RAM database engine.
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