Above is a screen shot of the Database Form Wizard.
This page is for Delphi beginners who
have
not yet made a database application with Borlands Delphi.
If you have worked with databases before
then you would probably want to skip this web page.
Start a new project, then save the
project
by going to File|Save Project As...
Create a new folder and call it FirstDBApp.
Save Unit1.pas and then Project1.dpr or rename Project1.dpr to a name you want.
Go to Database in the Delphi menu, then click on Form Wizard.
Above is a screen shot of the Database
Form Wizard.
Leave the Form Options on "Create a simple form" and leave DataSet Option on "Create a form using TTable objects".
Click on the "Next" button.
On the next page click on the "Drive or Alias name:" ComboBox and scroll through the list until you find DBDemos, click on DBDemos so it is selected like in the image below.
Then go to "Table Name:" and click on biolife.db like I have done in the image below.
Click on the Next button.
You are now presented with a page which
allows you to choose which fields you want to include in the database.
The left listbox is called Available
Fields
and the right listbox is called Selected Fields.
The left listbox has listed all the
available
fields that you can use, while the right listbox will hold a list of
all
the fields you want to use in your database.
For this example we want to use all the
fields so please click on the ">>" button.
You will notice all the fields listed
in the left listbox moved over to the right listbox.
You can use the ">" button to move individual fields over to the right listbox.
You can also use the "<" button to
move
a field from the right listbox back to the left listbox, this means you
don't want to use that field in your database.
And you can use the "<<" button
to move all the fields in the right listbox back to the left listbox.
You can also use the up and down buttons (The buttons with up and down arrows on them) to move selected fields up and down in the right side listbox.
To choose only some of the fields you
can
press the Ctrl key and then select the fields you want from the
Available
Fields list then click on the ">" button.
Click on the Next button.
The next page in the Database Wizard gives you some options about how you want the database fields arranged on the form. Read the information under each radio checkbox.
With Horizontally checked click on the Next button.
You are now on the final page of the
wizard,
you can choose to use the back button to make changes if you want.
Leave "Generate a main form" and "Form
Only" checked and then click finish.
You should now have a form called Form2 with some components on it.
Here are some of these components:
DBNavigator:
The DBNavigator is used to navigate through the records, edit a record, and lots more, you may have already used an application that has a DBNavigator in it.
Table1 and DataSource1:
To the left in the image above is the
non-visual
TTable component.
TTable is used to access the data in a
single database table that is using the Borland Database Engine (BDE).
To the right is TDataSource component.
TDataSource is used to provide a
connection
between the dataset and data-aware controls on the form.
Click on the TDataSource component and
look in the Object Inspector and you will notice that the property
DataSet
has Table1 in it. This can be changed at run-time and at design-time
depending
on your needs.
If you double-click on Table1 then you will see the Fields editor.
Next click on Table1 then go to the Object Inspector and change the Active property to True.
Notice that the data is now in the
data-aware
controls.
The DBNavigator has also changed and some
of the buttons now have black images on them, such as the + button.
Click on Table1 then go to the Object Inspector and change the Active property to False.
Biolife.db has images and we do not see them, so we have to make some changes.
First click on the DBEdit called Graphic, it is under the label that has the caption "Graphic", then press the Delete button on your keyboard.
Next go to the DataControls tab on the component palette and click on DBImage, click on your form under the current fields, you should now see the DBImage component.
To make the DBImage component active click on it and then go to the Object Inspector and change these properties:
DataSource = DataSource1
DataField = Graphic
Click on Table1 then go to the Object Inspector and change the Active property to True and you should now see an image of a fish in the DBImage, resize it if you need to and move it to the left and bottom of the form.
You will now notice that the Notes: label has a DBEdit under it, this is not what we want.
Next go to the DataControls tab on the component palette and click on DBMemo, click on your form next to the DBImage, you should now see the DBMemo component.
To make the DBMemo component active click on it and then go to the Object Inspector and change these properties:
DataSource = DataSource1
DataField = Notes
Change the DBMemo ScrollBars property to ssVertical.
Put the Graphic label over the DBImage
and put the Notes label above the DBMemo.
Don't forget to delete the DBEdit called
EditNotes since we don't need it now.
Your project should look something like this:
Run the project. If you are prompted to
save Unit2.pas then do so.
Use the DBNavigator to browse through
the records.
If you want Form1 to be seen first you
can press the Ctrl + F12 keys then double-click on Project1.
Next make this change:
program Project1;
uses
Forms,
Unit1 in 'Unit1.pas' {Form1},
Unit2 in 'Unit2.pas' {Form2};
{$R *.RES}
begin
Application.Initialize;
Application.CreateForm(TForm1,
Form1);
Application.CreateForm(TForm2,
Form2);
Application.Run;
end.
In other words move the line
Application.CreateForm(TForm1, Form1);
above the
Application.CreateForm(TForm2, Form2);
line.
Add a button to Form1, double-click on the button and then add this code:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender:
TObject);
begin
Form2.Show;
end;
Change the buttons Caption property in the Object Inspector to "Biolife DB" .
Run the application, click on the
button
and you should now see Form2.