Data Base

SORT AND ARRANGE COLUMNS TO DISPLAY PHONE BOOK DIFFERENTLY

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It's often handy to have the phone book (or any database) sorted and displayed in different ways. An alphabetical sorting by names helps you look up phone numbers in your phone book. A sorting by phone number helps you find a name when all you have is the number or if you want to see all the names in an area code. Although we'll use the Phone Book as an example, these techniques work with any Database.

CHANGE SORT ORDER

First lets change the order in which the All Items list is displayed. Press (F7) from the All Items list and the Sort dialog box is displayed. The cursor is in the 1st sort field box. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to select Business (phone), or whatever field you want to sort on. Press (F10) and your phone book will be sorted in ascending order by the Business phone numbers.

CHANGE COLUMN DISPLAY

You may want to change the All Items display so the Business phone number is in the left column.

The All Items screen in Phone Book, by default, displays a listing of the first three data fields of each item in your phone book. Go to the All Items screen of your Phone Book and press (F8). The cursor is in the first column (the first entry in the Name field). This example assumes that Business is the second field in the Phone Book.

Notice that the key labels at the bottom of the screen have changed. F7 moves the column to the left and F8 moves the column to the right. Make sure the Name field is highlighted and press (F8) and the Name column is moved one to the right. The Business field is now at the left of the screen and the main screen will look something like this:

Modified PhoneBook Screen: Graphic

 You can also decrease the width of a column (F5), increase the width of the column (F6), add a column to the display (F2), or delete a column from the display (F3). The Arrange Columns function only affects the main Phone Book display. It does not remove fields of data from the database.

Press (F10) when you are done rearranging the look of the main Phone Book screen.

Rich Hall Editor, The HP Palmtop Paper