77 Import Data into a Calc Database
Before using a database, you need to learn how a database management system organizes data. With Calc, you can create, organize, manage, and report from data stored in your Calc spreadsheet.Chapter 18, "Organizing Your Data with Base."
records and
fields . A database's structure acts just like a Calc worksheet because the rows and columns in a worksheet match the records and fields in a database. This similarity between databases and spreadsheets is why Calc works well for simple database management.
Records The rows in a database representing all the data for a single item. A single employee record would consist of one employee's data, such as employee number, first name, last name, address, birth date, hire date, and so on.
Fields The columns in a database representing individual descriptions of the records. A field in an employee database might be the last name field or the hire date.
Relational database A powerful type of database program that stores data in a series of related tables and allows you to view the data in different ways.
In the following figure, the database's records are the sheet's rows, and the fields are the columns. This database is a simple checkbook-register database; you usually organize your checkbook register just as you would organize a computerized version of a checkbook, so you will have little problem mastering Calc's concepts of records and fields.