Databases - Firebird and the Borland Database Explorer

Firebird and the Borland Database Explorer

The Borland Database Explorer is available from the Delphi menu via Database / Explore. This allows you to

Define a BDE alias
Open/Close the Database Connection
View tables, their data, and their structures
Create new tables

Define a BDE alias

Before you can view information about a database, you must first define an alias.

Notice that there are 2 types of BDE aliases

Those based on the BDE INTERBASE driver
Those based on ODBC

In the Database Explorer, the data displayed and functions you can perform are different depending on which is selected - the INTERBASE driver always provides more capability.

Open/Close the Database Connection

There are several ways to open and close the connection

Double click on the alias name to Open it.
Right click the alias and select Open and Close
Highlight the alias and select Object / Open and Object / Close from the main menu
Highlight the alias and toggle the first button on the toolbar (down is Open)

The default Username/Password is SysDBA / MasterKey (this does not appear to be case sensitive).

View tables, their data, and their structures

Once a database is Opened, you can select a table and view its structure and contents.

The Text tab shows the SQL that creates the table
The Data tab shows the contents of the table.

When looking at the Columns summary, be sure that View is set for Detail so that you can see all the data.

Create new tables

First open a Firebird database.

Via the Object / New menu selection, it is possible to create new objects ... including new tables. The trick is to first select either an existing object of the same type or select the header for that type of object. You can also select New... from the right click popup menu.

Only Firebird databases allow you to create new tables - Paradox and ForPro databases do not allow this.

Apparently, Domains allow you to define constraints without specifying a field (column). Then when you define a table, use the predefined domains to define the column parameters.

This only works with an INTERBASE alias, it does not work with an ODBC alias.

Adding Fields (Columns)

With either a new or an existing table, to add a new field (column)

Right click on Columns and select New...
You may select one of 11 types
You may select any existing domain from the list
Set the field name in the left-hand tree view