LO Base - How to move columns?

[jtm4890]

How can I move the columns’ location? For example, move the ID column to the end?

[RobertG]

You have created the table in Firebird? Then you could change the sorting by

ALTER TABLE "Table1" ALTER "ID" POSITION 9;

but sometimes the position has been changed but the GUI for the table won’t show it.
With internal HSQLDB you could only set the position while inserting a new field, not after a field has been inserted.
And as @Villeroy commented earlier: You could position the fields in queries, forms and views. So if you need a special position create a query and input values directly in a query.

[fpy]

How do I change the order of fields when I edit a table? base 5.0.3.2

The order of rows and columns in a database table is insignificant. You can easily create queries that return the exact same data in any order of rows and columns you want. Then you can use a query instead of the table. Open the query designer, add one table and add the columns in any order you want. Optionally you can use alias names to change the column names on the fly. This query with modified column order works in the exact same ways as the original table.

[skyandrews]

Opposing opinion… The order of columns in a database table IS very significant!
Consider: When designing Forms and subforms with listbox controls, the default bound column index is “1” (2nd column). The bound column is “usually” the indexed primary key of a table, and so it is most efficient to create the primary key in the second column (index 1). For instance Table1 has two columns: custName (text), custID (integerPrimaryKey). If in the listbox I wish to view the custName in reference to the custID of the underlying table, then after placing a listbox on a form, one only needs to select type of list: “table” in the data - control properties menu… Done! Otherwise, if table columns are not so ordered, it is necessary to write SQL or queries to “virtually change” the order of table columns. Conclusion: unless one prefers to write lines of SQL or queries, a huge amount of time will be saved by consistently ordering at least the first two columns of all tables as: reference(1st), primaryKey(2nd). The current topic lends plenty of evidence for this!

[Villeroy]

Developing a good form takes hours. Arranging form controls is a matter of seconds. The order of columns in a table has zero influence on a record set. The order of columns and the tab order on a form is freely eligible. It may change between forms and reports. From an end user’s perspective, there is not even any table.