Noodle Modules - Database

Database provides Noodle users with a simple database that allows for easy data entry and simple creation of reports and easy searching.

Creating a Database

Creating a Form Section

Creating Fields

Adding Entries

Creating Reports

Searching a Database

Importing and Exporting Database Data

Other Database Options

Changing the Default View Style

Database Security

Access Rights Levels Explanations

Database Templates

Visit our Database Templates page to see instructions on how to create forms that will allow users to fill out forms and administrators to gather information.

Creating a Database

Creating a Database is done the same way as creating any other application. Once the Database is created, the Form must be defined to create a structure for the database and then entries can be added. Each Database instance represents one database and subsequent databases that the user wishes to create must be done in separate instances of the Database application.

Creating a Form Section

Before any data can be added to the database, the user must first define it's structure using a Form. A database must have at least one Form Section to contain data elements; there is no limit to the number of Form Sections that may be created in a Database. To create a Form Section, select the database Administration, followed by Settings and then Form Designer. Enter a name and choose whether this section will be displayed as 1 or 2 columns, as shown:

Making a Form Section in a Noodle Intranet database

Once a Form has at least one Form Section, the user may now begin creating fields, commonly referred to as 'Columns'.

Creating Fields

Once a Form Section has been created, data fields can now be added that will define the type or types of data that will be contained within the database. Following is a list of data field types and their functionality. Label is the only mandatory field, marked (*. Fields may also be set as mandatory by setting Value Required to Yes.

For more information about Data Types, click the link below to show/hide a detailed description of each field type and values that can be set.

[Toggle Descriptions]

Single Line Text Field

This is used to create a single line of text. Other attributes that may be set are:

Multi Line Text Field

This is used when multiple lines of text are required. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Default Value - The value that is placed in this field by default.
Number of Rows and Number of Columns - These determine the width and height of your text area.

Date Field

This is used to create a field to hold a date. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Format - Choose an option from the drop-down box that corresponds with how the date is to be displayed.

Time Field

This is used to create a field to hold a time. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Time Format - Choose the way the time is to be displayed. Select 'Standard' for 12-hour and 'Official' for 24 hour time.
Display Time zone - Choose whether or not to display the time zone.

Numeric Field

This field is used to hold numeric values and separators. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Default Value - The value that is placed in this field by default.
Field Size - The width of the field as it is displayed on the form.
Maximum Characters - Limit the number of characters that may be entered in this field.
Decimal Places - Specify the number of digits that may be displayed after a decimal point. You may choose as few as one, or as many as six
Thousand Separator - Specify the character that will be used to separate thousands.
Decimal Separator - Specify the character that will be used in place of a period '.'.

Currency Field

This field is used to hold currency. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Default Value - The value that is placed in this field by default.
Field Size - The width of the field as it is displayed on the form.
Type of Currency - Select a currency from the drop-down bow provided.
Decimal Places - Specify the number of digits that may be displayed after a decimal point. You may choose as few as one, or as many as six.
Thousand Separator - Specify the character that will be used to separate thousands.
Decimal Separator - Specify the character that will be used in place of a period '.'.
Highlight Negative Number - Choose whether negative numbers will be signified using either highlighted text, or with a negative '-' symbol.

Single-choice Radio Buttons

Radio buttons are used when one and only one choice is required. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Use choices from existing list - If you already have a list of choices you would like to use for this field, you may specify that here. Simply left-click on the drop-down box to show the names of all Radio Buttons currently on the forum, and select the item that contains the choices you would like to copy.
Add List Items - Specify the options here by entering in the text for the option in the text box. Each line represents a single Radio Button option.
Align - Choose whether the Radio Buttons shall be placed side-by-side or underneath.
Value Required - Radio buttons must ALWAYS have at least one item selected, therefore this option is always Yes.

Checkbox

This is used to place a single check-box option onto the form. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Checked by Default - If this checkbox is checked, when information is being added, this field will be automatically checked, requiring the user to uncheck it if desired. The reverse will apply if this checkbox is unchecked.
Checkbox Text - Here, the user may specify text that appears after the checkbox.

Drop-down List

This is used to place a drop-down menu box onto the form. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Use choices from existing list - If you already have a list of choices you would like to use for this field, you may specify that here. Simply left-click on the drop-down box to show names of other Drop-down Lists currently on the form, and select the item that contains the choices you would like to copy.
Add List Items - Specify the options here by entering in the text for the option in the text box. Each line represents a single Radio Button option.

Noodle User List

This field will place a drop-down list onto your form which will contain the names of all Noodle users. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Default Value - The value that is placed in this field by default.
Link to User Profile? - Enabling this feature places a link to the profile of the user currently being displayed when the database is being viewed. Disable this feature for the name to be plain text with no link.

Web Address

This field will place a URL onto your form. 'http://' will be at the beginning of the text box. Other attributes that may be set are:

Email Address

This field places a text box on the form that must contain an email address in order for the entry to be saved. Addresses must be in the format of nameto@provider.XXX. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Default Value - The value that is placed in this field by default.
Field Size - The width of the field as it is displayed on the form.

Image/Photo

This field places a field on the form that allows users to browse files to include a picture file with an entry. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Maximum Height - The maximum height allowed for the picture that is being uploaded.
Minimum Height - The minimum height allowed for the picture that is being uploaded.

Data Connector

This field allows the user to place a field on the form that will link to an entry in another Database on Noodle. A database may only be referenced once per form in this way. Other attributes that may be set are:

Description - A description of the field's purpose.
Data Manager - This field allows the user to specify which Database to reference. (You may also choose to include all data from the referenced Data Manager, by checking the checkbox underneath this field.)
Field - Specify the field that will be linked to by the Data Manager
Link to Record - Enabling this feature turns the text shown on the form view into a link to the corresponding entry.

Blank Space

This field enables the user to put space between fields on the form.

Rich Text Area

This field allows the user to place text on the their form. This feature is useful for making information or instructions available to other users who may be entering data into this Database. When created, this field will present the user with the IntraEditor application, that can then be used to define the text that will be displayed on the database form.

Toggle Descriptions

Adding Entries

Once the form has been created entries may now be added. This is done on the Form tab in the main view of the Database. Fields that have been signified as 'Required' will be signified with a red asterisk (*). When all required fields have been filled, the user can click the 'Save' button to save and be redirected to the list of entries. Alternatively, the user may select 'Save and Add Another' to remain on the Add Entry form.

Each entry in the database will be assigned an incremented index value within the database. The user may choose to begin each entry with a 3-letter prefix to differentiate between entries. To use this feature, select the 'Add ID Prefix' button within the Form Designer. Enter the 3 letters in the text box and click 'Save'.

As with other Noodle applications, you may cut, copy, paste, delete and reorder items in the Form Designer using the buttons provided. Form fields may be re-ordered and moved from one Form Section to another.

Creating Reports

Creating Reports is an excellent way to provide a customizable overview of information contained in a database. Reports are created from the Reports tab, and can be made available for viewing by other Noodle users quickly and easily. Click on the 'Create Report' button to being creating a Report:

Report Name - Specify a name for the report.

Available Fields - This is where the user will specify the fields from the database that they would like to be included in the Report. The left-side list box, titled 'Available Fields', shows all fields in the database; the user can simply double-click on items they wish to include, or select them and click the blue arrow pointing to the right-side list box. The right-side list box, titled Included in Report contains all fields that have been selected to be included. The user may also de-select a field by double-clicking it's name in the right-side list box, or select it once and use the left-pointing, blue coloured arrow.

Include Date Created - Include a field in the report that shows the date on which the entry was created.

Include Date Modified - Include a field in the report that shows the date on which the entry was last updated.

Include Form ID - Include the ID of the entry in the report.

Show Grid line - Select 'Yes' to show a grid line around the table when the report is viewed.

Word Wrap Columns - Select 'Yes' here to word-wrap columns if the text is too large for it to be displayed on one line.

Sort By - This allows the user to specify which field will be used to order the database. Entries will be shown alphabetically, in descending order.

Group By - This allows the user to select a field that will be used to organize the report. This feature works best with fields that will have identical values in multiple entries, such as a city in an address.

The form below will create a report which will pull back all of the entries in this database where the Deal Value field is greater than $5,000, containing company, website, phone and deal value:

Noodle Intranet Database - Hotel Report

Extra restrictions can be placed on a report by clicking 'Add another restriction'.

Searching a Database

Database has a Search option that allows users to query a database and return entries matching specified criteria.

Begin a search by selecting the 'Search' tab. This will show the user a form containing all the fields in the database. From here, the user may then select a field to search on by simply entering a value in the text box adjacent to it's name. For multiple search criteria, the user may also specify whether returned entries should match either all or just one of the criteria in the search.

After selecting the criteria to be used in a search, the user may also choose whether to search only the main database, or to include any subfolders. Include sub-content by using the button marked 'Search Sub Content' to initialize the search.

Multiple search fields can be specified to narrow down the results. Database will return a list of entries based on the view style specified in the List Designer.

Once the user has navigated away from the search results, Noodle will remove the results from view.

Importing and Exporting Data from the Database

Data can be both imported and exported to and from a Database. Imports will be from a text file, Exports will go to a .CSV file. Only data from fields which have user-inputted data can be imported. Following is a list of Database fields that can be imported to:

Single-line text field
Multi-line text field
Numeric field
Currency
Web address
Email address

Import

Text files used to import and export data are delimited by a single character or a sequence of characters. This means that a defined set of characters are used to determine how the data inside is separated. To begin the import process, click the Import link at the top right of the database interface.

1. The import wizard will prompt you to locate the file which contains the information to be imported. Click 'Browse...' and select the desired text file.

2. The wizard will now display details about the contents of the file as well as giving options to alter what character/s are used to delimit the information it contains. By default, a comma (,) is used to separate each field, however, semicolons (;), tabs and Spaces can be specified, as well as a custom separator. A Text Qualifier can also be specified here. This character can be used in case the delimiter character appears within a single field. For example, a comma being used inside an address field containing 'Dallas, Texas', would separate these 2 words when in fact they should be part of one field. In this case, a single quotation can be used to ensure the two words remain grouped.

The text file used for the import will look as follows, notice the columns are specified in the first line with a comma delimiter, identical to the data on the next lines:

Noodle Database Import

This file is used to generate the next part of the wizard step:

Noodle Database Import

3. Once the File and delimiter details specified, the fields from the database can now be linked to the columns in the text file. Use the list of fields and the corresponding drop-down boxes to link them:

Noodle Database Import

Click Next and then Finish and the entries in the text file will now be imported into the database.

Export

Data can be exported from a database to a .CSV file. This allows data to be transported from Noodle to other mediums easily. Click the Export link in the top-right corner of the Database interface to export all data to a .CSV file which can then be saved to the User's computer.

Other Database Options

As with other Noodle applications, users may set Routing, Access Rights and Auto-Notification. These are all accessed from 'Administration'. Other Database options that may be configured include:

Changing the Default View Style

Users may change how a Database is viewed when selected. 'List View' shows a list of entries currently in the database. This style of view can be fully customized by selecting Administration, followed by the Settings tab, and finally 'List Designer'. This tab has a small form which allows users to decide which fields from the database will be seen when viewed and how the entries are sorted.

Database Security

Database has 2 options to allow Noodle administrators to limit items that are viewable by other users. From Administration, and Properties, the user may select Public or Private. Public will allow everyone with 'Read' access rights to view all database entries. 'Private' limits the user's viewable entries to those that have been created by them only.

Access Rights Explanations

Below is an explanation of how Access Rights affect what the User is able to do:

Read - Read Access allows the User to view the list of entries as well as details of each entry. Read access also allows the User to view and create Reports.
Post - Post access allows the user to view and create entries within the Database, as well as add and edit Notes. Attachments may not be added. Reports may be created and viewed.
Modify - Modify access allows the user to view, create and edit entries, as well as adding Notes and Attachments. Reports may be created and viewed.
Admin - Admin permission allows the user to access the Administration section.
Route - Route access allows the user to move items from a Database to a sub-folder by simply selecting the entry and clicking the Route button.