Forms and Reports

Typing data straight into a table's grid works, but it is not friendly for everyday users, and a raw table is not the nicest way to present results. LibreOffice Base solves both problems with forms and reports.

Forms — for entering and editing data. A form is a window on the screen, designed to look convenient, through which a user views, enters and edits the data of a table one record at a time. Instead of scrolling across a wide grid, the user sees neatly arranged labelled boxes (for example, Name:, Class:, Marks:) and can move from record to record with navigation buttons. Forms make data entry easier and less error-prone, and can hide fields the user should not change.

The quickest way to build one is the Form Wizard (click Forms → Use Wizard to Create Form...), which guides you through choosing the table, selecting the fields to show, picking a layout, and applying a style. A form built this way is saved inside the .odb database and can be opened whenever data needs to be entered. Behind the scenes a form is always based on a table (or a query) — it is simply a friendlier face for the same underlying data, so anything typed into the form is stored straight into that table.

Reports — for presenting and printing data. A report is a neatly formatted, printable summary of the data, meant for reading and sharing rather than editing. A report can group records (for example, list orders customer by customer), sort them, show headings and page numbers, and print totals such as the sum of an amount column. Because a report is designed for output, users cannot change the data through it. …