Adding Records to a Java Database Table

A database table is like a spreadsheet, in that it has rows and columns. Each row in our table has cells (fields) for an ID value, a First Name, a Last Name, and a Job Title. Shortly, you'll learn how to write code to add new rows of information to the table. But you can use the NetBeans IDE to add rows as well.

To add a new row to your table, right click on your table name. From the menu that appears, selectView Data:

When you click on View Data, you'll see a new window appear in the main NetBeans window

You use the bottom half of window to enter new table rows. The top half is for SQL Commands. (You'll learn more about them soon, when we've finished adding rows.)

To add a new row, click the icon with the green plus symbol, in the bottom half of the window:

When your click the new row icon, a dialogue box appears:

As you can see, there are text boxes for each column in our table. For the ID column, we'll use sequential numbering, starting with 1. The second row in the table will then have an ID of 2, the third row 3, etc. The numbers are not the row numbers: they are just unique values for each ID field. We could have easily started with a value of 100 as the first ID number. The second number would then be 101, the third 102, etc.

Enter the following data as the first row of your table:

ID: 1

First Name: Helen

Last Name: James

Job Title: IT Manager

Your dialogue box will then look like this:

Click OK when you're done and you'll be returned to the NetBeans window. The first row should then be displayed:

Add three more rows with the following data:

ID: 2

First Name: Eric

Last Name: Khan

Job Title: Programmer

ID: 3

First Name: Tommy

Last Name: Lee

Job Title: Systems Analyst

ID: 4

First Name: Priyanka

Last Name: Collins

Job Title: Programmer

When you've finished adding the new rows, your NetBeans window should look like this one:

In the next lesson, you'll a few SQL commands.