Creating an Index

  1. Open the property sheet of a table and select the Columns tab.
  2. Select the column or columns to associate with the index and click the Create Index tool.
    The new index property sheet opens.
  3. Enter a name for the index and then click the Columns tab.
  4. When creating a:
    • Key index - select the appropriate key from the Columns definition field above the list. The columns associated with the key will replace any columns already in the list. Use the Sort column to specify an ascending or descending sort order for each column.
    • Function-based index [if supported by the DBMS] - click the Add a Row tool, then click in the Expression column and click the ellipsis button to open the SQL Editor to specify an appropriate expression. For example, to define an index to convert all names to lowercase to simplify searching, you could enter an expression such as:
      lower(SURNAME)
  5. Use the arrow buttons at the bottom of the list to reorder the columns in order of descending cardinality and use the Sort column to specify an ascending or descending sort order for each column.
  6. Click OK to complete the creation of your index and return to the table property sheet.
    Note: You can also create an index using the Add a Row tool on the table property sheet Indexes tab, click the Properties tool to open its property sheet, and select the Columns tab to manually associate columns with the index.