Column properties can be explored and modified in the Column Properties window. The window is invoked by the Column Properties command in the context menu of a table. The same command is located also in the Table menu and in the tool bar. The window displays the properties of the column in which a cell is currently active. If one or more columns are selected, it displays their properties. The window is not a “modal window”, that is, you can continue working with the table as you wish while the window stays open. The contents of the window change as you switch between cells or selected columns.

Three levels of column properties are displayed in the window under each other: data properties, view properties, and presentation properties. The view properties of columns that copy data are usually hidden because they largely follow the data properties. The simplified editor option near the top of the window is used to hide the view properties. If it is checked, the view properties are not displayed. The view properties are always displayed only for those columns that have been inserted to the table view by the user.

In the data properties section, you can rename a column and change its type. The data type editor is used to change the type. If table data is stored in the Data document section, which is the most common case, a change of a column name or type is equivalent to a change made in the Data Type section.

The view properties section should be used only for columns that have been inserted to the view by the user. It is not advisable to change the view of the columns that have been automatically created by Sfairadora to reflect the values of the data columns. Again, you can change the name and type of the table view columns that have been created by the user (mostly computed columns). The data type editor is used to change the type. The most useful feature of the computed columns is probably the possibility to easily modify the expression by which they are computed. In the case of a table creating a local view of data (such as tables created to display records in the Data document section), a change of the view changes only the appearance of the table and is not reflected anywhere else. By contrast, in the case of a table displaying records in the View section, a change made in this window is equivalent to a change in the View Type section.

The presentation properties section is used to edit appearance and specify further information. This section contains both properties of the actual column (see the table below) and definition of the controls included in the column cells. Presentations are modified by means of the dispel definition editor. If the presentation of a cell is realized by a line editor, which is the most common case, users will probably often take advantage of the option to set the precision (number of decimals) of columns of the real number type (Real).

Column presentation items:

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Name of the built-in tool: column_properties_tool