Creating Database Tables
Explains two different ways of creating tables in a database.
With database management systems, you need to create your tables before you can enter data. Just as you can create a database programatically, you can create your tables programatically too.
Option 1: Programatically
The following is an example of creating a new table. Note that we are specifying the name of the table, the name of each column, and the data type of each column. More parameters can be added to this example if your requirements are more specific.
Option 2: User Interface
Most graphical database management systems have a "Design View" (or similar) for creating tables. Design View enables you to create the names of each column, specify the type of data that can go into each column, as well as specifying any other restrictions you'd like to enforce.
Restricting the data type for each column is very important in relational databases, as it helps maintain data integrity. For example, it can prevent users from accidentally entering an email address into a field for storing the current date.
More properties can be added against each column if you require them. For example, you could specify a default value to be used (in case the field has been left blank by the user).