Beginner Question Alter data in MySQL

[Billaboard]

I have MySQL 5.0 running on a Windows XP machine and am logging in to its MySQL 5.0 database remotely from this Win7 machine over the network.

At the moment I'm just using simple flat databases, and have been creating and using them via MySQL Administrator and Query Browser on the XP machine.

I have just been trying to create and populate an extra, simple database to log some time and dates with some text records, and thought it would be worth trying to set it up and access it remotely via OO.

What I am finding is that on some existing databases I can access and add to the data, but on the ones I've created remotely via the Open Office app, I can't. Also, the ones created remotely seem to use a different database engine rather than iSAM that seems to be used on the older data, although cahanging the database type on the XP machine makes no difference.

I have become extremely confused with the actual setup of the databases. This may well be down to my dreadful memory, as I have to refer to a book each time I need to remember a MySQL command (hence the hope for a simple graphical front end), but sometimes I've had a drop down menu to add a column as, say a DATE, sometimes I just seem to get a box to type in the format of the column.

All the basic communication between the machines seem to be working well.

Is there a good simple guide anywhere here so that I can walk through the process logically. Sorry about the length of this, probably stupid, question.

[Billaboard]

I have made some progress. I believe the lack of a primary key was the reason why I could not input data via Open Office. I had thought primary keys were set for all the databases, but for some reason they were not working. Removing and re-creating them enabled data access.
However, I still cannot set up these primary keys correctly via Open Office.

For these simple databases, I just need a field that autoenters a number and counts up as records are added. This is simple to achieve with the MySQLAdmin tool, but when I try to achieve the same via the Open Office front end, I get the message "Field 'ID' doesn't have a default value" for the ID field when I try to enter data. I have tried both using the Design View and also using the Wizard to create the tables.

I think the problems I was having with sometimes getting a pull-down menu of field types was simply that these menus exist when Creating a database, but not when editing it in Design View.

[Villeroy]

Do not use OOo as data definition tool. It may destroy your database.
Always use an application explicitly developed for the database in question.