In order to be able to use the bibliography functions, you first need a bibliography database. This can be a database in SQLite or in dBASE format in which all source information must be entered.
You can create a separate bibliography database for each document. If you are writing documents that use the same sources, you can also use a common database for those documents, of course.
Structure of a bibliography database
A bibliography database must contain at least the following fields:
▪A field for a unique abbreviation for the source (see below)
▪A field for the name of the author of the source
▪A field for the title of the source
The abbreviation must be different for each source. As a rule, the author's initials and the year of publication are used for this purpose. If, for example, the source were a book published by the author Harry Smith in 1979, HS1979 (or HS79) would be used as the abbreviation.
Apart from the three mandatory fields listed above, the database may be structured as desired, thus it may also contain, for example, fields for the date of publication, the publisher, etc.
Tip: In the TextMaker document folder, there is a simple example database called biblio.sqlite which you can use for practice purposes. On Windows, this file can be found in the SoftMaker folder below your user directory.
Creating a new bibliography database
If you do not want to access an existing bibliography database, you must create a new database. To do so, simply use TextMaker's database module.
To create a new bibliography database, proceed as follows:
| 1. | Choose the ribbon command References | group Bibliography | Manage | Create new database. |
| 2. | Give the database any name, select the desired database format SQLite or dBASE from the list Save as type and confirm saving. |
| For more information on the database formats SQLite or dBASE and on using the dialog box described in 3., see Creating a new database. |
| 3. | In the following dialog box, add the required fields to the database. In any case, the database must contain fields for the unique abbreviation of the source, for the author and for the title. |
| 4. | When you are finished, click on Create. |
| 5. | TextMaker now creates the database and opens it in the database module. If you now want to enter your sources into the database, you can do so. |
Otherwise, click on the Close database icon  to exit the database module. |
Editing the bibliography database
The bibliography database must then be filled with sources, of course, if this was not already done when creating it. Thus, enter the sources to which you refer in the document into the database. Of course, it is up to you if you want to enter all sources at once or add sources only as required.
To do so, open the bibliography database in the TextMaker database module by choosing the ribbon command References | group Bibliography | Manage | Edit database. For more information on using the database module, see Database.