Calculation Engine (Define Fields)

Can someone explain to me why FM does not allow you to import/export global field contents? Thanks Ken

Hello there, I already have another problem : I have in my invoice db a field called 'product description' which is a related pop-up menu from my product information db. Now when I have to put something else then the normal products (like an explication or something) in the 'description field' I recieve a warning that the field only may contains specific values. And then I have to confirm that. Can I do something about that ? Thanks in advance, Neefken, Belgium PS. Are there some other dutch-speaking users online ?

Hello FM users! A question: Is there a way to insert a letter merge field into a standard text field? I have layouts (hundreds, actually) in my db that are letters that can be printed. Instead of giving users access to Layout Mode in order to change the text of a letter, I just made a text field that contains the body of the letter. I ran into a problem the other day when I wanted to add a merge field into the body of the letter. I don't know how. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks very much Ken

I have made a file that is supposed to have several lists which are represented on different layouts. On layout 1 my list has a field with 30 items (records). When I go to layout 2 my list is supposed to have a different field with 10 items (records) but instead shows 10 items and 20 blank fields. How do I get rid of the blanks that I do not want to see?? Thank you

I got a list of 700 members. I programmed an icon that sorts the Date field in a descending order. When I sort the field, it works for about 350 records ... no more than that. I changed for an ascending order and it still messes up. I have other icons that sort other fields. They work with no hassle. What is wrong with the Date field? Any idea?

I am creating a DB to calculate tax on cars related to their CO2 emissions. I have a field "CO2 emissions" - I then want another field "CO2 Emissions Round" to round this figure DOWN to the nearest 5. So CO2 Emissions = 194 would be rounded down to 190 Can anyone help?? Thanks

Hello, I'm busy making an invoice system that is related to an earlier maked adress db of al our customers. Now, my boss wants the following thing : when he types a few letters in the field 'customer name', FMP automatically gives all the possible remaining customers. So the fewer caracters are typed, the manier remaining possibilities there will be. Can this be done with FMP 5.5 ? Thanks !

Hello again, My next problem ! I have in my db a field called 'total VAT' and it's normally the sum of the field 'subtotal VAT 6%" and the field 'subtotal 21%'. But now I have to become the following : the result in 'total VAT' should be 0 when the entry in the field 'Country' does not equals 'Belgium' and when there's an entry in the field 'VAT number'. Can somebody help me out here ? Thanks ! Neefken Belgium

I have two fields - phone number(text) and phone number display(calculation to show phone number in a certain format - no matter how user enters it). I want them to lay on top of each other in the layout with the phone number display showing, but being able to enter data into the phone number field. I have seen this done before - but can not get my two fields to line up this way. Please help.

I know it is possible to have a field showing date the record was modified, but is it possible to show the date a particular field was modified?:?

I'm trying to create a auto input field to look up for most recent previous record. ex. I have a customer, Item and description fields. Description is already input for that customer per that item. Now I would like to have auto input description field by looking or compare for same customer and item. I have got this work by creating a calculation field that picks up customer, item and by making a relationship. But now this only picks up the description's of first record that was entered. I need to have this pick up from the most recent not from first record. I'm sure there is a way of doing this but since im newbie and need s…

Hello. I am trying to record a sound file from FM, store it in the container field (HardDrive is an option) and then playing it back from the same container field (or using script, insert automatically from Hard Drive into a container field). I know that FM invokes its own sound recorder when you click on the container field, but the recording time is 30 sec only. I am looking for some solution that will allow to record a sound file until I stop it and if it takes to involve a third party application, it should run on the background, prefferably. Any help is appreciated.

Is there some way to connect an image to a fielmaker record, having it visible yet not storing it in filemaker. I have a system that would have within 2 years over 50,000 images as this would take enourmous ammounts of disk space and power, I need another way of letting the user see images most likely in jpeg format. What should I do?

Hello guys! I had a simple question that I'm sure someone can answer. I have one field that does this calculation: Count(Agnt_to_Prosp::ActnList) + Count(Agnt_to_Prosp::ApptResList). The calc works fine, however when no field values can be added (0 + 0), the field is blank. I have another calc field that looks like this: ((IsEmpty(Agnt_to_Prosp::ActnList)) and (not IsEmpty(Agnt_to_Prosp::Letters4)) and (not IsEmpty(Agnt_to_Prosp::Date_Ltr4)) and (Status(CurrentDate) >= Agnt_to_Prosp::Date_Ltr4 + 4)). This one works fine also, but when nothing qualifies it returns a "0." Is there a quick way to have the first calc…

I am trying to use a calculation field with a text result to produce an sql query. When I enter several lines of text and then a field it tells me that it is longer than 253 characters. Is there a limit to the amount of characters that a calculation field can have. If so how is everyone storing their long sql queries. Thanks, Wayne

Hello everyone, I recently wrote a rediculous number of scripts, some of which paste the calculated values into Global text fields. After I close the database, though, these values disapear. Then I need to re-run the scripts to paste tham again. Is this normal? Thanks for the advise

I am in the process of designing a database that counts the days that a job is in progress. For instance, I want to be able to count how many days it takes a job from the time its opened to the time its sent to billing. I have date fields in which the dates are entered however I can seem to get FMPro to count the amount of days in between. What am I overlooking and is there an easy, efficient way to do this? Thanks!

I am using Filemaker Pro 5.5 with Windows. I have a large student database ("Students") on the server, and have created a separate file ("Penn") that contains only specific information needed from Students. I want to be able to "flag" the fields in Penn that get updated in Students in the future. Does anyone know an easy way to do this? Thanks!

Hi all! I am trying to define a calculation as a field validation and am stuck. What I want to do is disallow certain values in a field when a certain pattern exists in a related field. Specifically, I want to disallow the number 88164 in a text field(Code) when the pattern "thin" appears in a related text field(Related::Text). I tried using the following calc: If(Code = 88164, PatternCount(Related::Text, "thin") = 0, 0) This may sound stupid, but it worked briefly and then it stopped working. It now keeps failing validation. Here's another twist. I actually need to validate the Code field for two values. Specifically, I wa…

Hi, I am writing a report database for a primary school and need help with field types. If the goal is to collate records and eventually view as percentages and perhaps graphs: Should checkbox fields (defined list: data1: yes,) which record a level acheived by students - "achieved and working towards" and results such as "commended, satisfactory and needs improvement" [pull-down menu] be text or numbers? Sorry for the stoopid start - love FM Pro and want to learn.

Hi, I am new to FMP, and was wondering if it is possible to make a button such that when I click on the button, a file opens up in Picture Viewer. I am new to Macintoshes too, and don't know how File paths are defined in Macs. I tried using a script for opening a file, but don't know how to specify the file path name. Also, I am using a database with thumbnails of pictures, and want a button under each thumbnail which launches a full sized picture which is in another folder. I am using FMP 5.5v2 and MAc OS 9.2 Thanx Shaunaq

Hi everyone! I have a bunch of images that are on the Internet. There is a text field in my database that for each record, has a link to a corresponding image URL. Is there ANY way that the filemaker can use the link to show the image in a container field or something? Is this possible? Any help would be most welcome! Thanxs Steve Griff

I'm trying to make a listenable database of my company's projects. I'm wondering two things: 1 - I need to automate the process of inserting mp3, aiff, or wav files into container fields. This is possible with JPEG or other graphic files with the use of applescript. I can tell filemaker pro to use "set cell" to set the container field to a jpeg file. I cannot however accomplish the same thing when the file is an mp3 - Filemaker gives me the "Wrong Data Type" error. Does anyone know a better way of doing this, and if not, can anyone tell me how to teach Filemaker that any format that Quicktime supports can go into a container field? 2 - Does anyone know how to check…

I have a database that contains one record per national holidays. As you know, not all holidays have fixed dates (ie Vicroia Day (i'm in Canada) is the monday previous to the 24th of May). I could create a calculation field that will calculate the date of the next occurence but I would have to create one field per holiday OR create one huge calculation field with a Case that handles every holiday. My db will contain every national holiday for every country, so I mean HUGE calculation field. In any case I would have to define or modify my filed formulas everytime I add a holiday which would be annoying since I will be sharing the db with fmp server. I thought m…

Hi, I'm building a database that calculates the next date of occurrence for every statutory holiday (Every one of them, for every country/religion!). Consider the huge amount of research and calculation... but I figure someone must have done this before, so I call on to all of you for help. I'm looking for preferably FMPro calculation field definitions or simply holiday dates descriptions (i.e. Thanksgiving (USA) : Fourth Thursday of November, every year) along with a description of where the holiday is being observed. I figure once the database is complete enough I would make it available to everybody (post it on this forum and other places) so that…

I have a Case Tracking database that has a portal linked to an Actions database. When a customer opens a new case an Open action is created in the portal and consequently in the Actions database. On the Case Tracking database I have a field that lists the status of this particular case. I want to fill this field in the with the current status but still be able to index the field as people need to search by this. I'm not sure how to get this field to list the most current status without using a calculation field. I could write a script to lookup the value but I'd have to constantly be running the script so that the field never contained the wrong status. Any help is apprei…

What's the easiest way to create 365 records, each which the date incrementing by 1? Record 1 has date field of 1/1/2003, record 2 has date field 1/2/2003. Want to avoid adding a record at a time and then filling in each date manually. Don't know if this is done with script or field definition using auto enter?

Hi! I am trying to build a database and instead of pasting the whole huge image into the database, I want to paste a thumbnail onto my database, & then make it so that when I click on the thumbnail, it opens up the actual picture in a new window. I want my picture to be in a separate folder and not increase the size of the database. I am using Mac OS 9.2 I am completely illiterate as far as FMP is concerned and I would appreciate it if you can explain everything in minute details. Thanx! Shaunaq

I have the following calculation on a field to automatically display to the Sales team which quarter we are in. However, it doesn't work. I can't for the life of me figure out why. The syntax takes on the field calculation, but doesn't display anything. I am using Filemaker 5.5 on the Windows 2000 Professional Platform. Now is just the function TODAY so I can display today's date in the header of the sales form. Case(Now < 3/30/2001, "Q1", Now > 3/30/2001 and Now <= 6/30/2001, "Q2", Now > 6/30/2001 and Now <= 9/30/2001, "Q3", Now > 9/30/2001 and Now <= 12/31/2001, "Q4") I have the output set for Text. I'm baffled. Help Please? …

I have a DB which tracks daily sales of merchandise. I have a field which calculates inventory..."OriginalCount" - "TotalSales", which works, but I'd rather subtract daily sales from an "CurrentInventory" field. How can I create a "CurrentInventory" field which stores the most up-to-date data?

Hi, I'm trying to create a automate calculation field that inputs data reflect by other field. Ex: customer field contains word starting from left has "one" then automate field should be marked as "customer one". This is the script that i used and seems like its not working well... If( LeftWords( CUSTOMER, 2 ) = "ae" or "jc" or "ps" or "ta" , "BC" , If( LeftWords( CUSTOMER , 2 )= "ex" or "st" , "LTD" , If( LeftWords( CUSTOMER , 2 ) = "ch" or "ck" , "WAC" , If( LeftWords( CUSTOMER , 2 )= "th", "UAV" , "") ) ) ) I need some help from you experts. Thanks in advance!

I am trying to calculate available hours of vacation after each pay period. The calculation would be dependent on a StartDate field and Today's Date and an AccrualRate field (each employee accrues X hrs per period) - DaysTaken, but I'm not sure how it should be constructed. This is probably the sort of things one should pay for but I work for a non-profit so we try to get as much as we can for free! Or if you can point me to a good template that would be appreciated. thanks, Chuck

I want to be able to post from the index for a field containing biological names such as "Home sapiens". The correct form is with the first word capitalized, but the second word lower case, as shown. However, the index displays it as "Homo Sapiens", and pastes it that way. Any way around this? -- Wasatch

I am trying to create a rental database calendar that shows dates properties are rented. I have created a calendar and fields that calculate the date as a number once the year and month are selected for each day of the month. I have a related database called Lease which is linked through the property ID number. Then I have tried to create a calculation field that says if the calendar date is greater than or equal to the lease start date or less than or equal to the lease end date of a related lease record than the condition is set to "yes" otherwise it is "no" However, it works for the first record but not for the second or any subsequent records. How can I make…

Hi, I have a database with a field called [status] which is a value list and one called [date] what i am trying to do is when status is selected I would like the date of when it was changed to appear in the date field. Thanks for any help or advise. Chris IT Support United Kingdom Manchester

We are trying to embed mp3 files in our database of music recordings. We know how to put .wav files into it, but we have not figured out how to put mp3's in it. The people I have talked to either do not know how to do it, or if it can be done. Has anyone ever done this sort of thing? -Erik Keilholtz Arhoolie Records

I have a database that contains one record per national holidays. As you know, not all holidays have fixed dates (ie Vicroia Day (i'm in Canada) is the monday previous to the 24th of May). I could create a calculation field that will calculate the date of the next occurence but I would have to create one field per holiday OR create one huge calculation field with a Case that handles every holiday. My db will contain every national holiday for every country, so I mean HUGE calculation field. In any case I would have to define or modify my filed formulas everytime I add a holiday which would be annoying since I will be sharing the db with fmp server. I thought ma…

I have a filemaker database file that has all the date fields formated as 'mm/dd/yyyy' but I would like it to be formated as 'dd/mm/yyyy' . When i format the field using the field format option in layout mode only the mask of the field is modified but i want to modify the data of this field. It only works if I set the Use system formats (on) but it shouldn't work that way. Can anyone help me please ?

Hello! I have a calculation field who takes the current year minus the birth year to display the player's category (soccer). My current calc is like: IF(Year(Today) - Year(Date de Naissance) < 19 ; "U" & (Year(Today) - ANNEE(Date de Naissance));"Senior") The problem with this one is that everyday, the database calculates everything. Which function should I use instead to avoid this? The only times I need to change the results are: 1- Once a year (January) 2- When adding new records By the way, my Filemaker is french, so I tried to "translate" the functions I used...the french calc goes like…

I have 3 types of merchandise; shirts, hats, stickers. I would like each item to have a unique ID that follows the form shirt 1, shirt 2.... sticker 1, sticker 2... hat 1, hat 2 Is there a way to auto-enter that info? I can get shirt 1, hat 2, shirt 3, sticker 4, by using a caluclation of "Item Description" & "Serial #", but that's not what I am trying to achieve. Thanks.

I am looking for a way to get a Auto entered serial number to reset everyday? Any help would be great. I would like for it to go back to 01 at the first record everyday.

I have created a field LayoutName, which = Status(LayoutName) Why won't this work when I try and use it as a merge field? It works if I just insert the field, but not if merged

What's best way to have the telephone and social security formatting appear in BOTH an empty (blank) field and in a filled in (completed) field? I want the user to see the formatting before he/she enters data and after the data is entered. BarryZ

Hello, I got an old db which has external references to images. I would like to be able to get the path to the images. That is I need to extract for each record the path to which the multimedia field points to. Is there any way to this ? I tried to export the db but it refuses to export multimedia fields. There should be a solution since the path are available in the raw file... Thanks for your answers. Daniel

The database I'm working on is for a silk-screening firm. Each design they use gets a 4-digit (soon to be 5-digit, as they are up to 9600 now) number, which is a legacy of their old (paper) system. On their new FMP system, when a sales rep takes an order for new art, the DB goes through the design DB, finds the highest number, adds one, and that's the new 4-digit number for the new design. This is fine. HOWEVER, when a sales rep then goes to cancel an order (which happens far too often for my hair line) this means that the 4-digit number will go unused. The owner of the company has just told me that this is no good, and that they want to make sure that all the numbers get…

After entering information in an editable global field in a file being served by FM Server, when some other user opens the file, the data is different or missing. It doesn't seem to stick. Any ideas why?

I've got scripts attached to some date fields. These scripts cause a mini pop-up calendar to appear. It seems that if you tab into the field, the script doesn't work properly...the calendar never appears. It works right if I click into the field. Does anybody have a solution?

I have set up a button (N=1 & Y=2) that a user will check if the "Billing Address" is different than the "Contact Address". Right now the button is in place but isn't linked to any type of functionality. That is where you all can help me. As the default, I would like the "Billing Address" fields to mirror the "Contact Address" and the button to be set to "N" - then based on the user actively selecting the button to "Y", the address fields would clear for the user to enter the new information.Any/all suggestions are welcome. I appreciate your help in advance. Thanks!

Hi. I need to create a filemaker data base with 10.000 jpeg images created with photoshop. In the photoshop was inserted the "get info" field in the images with words that describes the images like woman, men, children, industry, etc. I want to know if is posibble to automatice the load of this key words inserted in photoshop when i insert the image in the filemaker. I need to be able of make searches with this words, but i dont want to insert them again into the 10.000 images. Thanks a lot

Hi everyone Can any of you pro's present a situation where repeating fields are a good/the best solution. I have read quite a lot on repeating fields in this forum, and the quintessence of it all is "repeating fields are bad, they are of almost no value at all". But my curious mind can't get pass the almost. It is logic to assume that if something almost lack value, on some rare occations it has it. When do that occur? The question may just sound like a joke, but it is more than that. I am actually curious. TIA PS I think I may have found a situation where repeating fields are the best available solution.

I have a particular issue with trying to perform a find for a record through a field that is related from another database. I have not had any issues with a previous relationship I had, but then I created a new relationship to another database and when I attempt to perform a find through that, I get a "No records match this request" error message. The data does exist, but I cannot find the records with that relationship. Again, the earlier relationship I set up still performs the find correctly. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Hi I just started working with FMP 5.0 and I don't understand some of its concepts yet. Could you help me with this?: I have a repeating text field in my db, which value is two concatenated values from two other repeating fields in the same database. For example: Field 1 - John Field2 - Collins Field3 (the one I'm working on) - JohnCollins I use calculation to concatenate these two fields and it almost works. The value is calculated for all records in Field3 except the first one. Do you know what it might be? I appreciate any help/comments!

To keep track of the records, I have created 4 fields: - created by - created on - modified by - modified on For "created by" I am using an Auto-Enter calculation: LeftWords(Status( CurrentGroups),1) For "created on" and "modified on" I simply use the Auto-Enter creation date and modification date. Now for "modified by" I don't want to use "modifier name". I would like to use the calculation like for "created by", but I don't know what triggers the "modified" status so I don't know how to test for it... Thanks for any help you might provide! P.S. the closest thing I found was Status (CurrentRecordModificationC…

Is it possible to reindex a field in a database that is being hosted? I have a databases that has an index that is not working properly. Reindexing offline fixed a backup, so I know that's the problem, but is it possible to fix the production databases without taking it offline?

Hi all, I am working on a PO sheet for my work. I am wanting the PO number to be generated with the current date and then a 2 digit number after it. Starting with 01. I would like for the value to reset to 01 at the beginning of each day with just the date part of the PO changing to the new date. Any help or suggestion would be great. Thanks in advance. Example 5030201 for first po today, 5030202 for second,5030203, 5030204 etc. Then tomorrow would like for it to then be 5040201 and so on.

when i tab into a portal row the lookup defined for a field in the file doesn't work. however if i click into the portal row the lookup works fine. any ideas?

Hello folks, I have a big problem with my FM solution. I have a text field that must be a caracter. I have to auto-increment this field when a new record is inserted. Exemple: The first record is A, the second is B , the tird C ...... Can you help me?: Thanks.

A standard If statemet for a typical field is easy: If(Field1 > 0, "Yes","") But is there a way to do the same thing to check if there is a graphic pasted into a field? If I do the standard If statement as above, it does not work. Anyone have any thoughts? LR

I have this as a calculation (Today)- End Date to determine the age of an invoice. It doesn't always want to update properly. I often have to go into define fields double click on that field and okay my way back out and then it updates. Ideas? -j

I have a field that has job numbers in it. Is there a way to do a find that will do 2 things... 1) find any record where the field is empty 2) also find any records where the field contains the word "Blank" I know how to do each of these on their own, but is there a way to combine the 2 so that only the records show that match both these results? LR

I"m looking to set something up that's a bit like how people use FM to make ID cards. But how is it done. Most often i see a system in which a camera is attached to the computer, and on the screen they are able to adjust what they want caputered. Does anyone have some more information about this, or where i can find these setups? Thanks -j

Hi to all the FMers, Very nice job on the new forum look, BTW. The question is: how do I script something like: case(field1="on@", "1", field1="tw@", "2", field1="thre@", "3", field1="f*", "4", "no number") In other words, instead of hardcoding the litterals, can I use the same wild card symbols available in Find Mode for searching? This would alliviate considering all the litteral possibilities, and hardcoding them in a calculated field. Thanks

I dont think this can be done, but thought I would check here to make sure I had tried everything. I have a database with multiple fields lined up horizontally that looks something like this: TASK-------START------DUE-------DESCRIPTION------STATUS TASK2-----START2-----DUE2-----DESCRIPTION2-----STATUS2 TASK3-----START3-----DUE3-----DESCRIPTION3-----STATUS3 The problem with this is each of the items above is a field. And as you can see if I want to add more items for example 4, 5, 6... my page can get pretty long. Plus in some records I may have only 1 task with a start date, due date ect. But in other records I may hav…

Hi, I need to be able to store documents like pdf's, Word documents, email messages, that sort of thing in my database. Is this possible? I know you are limited to graphics and sound files in a container field (at least with FMP 5), is there any other way to store documents in FMP 5? If not is there a way to add a link in a record that would pull up a document stored on my hard drive? I need to be able to track the various correspondence that goes out to my clients. Does anyone have any ideas? By the way I am using FMP 5 and need the data base to work on both Macs and Windows machines.

I need to define a field that cannot be changed once a value is entered. In other words, if the field is empty, a user can enter a value, but once a value is added, no further alterations can be made. Any suggestions?

How does one enable the Excel plug in for exporting straight to a spreadsheet without having to deal with the .tab problems in Excel?

I have a situation where I need to calculate backwards from a given date a certain number of work days. Like from 11/1/02 find the date that is 50 work days before that date as a start date. I am sure there is an elegant way to do it but just can't come up with it. I will also have to build in a holiday calculation to account for holidays but I should be able to build a case statement for it. I have found several solutions to find the number of work days between to dates but nothing to go back a set number of work days. Thanks in advance. Wayne

I'd like a way to have FM automatically grab an image, and then manipulate it as i desire (crop, resize, recolor). I like the sound of the troi grabber, but unfortunatly it's mostly for MAC and not PC. Any other options? Also i'd like it to save it on the HD and not in FM (since the file size woulod go through the roof). Thanks -j

I'd like to number my rows after performing a find and then sorting the records. The status function 'CurrentRecordNumber' is correct as long as I don't sort them, then the rownumbers are wrong. What calculation should I use? Thank you for reading and eventually answering my question.

I need a way to list all current users. I currently us scripts to add/remove Usernames to/from a UsernameList field, but if a users machine crashes, the script does not remove the user from the list. In Calcs the is a Summary(CurrentUserCount), but no (CurrentUsernames) which would be great. Anyone ideas?

I want to define a calculated field that returns a text value based on date ranges. i.e. if InvoiceDate is after 31/03/2001 and before 01/07/2001, "A" is returned and so on. (I'm calculating which quarter of our financial year the invoice relates to). Cannot get this to work using either the If function or the Case function A calculated field definition of If(InvoiceDate>31/03/2001 and InvoiceDate<01/07/2001,"A","") returns A for every record. Puzzled by this one. Andrew Bruno

I'm a Driver Ed teacher and I've been using FM for many years to keep track of and schedule my students. However, I'm a novice at FM. Every now and then I do something new to the database and usually it works, but this time I'm stumped. I want a report that has a column of the records numbered consecutively from 1 to n, no matter how many records are selected or how they are sorted. So it would be a page with a list of students (last name, first name) always consecutively numbered starting with 1. I'm assuming the number would have to be a calculation field, but the calculation would change depending on how many records are selected and how they are sorted. 1 Dick …

I have to ship items in the USA using UPS. This carrier has defined the country in several zones (2-8). They have a freight chart that indicates rates for each zone. Each zone holds different zip codes. An example: Zip code starting with 004-005 = zone 8, 010-089 = 8, 474-479 = zone 7, etc. When I enter a Zip code in the Zip field, I want to get the zone automatically. I don't want to waste my time searching for the right zone. Right now, I am able to extract the first 3 digits of the zip code with this calculation: LeftWords (Zip Code,3) I need to create a second field using Case(Zip code = "004"......). As you can see in the e…

To All

I'm a dog groomer and am just setting up a database with FM. Everything seems pretty easy except for one layout. I need to be able to show a year's worth of appointment dates and charges for each dog. This is unlikely to be more than 12 dates per record. I also need to be able to print out those dates and charges on a yearly report of all dogs. It would look something like this: Client ID Dog Name Appointment Date Clip Style Charge I need to be able to enter this data each time a dog comes into the shop and I CANNOT figure out how to do it! Can anyone help me? Thanks!

I figure this should be a simple one for y'all experts. I want to calculate months between two dates, similar to the DATEDIF function in excel. And if there is a way to include an IF-THEN function so that it doesn't give me a negative number if the second date is missing, even better. Thanks justus

Right now i'm using a file with 5 global fields in it to hold data as a counter. As we know this works great for one user, for that one session. Now how would i get that to work for multiple users over multiple sessions (just get it to keep the data). Here's the break down now. i have a 4 file DB, and the 4th file is just the globals, just one record to so speak. How can i get it to permanently hold my counters? Thanks -j

I have 2 multi-line text fields and I need to combine all the lines in one field with all the lines in another field. For example: Field1 = John Mary Jim Field 2 = 4/14/02 4/16/02 4/17/02 The result that I need is: John - 4/14/02 John - 4/16/02 John - 4/17/02 Mary - 4/14/02 Mary - 4/16/02 Mary - 4/17/02 Jim - 4/14/02 Jim - 4/16/02 Jim - 4/17/02 I have the various plugins such as Troi text, plus a whole host of others. I can accomplish this via a loop, but I was looking for a calculated way to do this. Any ideas?

Sorry my brain has been sent for dry cleaning. I am performing a calculation on a set of records depending on the creation date, so the fomula is simple, if(creation date >01/04/2002:x*y:0), but the resultant calculation ignores the date and applies to the all the records. What am I missing in the date format. The creation date field is a date field and the calculation result is a number Chris

Hello all I've got a curly one here. When you pick a plant has a direct bearing on when you plant it (ie. month of the year that you plant). The following formula works out the planting date given the date entered when the person wants to pick up the plants. Planting date = Case( Month(Data Entry Pickup) = 1, Data Entry Pickup - plant_growth::January , Month(Data Entry Pickup) = 2, Data Entry Pickup - plant_growth::February , Month(Data Entry Pickup) = 3, Data Entry Pickup - plant_growth::March , Month(Data Entry Pickup) = 4, Data Entry Pickup - plant_growth::April , Month(Data Entry Pickup) = 5, Data Entry Pickup - plant_growth::May , …

I know this format below is incorrect, but it gives the idea of what I am after: If(field1>0 & field2>0, "Yes") or If(field1>0 & field2<1, "No") or If(field1<0, "Empty", "") It looks like it would work correctly, but doesn't. Does it make sense what I am trying to do? LR

On Windows, most users use the Enter (or Return key) key to advance from field to field. Is there a way in FMP, to have control on a field (or layout) that allows a user to use the Enter or Tab key to advance from field to field (without creating a cariage return)? TIA

Is there a way to automatically position a "FLASHING CURSOR" in the first field in a layout indicating that the user will start here? Or change the background color of the first field indicating start here. As I learn FMP, my first layouts require the user to hit the tab key first before entering data into the first field.

DUMB QUESTION -- How do you create a pop-up list (drop down list) based on a field name, so that when the particular value is selected, the record advances to display all values in the selected record? To do this, do you need to create a second layout or create another file (table) that contains the records you wish to display? And if the record is not displayed, I want the suer to be able to create a new record. If so, please explain??? TIA

I need to set up a drop down pick list (min 14 pt font). The list only displays about 10 items out of 30. #1 Is there a way to increase the size of the display list window and is there a way to change the color of the scroll bar? Thank you.

In a calculation field : If a certain condition is true, I want to get the value of the first portal row (or first related record). That's pretty easy. If the condition is false, I want to get the value of the second related record (or second portal row). How do I specify "Take the second related record" ? Without having to run a script. Thanks Nicolas

I'm producing a catalog with FM as the intermediate database to do any necessary data calcs. To make a long story shorter I end up sending the page number each item is on back to the FM solution from the produced catalog. This allows me to create a Table Of Contents and Index within FM. Now, if we were allowed to sort the records in the catalog in a logical fashion such as by category and subcategory producing index and TOC are no problem. What's happening though is that a custom sort order is required based on favoritism to particular providers etc. So, for example, subcategory A may have items appearing on page 2, 5, 6, 7, 20, etc. Both TOC and Index are required to dis…

I am importing (Via OBDC) information into Filemaker from a legacy pharmacy system. The pharmacy software stores a date as YEAR__DAY_OF_YEAR i.e. 2002001 for January 1, 2002. I am having extreme difficulty converting 2002001 to 01/01/2002 with a calculation. Any Suggestions? [email protected]

I have 4 repeating fields in the database I that I currently use, and I am dying to get rid of them, but I am not sure how, any help does just that. Some background: The database is used at a manufacturing company which produces plastic in roll form. A typical order that we receive would be 10000 lbs of product, that might come on 50 200lb rolls. When an order comes in, I create a record, which contains all the production data, customer info, along with specs. on each of the 50 rolls, i.e. weigh, length and roll number etc., these are the repeating fields. Most orders start with roll# 1001, however some customers require us to use a serialized number for…

The data in one of my fields is not printing completely, but appears to be printing in my other fields. This field was printing fine before, but then suddenly stopped printing fully. The data shows in the DB as being all there. Anyone had this kind of problem before and what did you do about it?

The challenge... Customer has a field for "Current Status" of the record. Customer wants to see a history of who and when the "Current Status" was changed. Field is populated with a value list selection. Any short solutions?

I have a date field that I am using to determine how recently a record has be exported, if at all. Now I am being asked to have the record flagged to be re-exported every time it is modified (without initiating a script). Is there a way of clearing a date every time the record is modified? Am I lame for not seeing it? Anyone? -Heather

Yes...I need to cut the rightmost word in a field to the clipboard! How the heck can I do this? Thanks in advance! Stefan Garr

Hi, I am wondering how is it possible to define a field, that will simply display info, but can not be clicked into? Uhh, I'm not talking about limitted priviledges now. To explain I'll give an example: When you build a Data Design Report in Developer 5.5, some text fields generated by the report are unclickable. But there is no validation, no restrictions and no password protection. Anyone knows how to do this? Thanks

I think this may be a stupid (or at least simplistic) question, but here goes: I'm trying to create a calculation (I think) to keep a running total (of publications requested, if that matters). So I have a field that I would be inputting into, called "Requested". And I have field called "Total". Basically, I was trying to set up the "Total" field as a calculation (in Define Fields); the calculation I put in was Total + Requested, but I get a message telling me that I can't do that because it would create a circular reference (shades of Excel!). I figure this is either something that I really can't do, or I'm missing something verrry basic (I'm a bi…

I have created my first database of any size. With your help and VTC online university it worked with only minor glitches. I have run into a basic problem however. How do I set character limits on fields. Did not have time to work on this before it was used the first time so I used a character count. People went beyond this count. I can figure out part of this, the count, but how do I get the entry to stop. I hope this is clear. Thank You in Advance

Hello, I have a field that is set to a value list, values are : A B C D E F I want a summary field that will tell me across all records, how many A's there are, B's etc. I can not seem to figure out how to do this one. thanks

Is there a way to get around the 253 character limit (I believe that's what it was) when creating a clac. I have an e-mail template that i use which is about 600 characters. Kinda a pain to make calcs and then combine them all together (using 4 fields sincei can't use 1). ideas? Thanks

Does any one have a easy way of converting currency amounts to words ie

Hi, I'm making a small database with different files where more than one people are working with. I'm using global fields to transport certain data to other files, or for my scripts. My question (and I hope it's not an old one) is this: Are global fields the same for all users currently using the database, or is this user specific? If the first is the case, I must be more carefull in programming my database thanks, AJ