Calculation Engine (Define Fields)

<sigh> The last database that I looked at that had hundreds of fields in it was an invoicing system somebody had built, one that started off just as a personal aid and grew unintentionally into an system the business relies on completely. Unfortunately it was built from Day-1 with a poor data structure. The hundreds of fields were the designer's way of avoiding the use of related files and records. (The creativity that the designer had used for some of the cludges impressed me enormously. Like the invoice line was calculated by multiplying a qualtity field with a number field, but the number field actually had a text string in it from a value list -- "print process…

I create a container in my database and then i inserted QuickTime in the container, now i have trouble calling the QT movie from the web using custom HTML, can someone help me and give me some suggestion?? thanks

I know this has been talked about, sorry. I need five leading zero's then the serial number, Is this syntax (of the top of my head) the best / correct way to do it. (I'm trying to make you 're job easy, if yes, say yes, if no, correct me please.) Serial Field [ number field, starting with 1 increment by 1] Leading Zero Field [Calc as follows: case( length(Serial_field) =1, "00000" & Serial_field, length(Serial_field) = 2, "0000" & Serial_Field, length(Serial_Field) = 3, "000" & serial_field, length(Serial_Field) = 4, "00" & Serial_Field, length(Serial_Field) = 5, "0" & Serial_Field, Serial_Field) Looks okay to me, not going to be in FM…

Hi there, I'm rather new at this and attempting to round the results of a calculation. I am taking a number times a factor and need the result to be rounded to the nearest .25. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Phone numbers. need to be properly spaced. i.e (000)-000-0000) I would like to know how to get FM5 to place the "-" appropriately? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

What field or function can you add to a field so that it will display the reference (file path) to the image source if you choose to "link" the picture that you import into a field? Thanks

Here's what I'm trying to do: I've got 2 fields, that are the same number of character positions each. (Both are text fields, but could easily be number fields if that would help, since each "character position" is either a 1 or a 0.) One is a global field (call it "g_fieldA"). The other is a calculation field (call it fieldA). It's entirely possible for one or both of the fields to have several character positions a 1. I want a calculation field to determine a "match" based on any of the following criteria: 1. If g_fieldA is all 0's, this is a "match" (This part I've solved.) 2. If g_fieldA exactly matches fieldA (i.e., every character position in each matche…

I'm administrating a FileMaker relational database (4 files) and the MIS is advertising me that one of the files, that include graphics in one field, is growing too much (700MB) and that the server (NT) can not administrate a file of this size (maximum 1GB, but this size can be dangerous for the FileMaker files). What can I do? I can not have the database without those graphics (each one size is 300K maximum). They told me to fragmentate the database, but this no arrange anything because I will continue having a database with size of 600MB. Someone can help me?Have I to reduce the size of each graphic contained? To which size? Or have I to fragment this big database in …

Hi! I cannot figure out how to create an irregular shaped button. I want to place buttons on a map and have regions on the map be Hot... the only way I came close was to create a bunch of simple graphic objects (rect, oval, lines) and group them before making them into a button. When I cpy and paste graphics in bitmap or Pict (from AppleWorks 6) the area is always rectangular, although the object is transparent where need be... Any ideas? -Arby

I'm administrating a FileMaker relational database (4 files) and the MIS is advertising me that one of the files, that include graphics in one field, is growing too much (700MB) and that the server (NT) can not administrate a file of this size (maximum 1GB, but this size can be dangerous for the FileMaker files). What can I do? I can not have the database without those graphics (each one size is 300K maximum). They told me to fragmentate the database, but this no arrange anything because I will continue having a database with size of 600MB. Someone can help me?Have I to reduce the size of each graphic contained? To which size? Or have I to fragment this big database in …

Hi all, want to know if it is possible to change a number to word in a field definition. The example is, Amount field is reference by this field and the idea is to change the number say "4321.22" to "Four thousand three hundred twenty one and 22/100" Thanks Vince

Hello Need to know is it possible to format the data within a calculation field? If so this, this is what I'd like to have happen is for consistant text to be left justified and the data to display right justified/ tabbed aligned somehow!. Below is the current calc. "Title: " & Title & "

I have to calculate time elasped from start to end of assignments. Sometimes this will begin on one day and end during the next day. How do I calculate the elapsed time and also check if the date is different? Would I write a script that checks the dates, some sort of IF THEN statement? Thanx, Rick

I am modifying a database for a charity and need an auto-generated serial number for their fund-raising events that appears like this 2001/001, 2001/002....2002/001, 2002/002 etc. The first part of the number is generated from the date of the event but I am unsure how to do the changing number part. What I see as my difficulty is that some events are planned in the previous year. So event 2002/002 might be created before event 2001/010. How do I ensure that the second part of the serial number relates to the correct year? If I'm thinking wrongly please let me know. dt

how can i make a calculation field that takes the value of another field and removes all spaces between words in a string? Example: I want "this and that" shown as "thisandthat".

Help! How can you (if you can) make a container field resize on it's own as needed? I'd like to add multiple photo images to a database, and the sizes are all different. I'd like to make the container a small size to start with, and have it resize according to the image being placed in it. That way if some records do NOT have an image, there is not all the wasted space of a balnk field. Ideas? Jim

ok i have two fields in my database (well actually i have more than 2 fields, but these 2 are the only ones that are important for this scenario) The fields are Begin Date, and End Date. Now i was wondering if i could fill in a calculation field with those dates and all date in between. for instance if i put 03/11/2001 into my begindate field, and 03/15/2001 into my end datefield, my new calculation field would look something like this 03/11/2001 03/12/2001 03/13/2001 03/14/2001 03/15/2001 is this possible at all?? of course would also have to work if the days were no in the same month. like if i had 03/30/2001 and 04/02/2001 my new field would contain: 03/3…

Within a Script what's the easiest way of clearing a (10) repeating field? I have use clear(field, 1) clear(field, 2) etc etc cheers

I have a database that has a field with the calculation below Result Field = Case(Ad space booked = "DPS TA"; publication: :DPS Type Area Width; Ad space booked = "Full page TA"; publication::Page Type Area Width; Columns = 1; publication::Column 1; Columns = 2; publication::Column 2; Columns = 3; publication::Column 3; Columns = 4; publication::Column 4; Columns = 5; publication::Column 5; Columns = 6; publication::Column 6; Columns = 7; publication::Column 7; Columns = 8; publication::Column 8; Columns = 9; publication::Column 9; Columns = 10; publication::Column 10; Columns = 11; publication::Column 11; Columns = 12; publication::Column 12; Columns = 13; publ…

Hello, Excuse me for my bad english but I've got a problem with my FMP5 database. Here it is : I have 155 files in my database. I have a multimedia field in each file where I can put a GREEN or a RED square whether another field of my file is EMPTY or NOT. Good. All this works. Now, I want to see in EVERY files the whole 155 fields appearing, in order to see with a quick look which files are EMPTY or NOT. You see ? I want that in the #117 file, the whole 155 mini-fields appear with a red or a green square. How can I do it, please ? I've tried the links, the global, the unique, I've tried everything but I don't understand the method. Thank you for your help ! Stephan…

Hi all, I am new to the list, so this is my first post. Anyway, I have a photo DB of 1000+ images that I would like to set one field with a certain value. How do I do this globaly or evertime I enter a new record? I am not a programmer so forgive me for not knowing how to script this. Nick :-)

i must be missing something obvious. so far i've always converted FM3 into FM5 files. now i'm starting to modify files directly in FM5. i created a global text field, formatted as radio buttons with two choices. clicking either choice and exiting the record returns the error 'this field is defined to contain only specific values. allow this value?' i don't know where the validation would come from - it's a global field and a custom value list with two choices. any pointers? thanks, stefan

When I create a FMP solution I like to add sound to the opening menu to play at start up - gives it a professional touch. However, if all records are deleted I lose the sound file. Is there a way around this?

I am a band director and I have a simple database set up with my potential beginners. One of the fields I have made for each record is their instrument selection (what I have decided they can play) but I need to keep a running total of how many Flutes I have chosen. How do I define a field that will return the result of how many times I have the string "Flute" in the instrument selection field. I want to see this running total on each record. Thanks!!!

Is there any way to set a specific iteration of a repeating field based on a calculation or script?

i have a file with a selfjoin based on the record title. each record also has a serial number i use for putting items in order (these are reserialized via scripts). the serial number is used in the selfjoin to display info about the record preceeding it in the sequence, such as the previous date. this means that the first record in the sequence does not have a valid relationship, so i wanted to display a default value with the following calc field (text): If (IsValid(selfjoin), PreviousRecordInfo, GlobalTextField) while the first part works in all records, the alternate expression for the first record is never used (the field stays blank). any idea what's wrong with th…

Now that digital video is so easy to get on the Mac, I was wondering if there is a way to get "catalog" parts of a quicktime movies. Example: digitized football game as qt movie, fmpro database of game (down, distance,etc...) then put frame number of begininning of play and frame number of end. Sort it by Touchdowns or first downs and you would then have a play list. This would have alot of applications, but is this possible in FileMaker?

I have created a priority field that catergorizes by using the letters "a" through "d" . Is there any caluclation that would give me a summary for each letter entry? For examle if I have 100 records with 30 "a" entries, 20 "b" and 50 "d", is it possible to have a summary or counting field for each letter telling me how many occurances there are? Currently the way I do this is to make a seperate field for each letter category, then sum each field.

I have 7 districts (A-G), with 5 departments(1-5) in each district, and employees in each district. Some of the employees have specific training (TrainingA). I am creating a report that requires a number of departments per district that have employees with this training. This is a non-relational database (not my design). I have created the report using subsummary sorted by district (required by other parts of the report) but having difficulty obtaining a number of departments per district that have employees with TrainingA. I have tried multiple calculations with no luck. I have had some experience with FMPro, but still having trouble with this one. Major mental b…

We're running FM4 on a mixed Mac and NT network. Frequently while trying to import jpeg files we get the error message "unable to import jpeg XXX, error type 62". We always (try) to check "store reference" to keep the FileMaker file size down, and it sometimes happens on very small jpegs, maybe as small as 40k. This leads one to suspect that the memory partition on the client machine may not be enough. But no, this morning one Mac with 25Mb given to FM4 was unable to import a small jpeg, while another with only 8Mb given to FM4 managed to do so in the same file. For the record the serving machine is a fairly high spec Pentium with 128Mb RAM. Anyone know what jpeg err…

Patience please ladies and gents. 1. When I import a jpeg image into a container field (as a reference only) there appears to be a limit on the image size apr 2megs; much larger and jpeg error #53 is returned. Is this correct? If so how do you reference and therefore display larger images? 2. Anybody fancy giving me a laymans/idiots guide as to how I would open the images, as per 1 above, in photoshop or similiar. I am using macs. When I say idiots guide I really do mean idiot. Thanks in advance for your help Regards Lawrence/Anne

how can i make a calculation field that takes the value of another field and removes all characters that are not either a letter or a number.

OK - I've heard/read all the "repeating field" criticisms and discovered many of their deficiencies - but, I don't have easy answers for replacing repeating fields. I have developed an accounting system and it is loaded with repeating fields. 1. Could I have suggestions for changing the body of an invoice with 150 items (repeats) listed (40 fields per item)to nonreapeating functionality? The current file has 1700 records with all this repeating. 2. Purchase entries have up to 200 repeats on one invoice. 3. The entire system incorporates approximately 40 files with scores of relationships, portals, lookups, etc. All recommendations would be appreciated. ---------…

Hi, I am new to FileMaker, and I'm creating several databases for the band I work for. One is for set lists. It needs to be sortable by date, time, event, venue, song title, age range (it's a kids' band). Each gig has a different number of songs, and I'm wondering how to accommodate this when I'm defining fields. Would the song list be one big repeating field? Or should I make more fields than I will ever need, like 100? Also, I'd like to create a portal from the song titles to a file with information about the songs (writer, publisher, copyright, lyrics, etc.) Can I do that if it's a repeating field? And do I have to make as many portals as song title fields? And how can…

Hello All, I have a monitor screen whereby all user can see outstanding cases. Within the monitor screen there is a follow-up. What i would like to do is when the follow-up has lapsed this date changes colour. I'm sure that i would have to use a case statement but not sure how i would write it. Please Help....... Regards, Martin

quote: Originally posted by steen: Is there a way in Filemaker to create a list of stop-words that are not indexed by the system? I'd like the system to ignore A, AN and THE, so that lists generated by Filemaker do not alphabetize by initial articles. Any ideas? You cannot do this exactly. What you can do is to create a calculation (stored) or a text field that is populated with the results of a calculation, which is then used for sorting purposes. Here is a calc that will strip out the "stop-words": SortField = Substitute ( Substitute ( Substitute ( TextField, "StopWord1", " " ), "StopWord2", " " ), "StopWord3", " " ) Then use use this field for all of …

Help!!! I've built a playtime video database with a QT movie on each record. It works fine on Mac but I have also bound a windows version and found I had to re-insert all 400 movies!! So now it runs on a windows platform but as soon as I try to copy the database, the movies won't run showing just the poster frame. The movies are cross platform with the .mov suffix and I've checked Quicktime for windows is available, and all the files reside in the same folder. Can anyone of you wonderful people save my *** with an answer??? The basic 2 questions are 1. Why does the database seem to loose the links to the movies when copied? 2. Why do I have to re-insert all the mov…

Hey agian. . . Problem: Using checkboxes, need to display text user inputs when using "Other." Solution is simple with radio buttons, but not so much with checkboxes since more than one can be chosen. Work with me on this example: Field A: Checkbox: items; "A" , "B" , "C" , "D" , "Other" Field A Other: Calc: If(Field A = "A" or Field A = "B" or Field A = "C" or Field A = "D", "", Attachments) This doesn't work because if item "B" and Other is selected then it would view as "B OTHER INPUT" Tried calc: If(Field A = "A" or Field A = "B" or Field A = "C" or Field A = "D", "", If(WordCount(Field A) = 1, Field A, Field A & Substitute(Field A, "A", ""…

Help!! I've built a database which includes a Quicktime movie on each record. Works fine onthe Mac version but when I try to copy the windows version to anything FM seems to loose the links to the movies leaving only a poster frame. The Quicktimes are cross platform with the correct windows extension and all the movies, the runtime solution etc are in the same file. I've even relinked all 400 movies on a windows platform and it works fine - until I try and copy for distribution - can any of you wonderful people save my *** with an answer??? Cameron Shaw

OK, in a multi-user setup, a calculation field based on a status function will act like a global field and produce a different value for each user on the network. Correct? -DB

In the Specify Calculation dialog box, you can choose to use External Functions. It gives you a list of about 7 functions to use with Web Companion. Are there any more? Additional functions would make my life a hell of a lot easier for the project I am working on.

First sort all the records based on the value of the field 'Mouse'. Then goto the last record. Set a global field (gHighestNumber) to equal the field Mouse. Since it is the last record it will be the highest number. Create a new record. Set 'Mouse' in the new record to equal gHighestNumber + 1. You need to write a script to do it and if you have to use alpha and numeric charachters in the Mouse field then you will have problems. Can you use just numerical values? If not you will have to split it into the numeric part and the alpha part. Hope this helps.

Hello all - Another question. I have a layout setup the following way... 3 fields. field 1 is a price, field 2 is a sale price, field 3 is a % off the original price. What I would like to have happen is - a user enters a price in field 1, then if the user enters a sale price in field 2, the percent is automatically calculated and entered in field 3. On the other hand, if the user enters a percent in field 3, the sale price is automatically calculated and entered in field 2. I am stuck here because I seem to be able to only have it work in one direction. In order to make it work one of the fields needs to be result, which then makes it uneditable. I am sure there must…

I have a relational database set up where i enter a serial # in the main database and it looks for a matching record in the related db. What I would like to do is... If there is no record in the related db I would like to have it create a record with the data from the related field. Does this question make sense? If so can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance John

Hello, I am a first-year college student and very new to this board and (5 minutes or so) and fairly new to Filemaker Pro. I am decently proficient, all things considered, I guess. Anyway, I am having problems taking care of one task. I need to create a database which keeps track of years of service for teachers. The year that they started would be entered into one field and I want the other one to just say how many years they have been in service . I set it up to auto-enter the current year by a defined value... the problem is this: when i change the current year, NEW records will show the change, but the records that were already in still show the same date. …

Does anyone now how to direct data to a specific position in a repeating field that is dependent on a calculation, or another field, or date, or whatever you decide? Say you need to put data in position 24 in a repeating field and this was based on an independent decision?

I used to know how to do this but I've forgotten... I need a field that has a calculation in it that will take a first name and last name field values and combine them (with a space in between) to form a "full" name result. Pretty easy, no? Any help would be appreciated. Chris

Anyway to have FM "keep" the leading zeros on dates? I use the date and date to text function to make a job number. Example.. JOB-0131-1A JOB is a three letter client code 0131 is supposed to be January 31 1A is 2001 and a incrementing letter (for 2 or more jobs from, the same client in a 24 hour period) I use: MATCH CUST CODE::Client Code &" - " &Left(Date TEXT , 2 ) & Middle(Date TEXT , 4 , 2 ) & "-" & Right(Date TEXT , 1 ) & Serial Letter To get the job number *but* even if I manually enter 01/31/01 the value 1/31/2001 is stored in the field and when I use the DatetoText I get: 1312001 It does the year right but not the day? Ide…

Hi Does anyone have a calculation up their sleeve that will convert a numeric value into hexadecimal? I've tried myself with a combination of built-in functions, but I'm not very good at math so it never comes out right. Thanks

I'm not sure that I fully understand what you want but I think you can achieve it by creating a calculation field called cAlert. The calculation would besomething like: if[summary > quote/2, "Warning", :""] You can place this field in a strategic place and, as long as it is transparent, even over the top of another field. Hope this he;ps.

I am concatenating strings to fill up a results text field. I would like some of the component strings to be separated by a tab character so that the outcomes will be properly formatted when the contents of the results field are pasted into Excel. I am able to set up individual lines by including the line return character but I cannot find a way to include a corresponding tab character.

I know this is probably really basic but can anyone tell me what "::" stands for, as in the following example? MAX(Subject::MonthCaclc)>0 Where Subject is a relationship and Month calc is a calculation field.

Hi folks, I have the following problem: one database, every record should be unique as judged by the autovalidation feature for the text field "oligo ID". The database contains one record with the "oligo ID" entered as "T+". If I try to enter a new record with the oligo ID "T-", Filemaker tells me that I should use another ID because this one is already taken (not unique). It looks like Filemaker is comparing in the autovalidation feature only the ASCI characters and can not differentiate between - and +. How to solve this problem without writing plus and minus? Merci.

I have a question about graphics in container fields. There seems to be no place to look at or edit graphics in the filemaker menus. I can't seem to figure out 'where' the graphic is located. Does this make sense? Any thoughts? Thanks...

I don't know if this has come up before, but... If you create a calculated autoenter field based on more than one field, it will be filled as soon as you enter a value into one of fields on which the calculation is based, rather than waiting until all fields have been filled. Suppose you are making an auto-enter field called FullName like so: FullName = Autoenter calculation: FirstName & MiddleInitial & LastName When you create a new record, all fields are blank. As soon as you Enter "Bob" into the FirstName field, the FullName field will autoenter "Bob" and will stay that way even after you enter data into the MiddleInitial and LastName fields. The solution…

How do you mean "the value would correspond to a picture" If you mean that the field would display a picture, you set up a container field and either paste your picture or a file reference to the picture into it. If you want to display a specific picture based on the value of another field, then create a related file with a number field to contain a picture ID number, and a container field to hold the picture. For each record in that file you store all the unique pictures, and a unique ID number for each. In your main file, create a picture ID field and then in the "define relationships" dialog, select the picture file as the related file, and select the picture ID fie…

Hi, I have a repeating field that allows up to 5 entries. most users only enter one but in the list view I have to display all five in order to see the subsequent entries even though most lines are blank. This dosn't look very nice. Is there a way to only show the line where there has been some data entered? Thanks Raif

I have never used a conatiner field in my life but now I believe I have a great use for one but am not sure how to proceed. I am constructing a database for a student who will be running a local beauty contest. What we need is a field in the DB where we can store a link (or something) to a file (Word, PDF, or whatever). I assume that a container field would work in much the same way a picture would but am not sure. Any suggestions or tips? Thanks

Hello to all and thanks in advance for any help. I am a teacher who is in charge of sign up for a computer lab in our school. In the past, this has been done with a FMP DB which listed dates and periods as a single record. Teachers would look up a date and if it was available, e-mail me to put them in. This seemed like lots of work for me but I didn't know how to make the DB open to add records with out also giving teacher the ability to edit a particular record. Further I could not force the date field to be unique because maybe Mr. Smith wants a lab 1st period but Mr. Jones needs it for the same date but 2nd period. So I have changed my approach, I have a new DB where…

Is there a quick way to rpelace old dates that are entered as 8/12/00 and result in a 1900 year? I have tried calculations to get the year and need to replace the 00 with 2000. Any advise?

I have a database of projects. Each project has a project number. I want each project of a given project number to have a unique number. So there would be records with project number 0101 and unique number 1, 2, 3 ,4, etc., Also projects with number 0102 would have unique numbers 1,2,3,etc., How in the world do I do this? Thanks in advance, you guys rock. Tim.

I have 3 text fields, 'address', 'postal Address' and 'postalAddressSame'. postalAddressSame is a Yes/No radio button. What I want to achieve is that if postalAddressSame=Yes then the contents of address are copied into postalAddress. Originally I had postalAddress as a calculation but this doen't allow the user to enter data if postalAddressSame is 'No'. So now I have a script that check status of postalAddressSame and either pastes address into postalAdress orr pastes "". How do I attach the script to the radio button so that if Yes or No is clicked the script will run? (using FMP 5) Thanks in advance

Created my first database where each record is auto-numbered but how do I make each record UNdeletable? We need to keep them all even if they contain garbage.

I am trying to do income summaries using a sub summary part with country as a break field, I have done everything in the manual as far as I know and yet there are no answers in the designated fields. I am wondering what may be wrong. Possibly I need to use a certain type of layout for this, or the fact that the break field is in a related file causes problems (even though nothing says I CAN'T do this)? Thanks...

Make a summary field, running count.

Thanks for reading this. I built a large database to track jobs at our ad agency. It's one database that has several realms. Each group has access to there jobs that are automatically sorted for them. It prints out a weekly schedule custom for each group. On that printed list I have include a few note fields that appear at the top or the back of the printed schedule. These notes are to inform people of up coming days off or special information. I set these fields as global text fields. If I put information in the fields and flip through records or views, It keeps the information. But if I log off the server, the next time I open the database the information is gone. Ho…

I have a field that I need to record when it is modified. When I use Date Modified, it records whenever anything is modified on the record. Can someone provide help so I can record when the specific field, only, is modified? TIA

how do i put a " in a calculation field for example i want the field Title to take whatever is in the field titletemp and put it in quotes. " " " & titletemp & " " " is what i want logically but it doesn't recognize a quote withing quotes. it just sees 3 quotes. thanks.

I am trying to delete a container field; however, it is not doing anything. I have already removed the field from the layout and when I try to delete the Container field from the list of defined fields, nothing happens. I don't get a confirmation, warning, can't perform operation, you don't have rights...NOTHING. I am not sure in this DB was created in FM 5.0 on a PC, and I am currently working in FM 5.0 Unlimited on a NT Server. Can anyone help? ------------------ Thanks, Kevin Yahoo! Messenger: prof_bunsen

Is there an easy way to calculate quarterly due dates? Most of our grant payments are made quarterly, but because some months have 30 or 31 days I can't just use 90 days in a calculation. Any suggestions much appreciated. Chuck Hoblitzelle EG Pediatric AIDS Foundation

is there a way to have a 'pop-up list' field pop-up or activate automatically upon entering a new record? i have a script that creates a new record from a related database; so when i press the button in database 1 it goes to database 2. that's where i'd like a pop-up field to display it's contents. does this make sense? is it possible? i've tried the "Go to Field" script (and it's "Perform" option - no luck). any ideas?

I know that this is not helping the original query but it is a related query that I have and I was wondering if anyone can help me. I am trying to create a field that will calculate the sum of a value in a field for all the records in the file. I know this is available by creating a summary field but there is so many records in my file this slows my database down considerably when opening it.

I have a database with 1200 students each student has a unique ID Number i.e. Joe Bloggs would be 9079. I have taken a photograph of Joe Bloggs on my Digital Camera and have saved the image as their ID number 9079.jpg. Is there a way that I can get every students picture to be inserted automatically using the Pin number as the link i.e. the field uses the ID number to look for the relevant picture file.

I have a date field that contains the birth date for students. I want to create a field that will calculate the birth age for these students. Does anyone know of a calculation that would let me do this? I guess I also need to account for leap years. Thanks!

Is anyone aware of the relative merits (speed, size, etc.) of using the Sum function versus simply adding fields together? For instance, is there an advantage of using: Sum( field1, field2, field3, field 4 ) instead of field1 + field2 + field3 + field4 ? Thanks, Chuck

i am a novice user creating a database to track student discipline records in a high school. we do not usually reference student id#'s, so i have an id auto-entered when each student is entered. problem: we don't want to have to memorize these new d-base id's, but when a student has more than one record how could we have f-maker keep that repeated student's id the same from record to record without us entering it?

Any ideas how to import records into a file with a unique ID field so they all get assigned their own unique IDs upon imoport. So far, I haven't been able to do this. Thanks...

i'm trying to come up with a way to quote text. i've done the following: SetField

HELP! Is there any way to create new fields or modify old ones while databases are being hosted by FM Pro Server (about 50 users)? Would FM 5 or FM 5 Server permit online field creation and modification? What's the best solution for an environment where new and modified fields are requested very frequently?

Problem description: I need a formula to calculate an incremental value based upon another value. I also need that value to display all of the increments. The increments also need to change based upon the "Starting_Bid" For example, for a fm5 file called "donor.fp5" I have a (#) field called "Fair_Market_Value". I also have a (calc) field that is called "Guaranteed_Bid" (150% of "Fair_Market_Value"). I have a "Starting_Bid" field which is a calculating field that takes 20% of "Fair_Market_Value" and puts it in the first column under Bid Amount on my layout. Underneath that I want the bid amounts to increase based upon the orginal amount which is the "Fair Market Va…

I want to add seven days to the date in the previous record. I would also like to have my records redate the remaining dates at seven days apart. Ex. If I add a record in the middle, Filemaker would change the remaining dates in the records. Is this possible?

I am experimenting with calcs from self relationships, specifically for display in related files. I like the results but am unsure about a speed hit. Does anyone know if this is going to affect the speed? Thanks

hallo. I'm trying to create one field validate by calculation making one comparison with the text of another field. But I can't find one suitable formula to this. I try with several combinations but always let me put anything in this "validate" field. thanks.

I have an application that is coming along slowly but surely. I've entered alot of dummy test data that I'm now ready to remove. My record ID fields use the function Status(CurrentRecordID). Is there anyway to reset this back to zero so that it starts from the beginning with real data? This is not a big problem, but it would be nice to start from RecordID #1 and I'm at a point where I can probably do whatever is necessary to accomplish the reset. Thanks, Keith Silva

I would really appreciate any help: I don't want to put multiple search fields on my custom webpage. Is it possible to just add one text field to the web page that would search from multiple fields in the database (name, phone, address, etc)? How do I do this? What's the correct CDML code? If that's not possible I thought about creating a field in filemaker that would have all the information from different fields copied into it. But my problem is that the database is constantly changing and I would like the field to automatically aquire the information from other fields. Now how do I do this? In a nutshell I want a single field to contain all the information from all t…

I need to be able to import from a text file into a repeating field - I know I can use tab, for example, to separate field entries, return to indicate a new record. What do I use to separate items going into repeating fields? Thanks, ------------------ Charles Fowler [email protected]

Hello All, I am trying to do the following. I have two date fields. First date field is ( Faxed Date ) secord field is called ( Reminder Fax date ). The other field is called Status. What i am trying to do is the following. From the date the first fax was sent + 60 days = status ( "Lapsed" ). From Reminder fax date + 21 days = ( "Expired " ) Both lapsed and expired will appear in my status field which is text. Here is my [ CALC ] but it does not work. What am i doing wrong. Case( IsEmpty( Fax Date to dealers ), "",Case( IsEmpty(Fax Date of Reminder ),"", Status(CurrentDate) > Fax Date of Reminder + 21, "EXPIRED", Status(CurrentDate) > Fax Date to dealers +…

Hello Everyone, I need to keep track of a user's call with a call #. Rather than use the "serial number" implementation, I would like to use the date plus an incremental # to keep track of each call every time a new record is created( e.g. 112120001, 112120002, etc.) I hope this is clear.. thank you in advance

i have icons (as gif images) in my database records. the icon shows up fine in fm pro itself, but on the web, only a number appears in it's place: in my case either 33008 or 33010. it shows up as 33008 if i inserted the image using a script, and as 33010 if i inserted the image using the insert command from the menu. i defined this field as a container in fmpro. my html reads: <td width="28" valign="top" align="left" xpos="54"><center>[FMP-Field: speaker]</center></td> any ideas on where the pitfall is? thanks.

is there a way that i can have a list of the year's calendar dates on a pop-up menu? this is for a school database of discipline incidents and we need more flex than simply today's date on auto-entry. i'm hoping that i don't have to manually enter every date for entire year!

Is there a way to get a function (LeftWords) to automatically enter data in existing records (eg on exit from the field)? I am trying LeftWords to retrieve the last name from a name field (eg Smith, John) into a newly created LastName field. thanks.

my situation is this i am trying to create a database for my company that will keep track of our airline miles (customer a , awards, and such ) the problem that i am coming up against is that i need to have a printout for each month (a report) but thats not the only part i need this to have a serial # along with each award for each customer for each month if their is now award i need this to skip that month and continue to the next customer who has awards coming to them is this logical can it be done? need help

Have a problem. I have two fields. First field would hold Exchange Rate converting SEK to Sterling. My other field would have an input of the SEK amount. What i would like to do by just using these two fields. As soon as the SEK amount is entered into the SEK Field it would do a calculation in the same field and give me the in sterling. Is this possible. Many Thanks, Martin

I am using a calulation of: Right(Perf Date,4) & Middle(Perf Date, 3, 3) & Left(Perf Date, 2) The format that I am calculating from is mm/day(Jun)/yyyy. As what is is stored is 09Nov1999 What I receive is yyyyNov09. I am not sure how to format as this: yyyymmdd Thanks for your help.

Filemaker Help defines the following function: "Status (CurrentRepetitionNumber) Returns a number representing the current (active) iteration of a repeating field." I have an indexed repeating text field called Product Name. I have a calculated field beneath it: Status (CurrentRepetitionNumber) When I place the cursor in repetiton X of Product Name, I expect the calculated field beneath it to display X, but instead it always displays zero. Am I missunderstanding this function or how it is used? GetRepetition( Product Name , Status(CurrentRepetitionNumber))

How can I set defaults such as text size, fill and font so that each time I start up it remembers where I've been? Also, I've defined a few special colors but those also have to be redined each time I restart the program. Thanks again!

quote: Originally posted by partsgb.martinw: In my Solution i would like to create the following field. I have a field called " Fax Date " ( Date Field ). In 60 days time this fax will have expired. What i would like to do is when the field has expired that it would paste the following words into another field "EXPIRED" FaxStatus = Case ( Status(CurrentDate) > FaxDate + 60, "Expired") You can also add whatever else to this that you want for other status identifications. Make sure to set the calculation as UNSTORED, so that it will evaluate the Status(CurrentDate) everytime. ------------------ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Kurt Knippel Consultant …

I'm using FMP 5 to do a school report, and i need to to know how to limit total number of words or characters. when a user is trying to input more then that, it would give an error message. any help would be great. thanks in advance

quote: Originally posted by stefangs: I have a project file which points to a sessions file by the project name. The project consists of several sessions. In the sessions file, there is a portal to a 'line items' file where charges are entered. The first field in the portal is a popup from a supplies file and a quantity is also entered. So far, so good. Now i want to be able to give discounts if the number of items triggers a certain quantity. This qty might never happen in a single session, but across a project. I've defined this keyfield: theKey [Calculation, Text] = "id supplies & project". Using a selfjoin with this field in the line items file, i…

is there a way to put a "+" before positive numeric fields also.. is there a way to find a range if the values are reversed? i.e. "40..20" would find the same as "20..40" instead of only finding "40" thans