Calculation Engine (Define Fields)

Say a report contains three columns: A, B and Total. To display subsummary and grand summary values for A and B, I would of course declare summary fields for both. But for Total, is it more efficient to: 1) use GetSummary() calculations (ie adding together summary, subsummary and grand summary fields for A and :; or 2) declare first a calculation field (total = field A + field : and then a summary field (summarizing "total")?

I am using a Calculation field to incorporate time fields and text, in order to create a daily e-mail. The field displays time as 00:00:00, and I only require hour and minute accuracy. Is there a way to change this?? example of script = "Task Start End Total" & "p" "Daily Backup:" & DBackup_Start & DBackup_End & DBackup_Total & ..........

I have a training database (5.0) for classes taken. Each time a person takes a class they are entered in the database. I have created a report layout to summarize the data. The layout uses the Student number as a breakfield. I need to count each student only once even though their name may exist several times in the database (my summary field counts all the entries for each person). Is there a way to count each one only one time? Thank you for your help with this.

I have a database that has sequence numbers, in the field "Sequence", that increment by 1 everytime a new record is created. The number needs to start at 1 each month and go as high as it necessary until the end of the month. When the next month begins, that field needs to be reset to 1 again. IS THERE A WAY TO DO THIS AUTOMATICALLY? Otherwise, I will have to remember to go in and reset the numbers manually, which is an option I do not care for. Please help!

I've a problem with date fields reverting to the American format mm/dd/yy . Is there a way of setting filemaker to only use the european format in date fields ? that is dd/mm/yy . I can represent these dates in European format, but they need to be initially entered in American and also any find requests have to be entered in american format. I.ve recently upgraded our system to 5.0 from 4.0 . Any new files that a create in 5.0 and use a date field seem to be all right with regard to the format . It's only files that I upgraded from 4.0.

I have a relational database with 5 files. I want to set a field in the main file with the contents of a field in one of the related files. I've established a relationship (members::members) in my main db and am using a button scripted as follows: Set Field ["members", "club 1::members"]. This identical script works perfectly if the reference field is on a different layout within the same db but I can't make it work when drawing from a related file. What am I missing?

I want to limit the size of some of my fields. For example, I don't want my phone number field to exceed a maximum of 18 characters. How can I do this?

I know this is a stupid question, but as an old Access user, I cannot figure out how to limit a field size (of all things....) Also, I would like to limit a field size to 6, and fill with 0's on the empty spaces. I have about 4 FMP books...and I can't find anything about limiting field sizes... Thanks for anyone that could help me out regarding this silly question.

I am working on a very big project at the moment over a WAN. We have a DB called comments within another DB, this is a communication tool between two call centers. Once a user has entered comments in the field it would date, time and user stamp. However what i would like is once entered has been applied that NO user can make any changes to the comments field. Is this possible to do. Regards, Martin

Help! I need to figure out how I can have my database assign an incrementing number, automatically, starting with 1 for each unique record for the specific group only. Example: I have an assembly process (process id). Each process has any given number of steps, I need to auto number each step for that process id starting at number 1. I need this to happen for each unique process id. I appreciate any help in resolving this, thanks.

A report I'm generating features four columns: year1, year2, difference and percent increase. difference is simply year2 - year1, while percent_increase is (year2 - year1)/year1. Subtotals for year1, year2 and difference are no problem using summary fields. However, I'm unsure how to calculate percent_increase per subtotal. (Using summary fields *adds* percent_increase values, which I don't want.) Any suggestions?

When I create a new record, I want to use the auto-enter feature to calculate the contents of the RecordID field (a text "key" field). I want the RecordID field calculation to use three other fields in the new record. The calculation would be as follows: LastName&", "& FirstName&" - "&Phone, where LastName, FirstName, and Phone are fields in the new record. I like this approach because the RecordID field is understandable to the user (rather than a sequence number) and, consequently, debugging and managing the database is easier. The problem I'm having is that the calculation occurs when the new record is opened and these three fields are blank. Consequent…

I need to average the results in up to 4 fields. There will be times, however, when one or more of the fields will have no result. Following a suggestion from one of the tech forums, I set up the following calculation: Case( (AV_1a + AV_1b + AV_1c + AV_1d) = 0, 0, (AV_1a + AV_1b + AV_1c + AV_1d) / ((not IsEmpty(AV_1a)) + (not IsEmpty(AV_1b))) + (not IsEmpty(AV_1c)))) + (not IsEmpty(AV_1d))))) ) I just checked one average of 2 results (3.69 + 3.16). Instead of getting 3.43, the calulation is giving me 3.18. What am I doing wrong???

Situation: I have a database that tracks materials. Each material is identified by an item number. There are some materials that have more than one vendor or price. I need to be able to assign a record number to identify which vendor and price I want to use. For example: ID 48 has 2 records. Record 1 has Vendor A with Price A Record 2 has Vendor B with Price A How do I assign the number 1 and number 2 (and so on) to each record for Id 48 so that I have Id 48 record 1 and Id 48 record 2 Thanks!

For the record, I've read Kurt Knippel's response to Violette's message in this forum titled Portals. Violette raises an issue similar to mine. I can see from Kurt's discussion that using the phone number field the way I have in mind isn't such a good idea. However, I have other fields that would still work well, so my original question still stands. Thanks, Keith Silva

How can I generate a report from a pop up list? Also, is there a way to generate reports using information from a FIND search?

I am working a db where each of fifty employees can work in up to three activities each day(out of a possible 1221 activities). What I would like to do is be able to obtain a list of the activity numbers worked each day. Anybody got a clue.

I too am having trouble with an automated date entry in a field, when a nearby field is entered. I am using FileMaker-based ebase (the ebase discussion group has not been able to help). In ebase, there is a field in Payments that auto fills the current date when a nearby field is filled with a certain value. This is exactly what I want to do on another sceen, but the exiting Calc. is a complicated series of lookups and calculations (four or five fields are interrelated). I have tried to reduce to a bare mininum to fill in my date, but to no avail. I have tried some simple calculations that go about like this: If(Field 1 = "Expert", TextToDate("")) I have tried several v…

I am trying to design a time clock. I need some help defining the necessary calculations to show the differenc between two times in the correct format (For example: In at 9, out at 5 fifteen should equal 8.25 .... but right now our formula returns 8.15 which is in essence correct in the sense that it is saying a quarter of an hour in 24hr time) Right now we are using a timetotext(IN) and timetotext(OUT) formula. Is there a proper way to do this sort of thing? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Peter

In Filemaker 3,I have a field that looks up info. from another file. I would like to set this up to lookup only after a certain calculation or set of parameters. Is this possible? thanks [This message has been edited by mikemccloskey (edited September 01, 2000).]

In my FMPro address book i have a birthdate field. every month i'd like to do a "Find" and get all the birthdays for that particular month. Unfortunately, I can't use wildcards for the year (**) and FMPro requires them. Question: How can I Find birthdays by Month? (FMPro 5)

I need to calculate the difference between two time fields for flight time tracking. Both fields are in 24 hour format (17:05), but for certain flights, the time is calculated wrong. Example... Departure Time (Off): 22:01 Arrival Time (On): 05:05 Calculated Time (Flt_Time): 16:56 Should Be: 07:04 How can I fix this? Current calculation is: Flt_Time = On - Off You can respond here or send email to [email protected] Thanks much!

My database has 200-300 records, each record will have several fields which I like to define as "repeating field". Problem is, the no. of repeats in each of these fields varies, some may have a few,and some could be several dozens. I would also like to run a query eventually to determine how many of these repeating fields in each of the record is not empty. Is there a quick way to set up this query? Or should I not use repeating field at all? What is the best way to design this databse? set up related files?

I am constructing a database for samples from multiple loci on an archaeological dig. I wanted to have a two-letter designation for the locus and then a unique 5-digit number for that two letter series. I set up a pull-down menu that uses the locus name to generate the two letter desig. in the serial number field. I thought that by creating a different number field for each letter code, that the script would work. What happens is this: The first record from Locus A comes up CH-00001, and as long as I am working on Locus A items all is well. When I want to work on Locus B, I select that from the pull-down, and it is inserted into the serial number, but the numbering does …

Is there a way to have a particular box or radio button already checked off as the default? And how can I check to make sure only one box or button is checked? Thanks!

Hi, I'm new to fmp(5) but I really like it. I'm working creating a customer database. There are 2 files, one the customer file the other is a zip code file which will contain the city, state and zip code. What I want to know is how to have fmp automatically create the zip code record if it doesn't find a zip code match? Righ now if it does find a match it inserts the appropriate city and state in the proper fields in the customer file. But perhaps I'm approaching it wrong? Thanks!

I am creating a database for order entry. At the present time, I'm working on the packing list. Case scenario - the order we're shipping is not shipping complete, therefore a new p/s will need to be created from the same order to complete shipping same items. The problem is whenever I create a new packing slip with the same order number, the same information from the previous packing slip comes up on the new one, i.e. same quantity, code, and description. What do I need to do to make each packing slip unique to the same order?

I have a database of about 1400 records each records contians the file name of a jpg image. I need to be able to get the image into FM. I do not have the path name of the image. Is there a plugin that can help me out with this. I am setup on a Mac but if needed I can switch to a Win machine. Thanks Brian

I haven't given this problem a shot yet because it doesn't appear until my next solution that i'll be working on, but it may be soon. I need a field to trigger the "creation" or the illusion of creation of a specific amount of fileds. For example, FIELD_A asks "How many different names will be ordered?" If answer is, three, then i will need three following questions (fields) such as "Qnty for name 1?", "Qnty for name 2?", "Qnty for name 3?" I need as many "Qnty?" questions as specified by FIELD_A. Another problem, this is a solution done as a thread,(only one question per layout, depending on the question go to next layout). So, ideally i would need each qnty f…

I want to be able to type in the miles needed to travel somewhere and have another field calulate the km for me. That part is easy, but can I do the same in reverse as well so it won't matter which one I type into first? It would seem to be a circular reference problem, especially since I can't type into a calculation field in the first place...any ideas?

I've got a problem and I'm not sure if I need a calculation, a script, a relationship or what..... I have records that have a code assigned, RG. If I have one RG on a given day, the total value is 5. If I have two RGs on a given day, the total value is 8. If three RGs, 11 and so on. I need to be able to run a report for a week or a month, and total up the value of the RG records. This is to calculate what parents owe for our after-school programs. If they have 2 kids staying on Monday, it's $8. If they only have 1 kid on Tuesday, it's $5. I need a weekly or monthly total of what they owe and I'm beating my head against a wall. Any help would be appreciated. I'm …

This problem will be hard to explain but I'll give it a try. In a layout I have, I have a text box that has text baselines giving me a box that looks like a piece of lined paper. To the right of this box I need to place individual fields for each text baseline because of password reasons, but I can never get each field to line up perfectly because the size of the area made by the text baseline is not know and the field that I am trying to create on the right of each text baseline will not conform to the size I need. HELP

quote: Originally posted by LiveOak: Check the field types for all your fields. Also the calculate field should have type set to "number". -bd It is still not working. My Type and Billable? fields are both text. My monthly cost field is "calculation" Is this right?

I have noticed that some of you name global fields gfieldname. I was wondering if there is an entire naming convention standard usually or often used by FM developers. I am just getting back into development after years and would find this very useful. Whatever we used in the olden days for COBOL etc. wouldn't quite cut it. Thanks, regards, and yes I'm old, Kay ;-)

When I try to size a field with the object size box I can never get exactly the number I need. For example: I want the box to be exactly .220 inches but the thing always rounds it to .222. No matter what number I enter it rounds it to something that is close. Can I have an exact number such as .220? Please Help.

I've been trying to define a date field that enters the current date conditionally when depending on data entered in a another field. I first tried a calculation field that would returned the date when the other data was entered, but each day it would retun the current date not the date the the dat was entered. I then tried a regular date field with an auto=enter function theat would do the same thing, the problem is instead of a blank null value, a question mark appears in the field and it can't be entered overwhen you enter data in the other field which defeats the purpose of the whole thing. Finaly I redefined it as a text field and that took care of the problem but in…

Is there a possibility to create a new user-defined function? I would like to insert long formulas with contain also slopes and so on. These user-defined function should have the same possibilitys like in Excel, because i want to write this in filemaker Pro and not in excel.

In South Africa we use the date format dd/mm/yyyy. In order to do sorts in FM I need to change this format. I have managed to change the date to mm/dd/yyyy using a calculation. I can, however, only display the result as a text field. If I try to use TextToDate and change the field type to a date field, it displays nothing. I even tried to do the conversion first (as a text field) then do the TextToDate as a new calculation into a third field. It still displays nothing. Can anyone please help!!

On my print order file, I had to go in and change the address where we need to have our publications delivered to. I went into Define Fields, scrolled up to "Deliver To", double clicked, the window Entry Options for Field "Deliver To" popped up, I entered the new address, clicked done, and when I went back into browse, all of my records had disappeared. I'm on a Mac. I know I didn't hit any delete buttons. Does anyone know why my records disappeared. If so please help!!!

Also regarding my last post, I'm having some trouble with the If and Case functions. I think I'm using them right, but they won't give me a total unless I enter an additional blank record. Are there any known problems with these functions? Thanks. Pat

Hi, I've recently been introduced to FMP 4.1 and am having a problem with configuring a "find" layout. I have a group of 100 members who each sit on roughly 65 committees. I decided to cast one field with repeating values for the committees, and ideally would like to choose one of these committees from a value list, hit a find button, and go to a new layout that lists the committee's members. Actually I have managed to accomplish most of this, only I am now unable to display the committee that was searched on in the "Results" layout. Will the repeating field prevent me from displaying the search criteria, or is their a workaround - such as a script - to display the n…

If I try to use division in a calculation field and the divisor is another field (say Field A), the whole program crashes if Field A is blank. I tried using an IF format IF(FieldA <> "", etc.) but no matter what form I try, a blank in Field A = CRASH. I'm using FM 3.0v3. Is there anyway to get around this? Thanks. Guy

I have created several Date calculation fields that take the value of another date field and add between 1 and 10 years to that date. To add 10 years I used the calculation: datecalc = datefield + Date (01,01,11) This works pretty well, but randomly the day of the month is off in datecalc by one day. Is there a better way to add simply the years? It is critical that the dates be exact, except for the added years, for scripting purposes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, AlanM

I am very new to this program. I am setting up an Orders file and I know how to enter one order, part number, description, etc. But my question is HOW do I set it up so when one company orders several items on a single PO, I can list all items in part number, description, etc.?? HELP!! I'm clueless!!

(I am using FM Pro 4.1 for Windows) I have two fields, Product and Version. Product is defined as a text field and is populated via a value list. I want Version to allow blanks (null) EXCEPT when the value of Product is "Other" in which case Version must have a value. What would be the best way to accomplish this? (Assuming it CAN be done ) [This message has been edited by chandra (edited August 15, 2000).]

quote: Originally posted by richshone: I have been designing an application for the music industry that allows all information necessary for artists touring around the world to be accessible in useful ways. So far I have been doing this with the intention of it being a separate file created for each artist (mostly because I originally designed it my personal use). At this point I am attempting to modify this to a multiple artist database so a management company can have all of their artists records in one file (with access privleges assigned for each artists' representatives). All of this is no problem except for one thing - I had originally created a contacts layout…

Is there any way to make a field that is divided into sections so that when the form is used each section can only be edited by the authorized person depending on there log in password.

My database has a field that will contain text entered as a narrative. This may be a few or many paragraphs. To print this I made a print layout with the field taking up the entire area designated for printing. This prints nicely when the size of the narrative is smaller that the size of the field. When the narrative is larger than the field (ie you need to scroll to see the bottom), printing cuts out the unseen botton part of the field content. How can I have the rest of the field content print on a second page? Thanks.

Hi has anyone come up with a calculation that will calculate the difference between 2 dates in years and months?

How can I append a text string from one field to another field in the same database? For example, I have a newestupdate field and a history field. I want to have the latest updates added to the text that is already in the history field. Having a modifiedby and timestamp would also be swell. Thanks for any help!!!

In my database I have blanket orders whereby a customer can order a large sum of goods and release them as needed. Whenever they call to release an amount of their goods, my database generates a call out form to send to shipping to pull the goods from the shelf. Each call out form should be given a release number from that particular order as there may be 20 releases off one order, i.e. Order No. 10001 should have release 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. My question is how do I make the release unique to only that one order. I want the release number to generate auto although it will be manually keyed on the packing list. Anyone who can help me with this, thank you very much.

Anyone out there know much about the compatibility of FMP 4.x with Access? I just started working with a company that is using a Microsoft Office 2000 Network (PC of course) to keep track of their daily activities and I want to know if I can link/relate my database up to theirs as mine is so much more developed for what I do than theirs is. Just how much of a problem is my Mac going to cause (the one obvious reason that I started using FMP in the first place is that it works cross platform)? It would save all a lot of time and keep the flow moving nicely if I could make this work out. Thanks for any info..

Tell me I'm not dumb. I have set up an Appointment # field as an auto-enter serial number to increase by 1. Everything was going fine for the first 600 appointments. I thought I was pretty cool. Then, it happened. One day, the next Appointment number jumped 400 to 1,100! What the heck? It stayed ok for a few weeks going up from 1,100 one at a time. Then, it went down to 758 and I started entering appointments on top of other existing appointments and everything got screwed up. So, I went into the appointment field and set the number to start at 2,000. All fine for a few weeks and then it went down to 1,438 and I screwed up the data again. Today, I caught i…

I want to have a field in a layout display the date of entry into other fields and then have it never change again so the record of entry can't be confused with others (it is a reciept of payment). I am using the 'date of modification function' for this at the moment, is this the best way to do this? Is there a way to have it not change after the original entry was made? Or a way that all of the fields in this particular record can't be modified after initial entry? How do I accomplish this? Thanks...

I'm using a MAC OS and have my records in a FM database. I exported the records as html and have them at my website. Here is one of them: http://www.angelfire.com/journal/cheezz/DART_mbd.html I've had no problem with the exporting as you can see -- my problem lies in the fact that I cannot change the size of a cell (field). I can change the width of the TABLE itself, but all it does is increase the width of ONE of the cells called "Information Source". I've looked at the html and nowhere in there is there code saying to expand that one cell. I've tried entering code to choose the size I want (i.e. <th width=200>, but nothing I do makes a bit of difference. I've al…

I have been having trouble for a while now with some of my multiple page layouts moving position on the page even after 'locking' them into place. Today I discovered that it is related to the type of printer I have chosen at any particular moment. I use a fax modem and switch back and forth from a deskjet printer all the time as I travel for work. At the same time I have created a couple of scripts to print for 8.5x11 and 11x8.5 layouts, which adds more confusion. I need to make my layouts work in both scenarios flawlessly (especially when I fax) and would appreciate any advice on how to accomplish this. thanks...

I have developed an relational inventory database that when a six digit code is entered, then I "leave the field" (Tab, new record, etc) the related data on this item appears. I am now using a laser gun to read barcodes to enter the six digit code and I would like for a new record to be generated automatically (no keyboard entry) after each scanned entry. The bar codes are already set so I cannot place a CTRL-N in them. How do I do this?

(I'm using FMP 4.1) How do global fields receive values? i.e. How do they get set to a particular value? Defining them is trivial, but once I have them defined, how do I get values into them? I don't see this explained anywhere. Wierd.

I have a Product file and an Orders file. In the Orders file I'm storing a list of product names (from the Products file) in a repeating field. From the Orders file layout, I want the user to be able to press a button/script that takes them to a Product file layout that displays the entire record for any of the product names in my repeating field. How can I do this? If I just have the button execute a Goto Related Record command (Orders:Product Name = Product:Product Name), I always get the product record for the FIRST repetition of this field.

I have a company spreadsheet as well as seperate ID photos that I would like to import into a basic dB I have setup. The spreadsheet basically has the following information: Last Name, First Name, Employee Number, and Employment Status. There are ID photos which have filenames corresponding to their Employee Number. So for Example my entry would be: O'Brien, Andy, 2839, Current There's a file called 2839.JPG which is my ID photo. Is there anyway to quickly copy the ID photo into the record with the corresponding employee number, and if so how? Any help appreciated. Andy

I have tried a number of variations on this theme and so far have had no joy. It's a FMP.5 dbase of 14K records any thoughts really appreciated as my brain is tarting to melt and I don't think I can see the forest for trees anymore. Below is a conditional calculation statement which is working, partially. It is supposed to return one of the following results - "50", "60", "70", "80", "90" or "1" from a FMP.5 database of some 14,000+ records. currentlly I am able to get "90"s, "50"s & "60"s out of it and however the results are not correctly divided inspite of the numbers totalling the number of records. With the eception of the "90" which are accurate t…

Trying to round to the nearest 0.05 round(field, 1)will round to nearest 0.10 unable to figure to nearest 5 cent thanks for any assistant in advance.

I''ve created a text field and formatted it for check boxes. I've created and saved the field values, however the check boxes do not appear next to the vaules. What is happening or what am I doing wrong? I've done this before with no problems. Thanks for your help.

Is there a quick way of deleting fields no longer in use on any layout - without having to trawl through the Define Fields area and delete individually?

How can I number pages at the bottom of a columnar report, starting at 1 and ending at whatever the number of pages are? I have looked into the footer options and I can't see a way to do it, although I would think it is easy. Do I need to define a field for it? What would the calculation be?

Is there any way to define which value list a field uses by using script maker? Long shot, I know, but I can always hope

I have a database on our webserver that needs to collect a beginning date, and and ending date for a rental period. To try to make it foolproof, I have dynamic javascript pulldowns that only show the valid number of days for a given month in a given year. The database gets populated with these results. I then need to populate a startdate field by concatenting the contents of the three date fields entered by the web user. The three fields are yearstart, monthstart, and daystart. I have set the startdate field to be a calculated result, and of date format, with the following calculation; monthstart & "/" & daystart & "/" & 2000 + yearstart. No ma…

Hi all I copied the layout Form and the new layout is Form Copy. How do I rename this Form Copy name to somthing els. Much thanks in advance

posted June 07, 2000 10:27 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I want to paste a pdf data file into a database of FM Pro 4. If I create a container field I am able to do it, but it will not allow me to move or re-position it within the container and also it does not keep the filename assigned to the original pdf, it is just a generic label for the file. It would be great to find a way that FMPro could accept pdf's the same way that e-mail excepts them. I would like to resolve this issue this week. Thank you for your help on this frustrating topic. Brian Unger

I would like to prevent data from modification in all fields. However, sometime I also need to do edit to data. Can protect data and have edit button (or script) to do modification. Thanks in advance. new user

Hi I rechive the following error message when i try to specify the following Replace Calculation: Replace(Validation,1,2,1) The number 2 is highlighted. An operator (e.g.+,-,*...) is expected here. Regards Hanson ------------------ HansonTimeSolution Jan Hanson fax. (+45) 44 44 81 07

I am trying to do the following If text is entered into a field. I am tryinging to make another field update itself with a todays date. Please help...........

I know I can define the information that will be written into a field in my 'define fields' mode, but can I define a field so that if I type info into it (lets say a company name for instance) in one record it repeats itself in all records? Also related but probably simpler to do, how do I define a field so that if I type in info it repeats when I create a new record...by the way, thanks for all the help I have been getting as it has been incredibly helpful...

Is it possible to display a layout as an 11x8.5 and the rest as 8.5x11? It seems silly that I wouldn't be able to. Thanks for any advice...

I am trying to display a calculation and a summary calculation with a dollar sign in each case and can't seem to be able to do this. Is it possible? There seems to be no way to define how the number is displayed.

I am trying to take the result of a IF test and enter it in a global field. All I get is a 0 in the calc field if the result is true and nothing if it is false. Also nothing goes into the global field. My formula: IF(X <0,Global=X,Global=0) [This message has been edited by tomkaas (edited May 22, 2000).]

The problem I'm dealing with seemed simple at first - but now I'm stumped. I need to output data from FMP 4 to an ASCII file, and MUST maintain a specific space delimited format. The output is being passed to a UNIX based program that requires all information (12 fields) to be in a column specific location. The output must not contain any 'extra' characters such as " or tabs etc. Any ideas greatly appreciated!

Hi =^..^= anyone able to assist with prevention of modification,have looked up one previously and it refers to text, I'm trying to lock a calculation field?? Thanks in advance mrpc

I am a recent FMP 4.0 user and I am having trouble with adding existing fields to layouts I am modifying. I am still in the development stage of my database and therefore needing to modify things all the time. I was using Appleworks 5.0 databases before this and there is an obvious add feature on that program. The only way I have been able to do it on FMP has been very convoluted and am sure there is a better way. I know it seems trivial but it would help me a lot to get some answers as I don't possess a manual for the FMP and at this point really prefer most other features of the system. Thanks....

Can anybody help me to create a logfield in a database. I need to keep track of changes in a record on a continious basis. Von

Create a calculation field for the new date. formula will "currentdate" + 180. Make sure to select date as the Calculation result. That should give you a date that is 6 months out.