I was preparing my system for final beta testing today, when I discovered a problem with using calculation fields...

I cleared all my working records for timecards, jobs, invoices, etc... They all have 0 records.

Now these files have relationships based on calculation fields...BUT with NO records, the calculation fields don't exist. Some of them were as simple as =1 or =0. As soon as I add a record, the calulation fields exist, and the relationships work.

Am I wrong to use calculation fields in the left side of relationships? or do I need to have a dummy entry in each file? Would this also hold true for globals, and what do you guys do in cases like this?

-Frank

You could either use a dummy record or a global field for the left side of the relationship. You might need to run a startup script which will populate these global fields - for 2 reasons.

1. In a networked environment, global fields are loaded up from the server on opening but are local (ie they could end up being different) on each machine. In these environments, you can also load them up from a "preferences" file you create on the server.

2. Creating a clone of the file will clear the global fields.