Record Creation Date

[clrblue]

OK, so maybe this is the lamest question ever, but how can I do a find for all records that were created on a certain date? Does Filemaker 5 keep track of this? What is the field name? Does it have to be included in the layout to be serachable? What is the best way to build this find? I tried looking through the forum but counldn't find the answer to this question... probably because it's a really eay solution and a no-brainer and no one else needs help with it. Still, I could use the boost... so please post an answer if you can... Thanks!

--Charisma

[dbruggmann]

There's not a built in date tracker field in Filemaker. You have to define yourself a CreataionDate field (date) and use the first option in the Auto-Enter tab.

If you don't script your Find, yes, the field has to be on the layout to search in.

[clrblue]

No wonder I seem to be having a problem. LOL. Anyway, so if I was to build a script for this Find, what might it look like? The CreationDate(date) function, I mean.

TIA!

Charisma

[-Queue-]

Enter Find Mode [ ]

Set Field [creationdate, somedate]

Perform Find [ ]

where somedate is either a specific date, e.g. "1/1/04" or Date(1, 1, 2004), or a global field in which a user has entered the desired date.

[clrblue]

So a user ould have to specifically enter a date in a field called "creationdate" or something? And only then will it be searchable? There isn't an internal Filemaker variable called Creationdate or whatever? I just want to create a find based on the creation date of existing records. How would someone go about this?

[-Queue-]

First you have to create the field, as Detlev explained. Create a date field, click Options, select the auto-enter tab, and select Creation Date from the list. This is only going to work for new records. You'll have to provide a default for existing records by running a Replace or Set Field loop on them. Then you can use a script as I described above.

[clrblue]

OK. I understand now. I have one more question, though. If I run a Create/Replace script to fill in the date for the currently existing records to create this field and populate it, will it enter each record's specific creation date or will it set them all to today because that is when the script is being run?

TIA! You guys have been so much help!!

--Charisma

[-Queue-]

Existing records don't have a creation date because they didn't have a field containing that data. That's why I suggested setting them to a default date of your choosing.

[clrblue]

Well, that's a bummer, but I appreciate your response. Thank you!

[MorFologist]

Well, if you have any date field already in use (Project Start? Date Shipped?) you could use that to populate the new DateCreated field. You could round to the 1st of the month or quarter prior as a hint it was a generic dating effort.