Time fields

[WingNutt]

I'm having trouble with time fields. Whenever I enter a time into a time field I get the error message "The value of this field must be a valid time ...." The message tells me what the time should look like (presumably taken from my OS X System Preferences). Even if I enter it exactly as it says, I still get the error message.

The problem first occurred in FM 7, and now repeats in FM 8. Is it a FM problem or an OS X problem - or perhaps a user problem!?

Help will be much appreciated.

Edited November 15, 2005 by Guest

[Lee Smith]

You sound like you have been using FileMaker for awhile, and versions prior to v7. How are you entering the time, that you are getting that message.

Lee

[WingNutt]

Lee

Thanks very much for replying.

Using OS X System Prefs I've customised the time format to use .(period) separators rather than (colon) separators. I then open FM, create a new database, and put in a time field. On a layout I can format the time field either to 'leave data formatted as entered' or with hhmm, the period separator and a trailing am/pm. When I then try to enter data in the field eg "6.30 pm" it tells me what I enter must be a valid time. It suggests I should add seconds to what I've entered (ie another period and two digits). I do that (although I wouldn't want to normally) and the error message just keeps returning.

Is there something really obvious I'm missing? Since FM 7 I've been formatting my time fields as text fields to avoid this message. That's obviously not really a solution, as I can't then sort them. I'd wondered whether it was a FM 7 bug, with with FM 8 it's just the same.

Any thoughts?

Wingnutt

[Lee Smith]

I have never thought about changing the OS separator for this. I have used a couple of workarounds for this in v6, but I found that a value list of the times is a lot easier for the user to enter.

According to what I have been able to verify, v6 rejects the 4.50 entry as a non time, while both v7 and v8 will accept it and it will be 4.50 AM. I have not fiddled with my OS.

HTH

Lee

[comment]

When I enter 4.50 into a time field, I get 00:00:04.5 (four and a half seconds).

I think Filemaker has trouble accepting period as a separator, on account of its being used as a decimal separator for fractional seconds.

See here and here for possible solutions.

[Lee Smith]

No wonder you were itching to get to this thread.

Good catch. I was using a sample file that had the Auto Enter with the Substitute Calculation in it, and didn't notice it.

Sorry for the confusion. Auto Enter used in this way is such a neat feature, but I have to remember when I've used it.

Lee :)