Boolean, True False records

[ianstanton]

I'm using Filemaker after becoming proficient in MS Access and am having trouble implementing boolean records. As far as I can work out they don't seem to be provided.

What I am trying to do is add four records to a simple table. These records are characteristics that can be either true or false. In my past experience these values are called boolean values but there doesn't seem to be an option for this when you define new records in a f.m. database.

It seems that to accomodate this I am going to have to define a value list which contains the entries true and false.

After doing this I am going to build a form which has some tick boxes. If the box is ticked, the corresponding record will marked true, while if the box is unticked the corresponding record will be marked false.

So just to make things clear, say I have a table of records pertaining to people's cars. I have some records for the car make, the car model, the car colour, the registration year, the registratioin and the name and address of the owner. In addition what I would like are some records like: is the car insured? True or False, Is the car fuel efficient? true or false? ... and so on.

If anyone can let me know how filemaker deals with these sorts of requirements I would be most grateful.

[flapjacks]

I use a yes/no radio button or pop up menu for this. I have one Yes, No value list for many instances of this in my DB. I haven't used access in like 12 years. It took a little getting used to FMP but once I got my head wrapped around it I found developement time cut about in half. You can also make these fields a calculation field based on other criteria. i.e. Is it fuel efficent? Could be a result of an MPG number field.

John

Edited January 28, 2006 by Guest

[ianstanton]

I use a yes/no radio button or pop up menu for this. I have one Yes, No value list for many instances of this in my DB. I haven't used access in like 12 years. It took a little getting used to FMP but once I got my head wrapped around it I found developement time cut about in half. You can also make these fields a calculation field based on other criteria. i.e. Is it fuel efficent? Could be a result of an MPG number field.

John

So do you mean that you have created your own yes/no value list, there isn't a special provision for this in Filemaker?

[Søren Dyhr]

It's posible without a value list. a numerical field can be embossed into a button - the text on top formatted boolean... (found in number format) but setting it requires a script:

Set Field[relation::bool;1 xor relation::bool]

As well as the field in the def. needs to be auto-entered a default value.

Downside is that you can make it change colour. For this purpose is a straight forward button where the buttontext is the mergefield better suited although the logic from before can be used.

--sd

[comment]

In Filemaker, every number is a boolean: 0 is false, any other value is true. For example, If ( 1 ; "True" ; "False" ) returns "True". Even dates and times can be evaluated as true/false (any date is true, an empty field returns false).

In addition to what Søren already mentioned, you can also use a value list of just "1", and format the field as a checkbox.

Edited January 28, 2006 by Guest