Very Beginner

[alexpg]

2 questions:

I rent a condo and am making a database for it. I've been using Appleworks and thought I'd upgrade.

First I'm trying to put 2 fields together First Name Last Name and am using: LeftWords ( First Name & Last Name ; 2 ) is that correct to use? cause I want a space between them and i'm not getting one.

Second

I have arrival and departure date fields. Is it possible to link? them to a calendar layout (which I would have to find/make) so it shows the name of the person on the nights they are staying, in the calendar (arrival up to one day before departure). Also some clients add a half day stay to leave later so their name would need to be on one more day (departure day).

Hope this makes sense. Thanks in advance.

PS Am getting FM books from the library soon!

[BobWeaver]

You don't need to use the leftwords function unless you're concerned that there may be more than one word in each field. This should do what you want:

First Name & " " & Last Name

[LaRetta]

Hi Alex,

Are you wanting to put these fields together into one field during your migration? Or is this just for display purposes in a calc? Because, if you are putting them together in FileMaker (in your move from Appleworks), I can show you thousands of posts by poor folks who then spend twice as much time splitting them again. They really SHOULD be in separate fields.

As for displaying arrival/departure day names, you can create a calculation but it probably isn't necessary. Select Insert > Merge Field and double-click your ArrivalDate, immediately type a space then dash (in the merge field being created) then space. Then again Insert > Merge Field and double-click your DepartureDate. Your merge field should look like this:

<> - <>

When finished inserting the dates, right-click this merge line and select Date format and Custom. Only put Thursday in the first box - set everything else to blank (watch the display below, showing you the results you'll get as you make your display selections). The result will be:

Thursday - Monday

LaRetta :wink2:

[alexpg]

Thanks Bob, exactly what I wanted.

[alexpg]

LaRetta

No not for migration.

And not sure you understood what I wanted in the calendar because I'm not clear on what your results give me.

[LaRetta]

The results are clearly spelled out in my post - you will get Thursday - Sunday (or whatever the Arrival and Departure date DAYS are). But I don't think that's what you wanted, sorry. If you want the person's name and dates - you'll have to be more specific on your structure. :wink2:

[alexpg]

In the main layout I have the fields:

last name

date in

date out

The calendar layout will have a monthly looking calendar (which I need to find) and in appropriate squares (the nights clients will be there) will fill with the persons last name. I don't know how to make it automatically fill or if it can.

Hope that makes more sense.

[LaRetta]

Hi Alex,

[color:blue]In the main layout I have the fields:

last name

date in

date out

I hope you have more fields than that - particularly a uniqueID.

[color:blue]The calendar layout will have a monthly looking calendar (which I need to find)

Calendaring is NOT for the faint of FM-heart. You need to do the heavy thinking part FIRST. So you currently have no structure or relationships here?

[color:blue]and in appropriate squares (the nights clients will be there) will fill with the persons last name.

No problem if the related records are days-per-client. The client name would then just display in the related table through the relationship (so would appear on each day/client square) because they would be related on ClientID). But on the days between - where you have NO related record, ie, spanning several days hmmmm....

I think you'll need to decide the type and complexity of your structure first. Your requirement (display client name) is simply a natural offshoot of the structure. So I can't tell you specifically HOW you would display the name until we know the structure you decide is best for you. Make sense?

L :wink2:

[alexpg]

Don't have a unique ID for each client but would be easy to add, only have 33 at the moment. I do have lots of other fields.

May be too much work for just putting clients names on a calendar connected to my client database paper may be fine. Thanks