finding "30 days ago" without having to enter an actual date

[The Sparrow]

i'm hoping there is already a way to do this. so far i know that i can type "//" to indicate the current date. what i'm trying to do is indicate a range in find mode that would return records entered from 30 days ago through the current date without having to type in any actual dates. right now i'm having to settle for using, for example, "4/22/2007...//" to indicate the range from 30 days ago through today. tomorrow, the range will only update on one end. the 4/22 won't update to 4/23. that's why i wanted to use "//-30" for that end of the range. can anyone tell me if there's a way to do this? i'm using FileMaker Pro 6. thanks!

[Lee Smith]

Do not double post in the Forum, I have deleted your other two post on the same topic.

Lee

[Ender]

You could do it with a button tied to a script:

Enter Find Mode[]

Set Field [ Date , status(currentdate)-30 & ".." & status(currentdate) ]

Perform Find[]

In FM8, there are some other options for finding with wildcards, like 4/*/2007, but that's not exactly what you're looking for.

If your dates don't go into the future, you can also use an open range Find, in the form:

>4/21/07

or

>=4/21/07

Edited May 21, 2007 by Guest

[The Sparrow]

Ender,

I have entered the script you recommended, yet when i click on the button to launch the search, it says there are no records that match the request. any ideas? thanks.

Sparrow

[comment]

In version 6, you need to use Insert Calculated Result[] instead of Set Field[], when entering a non-date into a date field.

[The Sparrow]

i am not entering any non-dates. each of my records has a field called DATE ADDED which is auto-filled using the current system date in standard MM/DD/YYYY format...

[The Sparrow]

Ender,

the way i understand Set Field is that it enters the result of a calculation into a specified field. i have been able to get your suggested script to work if i simplify it to:

Enter Find Mode[]

Set Field ["DATE ADDED", "Status(CurrentDate)-30"]

Perform Find[]

which does automate the "30 days ago", but it ONLY finds exactly 30 days ago.

the result of the calculation must be a date. i start having problems when i try to Set Field to more than one date or a range of dates. is that supposed to be possible?

perhaps the syntax is a bit off?

you suggested:

Set Field ["DATE ADDED", status(currentdate)-30 & ".." & status(currentdate)]

which makes sense to me intuitively. but FileMaker doesn't seem to be translating that to "30 days ago thru Today".

any additional help from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

[mr_vodka]

See if this old post clear this up for you. As Comment mentioned you need to use Insert Calculated Result [] in FM6

FM6 Post on finding date range

[The Sparrow]

Success at Last! Thanks, John. And I understand now why Insert Calculated Result was necessary.