I'm relatively new to filemaker and am slowly designing and implementing piece by piece a database solution for a small business i work for.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to calculate a value for a field in one table object that is based upon the sum of the values of a field across a range of records in another TO. Specifically i would like to input the range based upon the date the record was created so that if i input a start date and an end date it will auto enter a summation of each of a specific field value from each record falling within those dates. Does that make sense? (seems a little convoluted when i write it down)

sum of the values of a field across a range of records in another TO

How is this "range of records" defined. How will the database know what the range is?

This is were relationships come in: it's easy to get the sum of a set of related records.

A general FileMaker trend is to do more with basic find operations performed on indexed values, rather than via complex relationship definitions. Not to say that portal filtering methods are dead - and in fact they are enhanced in FM11 - but they are not the only way to do things.

In broader strokes, what is it that you are actually trying to accomplish?

So the database i am designing is for a microbrewery, and when we file taxes we have to submit in barrels the amount of beer that was packaged in kegs and in bottles. I have fields in place to record this information each time we bottle, where each record is a batch of beer. Each record also has a date the batch was created. To make things more efficient for when we file taxes i want to find a way to input a range of dates and have it automatically sum the amount bottled and the amount kegged within those records, rather than flip through each one and calculate manually.

Thanks in advance for any help.