The strangest thing with a calculation....

[DLM]

Hi guys!

I've FM 5.5v1 running on Mac OS 10.6.8... I hope there's someone out there who can help with this:

1.- I have a number field called "Serial Number".

In Options -> Validation -> I want to set-up the validation by a calculation as follows:

Only accept if the number is from 8923418450004111000 to 8923418450004112799 OR from 8923418450004112900 to 8923418450004112999.

I entered this calculation:

 

(Serial Number >= 8923418450004111000 and Serial Number <= 8923418450004112799) or (Serial Number >= 8923418450004112900 and Serial Number <= 8923418450004112999)

But when I test it I get this error message:

 

This field is defined to contain only specific values. Allow this value?

 

All the validation checkboxes (Max number of characters, etc) are unchecked.

 

I tried setting the field to "Text" rather than number but same thing.

 

Any ideas?

 

Best!

[Lee Smith]

Change the result of the calculation to Text from Number

Automatic message

This topic has been moved from "FileMaker Legacy fp3 and fp5" to "Calculation Engine (Define Fields)".

 

I know that the Forum can be confusing at time when it comes to posting, but some of the topics like this one has restrictions. This topic is reserved for the discussion of the FileMaker Tools that were new in the release of this version of FileMaker.

 

It you want to post a new topic, just read the descriptions that accompany the topic name. i.e. Calculation are posted to the Calculation - Define Fields category no matter what the version of FileMaker being used.

 

BTW, we pick up the version YOU are using in your profile.

 

If you have any questions about this action, please contact me by Private Message.

 

Lee

[DLM]

Hi Lee -- How? The only checkbox available on the calculation area is "Validate only if field has been modified".

[Lee Smith]

The field it's self needs to be text, not number.

[DLM]

Hi Lee -- I've already changed the field to Text but same thing :-(

[Lee Smith]

If you can attach a file, I can open it in v 11 to see if I can see something obvious.

 

If you want to do this, be sure to zip the file and follow the steps here.

 

Lee

[Vaughan]

 

Hi guys!

I've FM 5.5v1 running on Mac OS 10.6.8... I hope there's someone out there who can help with this:

1.- I have a number field called "Serial Number".

In Options -> Validation -> I want to set-up the validation by a calculation as follows:

Only accept if the number is from 8923418450004111000 to 8923418450004112799 OR from 8923418450004112900 to 8923418450004112999.

I entered this calculation:

 

(Serial Number >= 8923418450004111000 and Serial Number <= 8923418450004112799) or (Serial Number >= 8923418450004112900 and Serial Number <= 8923418450004112999)

But when I test it I get this error message:

 

This field is defined to contain only specific values. Allow this value?

 

All the validation checkboxes (Max number of characters, etc) are unchecked.

 

I tried setting the field to "Text" rather than number but same thing.

 

Any ideas?

 

Best!

 

 

That calculation looks good, and the error message also looks correct if the data being entered does not validate.

 

So the question is, what data were you entering into the serial number field?

 

The field should be of type number, not text.

 

Finally, make sure that your FMP software is updated to the final patch version. That was 5.5v2 for Mac and 5.5v4 for Windows. To be honest I'm surprised that FMP 5.5 is working on 10.6 at all. Do not discount incompatibilities as the cause.

[DLM]

Hi Vaughn,

Thanks for your reply.

The field is set to Number (also tried Text but same issue).

This is the strangest thing.... I just changed my calculation to simply:

Serial Number ≥ 1 and Serial Number ≤ 3

And it worked fine if I entered 1, 2 or 3... Then I increased to two digits and changed to:

Serial Number ≥ 11 and Serial Number ≤ 99

And it worked fine if I entered any number within that range... Then I increased to three digits and changed to:

Serial Number ≥ 111 and Serial Number ≤ 999

And it worked fine if I entered any number within that range... Then I increased to four digits... Then five... Six... and so on untill I reached 19 digits:

Serial Number ≥ 1111111111111111111 and Serial Number ≤ 9999999999999999999

And at 19 digits it also worked fine if I entered any number within that range... I then went back to the actual range that I need (which is 19 digita) as follows:

Serial Number ≥ 8923418450004111000 and Serial Number ≤ 8923418450004112799

And it won't work! If I enter any number within that range it throws the message:

"This field is defined to contain only specific values. Allow this value?"

So I've no idea what the issue is.

Help!

[DLM]

Hi guys, I started the following topic many days ago hadn't been able to reply to it so maybe the experts that were following aren't following it any longer:

 

http://fmforums.com/forum/topic/88949-help-with-a-calculation-on-fm-55/

 

That's why I decided to post this new topic.

 

Best!

[LaRetta]

Hi DLM, when you don't get a response on a thread, post on it again to BUMP it to everyone's attention.  

 

Unfortunately I do not have version 5 installed but what am I missing here?  You indicate you are on version 5 but you use  ≥ and back in v5 we used >= or was that just a shortcut you took for this post to be in sync with our thinking?

 

There have been MAJOR changes in FM since version 5 - particularly when 7 came out.  The only change that comes to mind regarding numbers is that a conversion from 5 & 6 to version 7 wrapped many numbers in GetAsNumber().  Exact (num1 , num2 ) became Exact ( GetAsNumber ( num1 ) ; GetAsNumber ( num2 ) ) and if you used comparison operators, it would wrap GetAsNumber() around both sides of the operator.  Nothing else about numbers sticks out to me.

 

You might check FileMaker website and see if there was a limit to number fields (scientific notation?)  - there used to be a limit to key-field word length etc so it is quite possible you've just hit a limit.  But really, version 5 is 12 years old.  In computer-speak, that's 10,000 years old.  I would not trust it at all on today's hardware. You could also call FileMaker or even post on their website where folks report an issue here:  http://forums.filemaker.com/hives/1eea103f05/summary

 

I hope you resolve it but I mostly hope you upgrade instead ... you would love working in current version. 

[Lee Smith]

 I have merged your two topics. Please do not multipal post your questions. LaRetta has explained how to keep your topic active, so please do that in the future.

 

@LaRetta,

 

The Mac had the ≥ and ≤ operators in versions 5 and before. In fact, you would get an error message if you use the >= or <=, 

[LaRetta]

Thank you, Lee, I didn't know that!  

 

I was Windows FM versions up through 10 before going x-plat (now mostly Mac). 

[Fitch]

I suppose you could try something like:
 
Left( Serial Number ; 15) = 892341845000411 and

Right( Serial Number ; 4 ) ≥ 1000  and
Right( Serial Number ; 4 ) ≤ 2799