Better way to CrossTab than FM Advanced training book?

[Stu412]

I have a need for a lot of cross tab calculations and have referred to the FM 13 Advanced Training Series, lesson 38 which covers this.  I've used it for a while now but it's brutal in that you need to create two calculations for each individual 'cell' you wish to display:

One calculation tells Filemaker what should be summarised, usually via a CASE statement.

The other is the Summary field itself which appears on the layout.

I tend to require 10, sometimes more columns which are based on date fields from an overall record list of 70000 so far.

Is there not a better way of doing the cross tab calcs, something like (psuedocode) as I'm wary of fattening up the fields on the DB:

• Calc1::DoSummary (Case (DatePeriod = 1 and SortField = "Tourist" ; Amount))

Rather than two calculations:

• Calc1 ::Case (DatePeriod = 1 and SortField = "Tourist" ; Amount)
• sCalc2L::Summary Calc1

Thanks all

[Kris M]

Google FileMaker virtual list

http://filemakerhacks.com/2014/04/25/virtual-list-charts-part-1/

Its a bit to digest at first but its an invaluable technique to have in your toolbox

Edited September 9, 2015 by Kris M