User manual

Defining database fields | 83
Keep these points in mind:
1 Any field type except summary can store a global value. For more
information, see
“About storage and indexing options” on page 96.
1 Be sure to use a date field (instead of a text or number field) to store dates. To
avoid confusion when using dates, always use four-digit years.
1 Use text fields instead of number fields to store postal codes, phone
numbers, and other values with leading zeroes or characters like hyphens
or parentheses.
1 Although you can’t find or sort records based on a container field, you can
define a text field to describe or identify the contents of the container. Then,
you can find or sort records based on the data in that text field.
1 To change the way data is displayed in text, number, date, time, and
timestamp fields, see “Formatting field data on a layout” on page 121.
Summary fields
produce results from
values in multiple
records
Agent Item Qty Amount
David Michaels ET3 1 $29.95
David Michaels ET4 1 $32.25
David Michaels ET1 2 $73.90
David Michaels ET5 3 $98.85
Total $234.95
Sophie Tang ET6 2 $64.50
Sophie Tang ET7 5 $12.50
Sophie Tang ET2 2 $25.00
Sophie Tang
Total $102.00
Grand Total $336.95
Sales Report
Calculation fields produce results from values in the
current record or related records
φμπ10_υσερσ_γυιδε.βοοκ Παγε 83 Μονδαψ, Αυγυστ 25, 2008 3:59 ΠΜ