User manual

Table Of Contents
Chapter 3 | Creating databases 63
6. To select indexing and global storage options for the field, click Storage Options, select
options in the Storage Options dialog box, then click OK.
7. Click OK to close the Specify Calculation dialog box.
8. Continue to define fields, or click OK.
Note If your FileMaker Pro file accesses data from external ODBC data sources, you can add
supplemental fields to specify calculations using external data. For more information, see
“Using
supplemental fields” on page 65.
For more information about creating or changing calculation fields or the use of context in
calculations, see Help.
Creating summary fields
Use summary fields to calculate values such as subtotals, averages, and grand totals across
multiple records. For example, a summary field can display in a report the grand total of all sales
in the month of May.
Use the New Layout/Report assistant to create a report with grouped data (data in a summary
field). See
“Creating layouts and reports” on page 71.
Tip You can use Table View in Browse mode to quickly create a dynamic report that groups your
data by a field, displays subtotals for a field, or creates subtotals for each group of data. For more
information, see Help.
The value in a summary field can change depending on where you place the field on a layout, how
many records are in the found set, whether the records are sorted, and which mode you’re using.
If you’re modifying a layout that contains a summary field, you must know about layout parts to get
the results you want (see
“Working with parts on a layout” on page 95).
1. To create a summary field, follow steps 1–5 in “Creating and changing fields in the Manage
Database dialog box” on page 59.
2. Choose Summary as the field’s type, then click Create.
To Do this
Set the field type of the result Choose a data type for Calculation result is <value>. Choose the correct
type for the result you want. See “About choosing a field type” on page 57.
Make a calculated field
repeating
Select Number of repetitions, then type the number of repetitions.
Prevent calculation if all
referenced fields are empty
Select Do not evaluate if all referenced fields are empty.
When enabled, FileMaker Pro does not evaluate a calculation if all fields used
by the calculation are empty.