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Creating a database
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ILEMAKER PRO HELP 169
Notes
• Any field type except for summary can store a global value.
• In addition to defining a field and selecting its field type, you can create repeating fields,
global fields, and supplemental fields.
• If a field uses system formats to display data, FileMaker WebDirect uses the default system
formats for the location in which the database file was created. See
Formatting and setting
up field objects in Layout mode.
Related topics
About defining database fields
Changing field types
Formatting and setting up field objects in Layout mode
About text fields
Use text fields to store letters, symbols, and numbers used as text. Indexes are based on the words
or values in the fields.
Notes
• Text fields can hold values that are combinations of letters, numbers, and special
characters, like phone numbers, postal codes, or serial numbers.
• Text fields sort in alphabetical order (left to right, character by character).
• To specify how data in a text field displays (for example, to specify a font), see Formatting
and setting up field objects in Layout mode.
• If you are using FileMaker Pro Advanced, you can copy field schemas from one file and
paste them into the same file or some other file. See Copying and pasting field schemas
(FileMaker Pro Advanced).
Time Times only. A time field can contain the hours, minutes, and seconds portion of a
time. See
About time fields.
Timestamp Dates and times together to reference a fixed point in calendar time. For example, 10/
25/2014 2:39:46 AM. See
About timestamp fields.
Container A file of any type, such as a picture, a PDF, or a multimedia file. You can set up
storage and display options for the field. You can reference container fields in
calculations and summary fields. You can't find or sort records based on container
fields, but you can define text fields to describe or identify them. Then, you can find or
sort records based on the description or identifying number in the text field. Files in
container fields can be embedded, stored as a reference, or stored externally. See
About container fields.
Calculation The result of a calculation formula that uses field values from the current record or
related records. The result can be one of these types of data: text, number, date,
time, timestamp, or container. See
Defining calculation fields.
Summary A value that’s produced by summarizing field values from more than one record in the
same table. See
Defining summary fields.
Select this type If the field data will be