Help

Creating a database
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 199
Notes
• When you delete a table, you delete all of the records and field definitions associated with
that table.
• You can remove a field from a layout without deleting the field definition.
• You can’t delete a field if it is referenced in a calculation field, summary field, calculation in a
script, or relationship defined in the same file. (If the calculation, summary, script, or
relationship definition is defined in a related file, you can delete the field.)
• You can’t create, modify, or delete field definitions in an external ODBC data source.
• If FileMaker Pro displays a message that you can’t delete a field, do one of the following:
• Change the calculation field, summary field, script, or relationship so that it doesn’t
include the field you want to delete.
• Delete the calculation field, summary field, script, or relationship.
• If you place a field from a related table on a layout, and you later delete the field definition
from the related table, a placeholder for the deleted field remains on the layout. The
placeholder contains the text ::<Field Missing>. (You also see the placeholder if the related
table is deleted.)
Related topics
About relationships
Working with the relationships graph
Changing relationships
Creating file paths
In FileMaker Pro, you can specify file paths to an external file or a FileMaker data source.
Note A FileMaker “data source” was called a “file reference” in pre-9.0 versions of FileMaker.
Each named file or FileMaker data source can consist of one or more file paths. Use multiple file
paths when you want FileMaker
Pro to search a list of potential files.
For information on adding a FileMaker data source and specifying file paths, see Connecting to data
sources.
FileMaker Pro supports the following file path formats:
Type of path Description Format
Relative The path to a target file specified from the
current database’s location. If the current
database is opened remotely, the path
starts from the local FileMaker
Pro
directory
file:directoryName/fileName
filemac:directoryName/
filewin:../fileName
Full local or remote
(OS
X)
The absolute path to a target file or folder,
either local or on a remote volume,
beginning at the top level of the file
system
filemac:/volumeName/
directoryName/fileName
filemac:/volumeName/
directoryName/
Full local (Windows) The absolute path to a target file or folder
in Windows, beginning at the top level of
the file system
filewin:/driveletter:/
directoryName/fileName
filewin:/driveletter:/
directoryName/