User manual

Finding and sorting information 3-9
Keep these points in mind:
1 Data sorts differently in different field types:
1 Records in a sorted portal are re-sorted whenever the relationship
is re-established. (For example, when you browse out of and then
back into the record, or change the value in the match field.) See
“Defining relationships for relational databases and lookups” on
page 8-10.
1 Repeating fields sort by the value in the first repetition.
1 If you add records after sorting, the status area shows Semi-sorted.
Sort again to incorporate new records in the sort order.
1 System formats affect the way numbers, dates, and times sort.
System formats is documented in Help. Choose Help menu >
Contents and Index, click the Index tab, and type system formats.
Include related fields anywhere
in the sort order
Choose a relationship from the relationship
list, then double-click a related field in the list.
You can place a related field anywhere in the
Sort Order list—before, after, or between fields
in the master file.
If more than one record in the related file
matches a record in the master file, the sort
will use the value in the first matching record
in the related file, according to the sort order
defined in the relationship. See “Defining
relationships for relational
databases and lookups” on page 8-10.)
Sort related records (rows) in a
portal
If your access privileges allow, specify a sort
order in Define Relationships. See “Defining
relationships for relational
databases and lookups” on page 8-10.
Remove a field from the Sort
Order list
In the Sort Order list, double-click the field.
Remove all fields from the Sort
Order list
Click Clear All.
Sort by summary fields
For example, to sort sales
regions in order from highest to
lowest total sales.
See the next section.
Unsort the records (return them
to creation order)
Click Unsort.
Sort records according to a
different language than the one
used for indexing
Select Override field’s language for sort, then
choose a language.
Close the Sort Records dialog
box without sorting
Click Done.
To Do this
This field type Sorts records in this order
Text Alphabetically. Numbers sort by character position.
(Example of an ascending sort: 1, 11, 2.) Numbers sort
before letters. Non-alphanumeric values are ignored
(unless you change the sort language to ASCII).
Number Numerically. Non-numeric characters are ignored.
Date Chronologically. To avoid confusion when using dates,
always use four-digit years. For more information about
how FileMaker Pro 5 handles Year 2000 issues, see
www.filemaker.com.
Time Numerically. Times using AM/PM are sorted according to
their 24-hour-clock equivalent (for example, 8:00 PM is
20:00).