User manual

Creating a database 5-5
1 For information about working with data in fields, see “About
entering data in records” on page 2-6. For more information about
field types, choose Help menu > Contents and Index, click the Index
tab, and type field types.
Defining text, number, date, time, or container fields
1. Choose File menu > Define Fields.
2. In the Define Fields dialog box, for Field Name, type a unique name
for the field.
See “About naming fields” on page 5-3.
3. For Type, select a field type, then click Create.
See “About choosing a field type” on page 5-4.
4. To define options for the field, click Options.
5. Continue defining fields, or click Done.
Important To avoid confusion when using dates in FileMaker Pro,
set field validation options to make sure dates are always entered
with four-digit years. (See “Defining field validation” on page 5-9.)
For more information on how FileMaker Pro 5 handles Year 2000
issues, see www.filemaker.com.
For more information about defining fields, choose Help menu >
Contents and Index, click the Index tab, and type defining fields.
Defining calculation fields
1. Choose File menu > Define Fields.
2. In the Define Fields dialog box, for Field Name, type a unique name
for the field.
See “About naming fields” on page 5-3.
3. For Type, select Calculation, then click Create.
4. In the Specify Calculation dialog box, build a formula.
Click where you want the item to appear in the formula box, then do
the following:
Tip You can also type the formula directly into the box. For more
information, see chapter 11, “Using formulas and functions.”
To Do this in the Options for Field dialog box
Automatically
enter values into
the field
Click the Auto-Enter tab, select the options, then click OK.
See “Defining automatic data entry” on page 5-8.
Make sure data is
entered into the
field correctly
Click the Validation tab, select the options, then click OK.
See “Defining field validation” on page 5-9.
Make the field
repeating
Click the Storage tab, then select Repeating field with a
maximum of n repetitions. Type the number of repetitions,
then click OK. See “About repeating fields” on page 5-11.
Select options for
indexing the field
Click the Storage tab, select the options, then click OK. See
“About storage and indexing options” on page 5-11.
To add a Do this
Reference to a field In the field list, double-click a field name.
To display field names from related fields, choose a
relationship from the relationship list. (See “When to
create relationships between files” on page 8-4.)
Mathematical or
text operator
In the keypad, click an operator. (Quotation marks and
parentheses are copied to the formula as a pair, with the
insertion point blinking in the middle).
Comparison or
logical operator
For Operators, choose an operator from the list.
Constant value Type the value. See “Constants” on page 11-2.
Function In the functions list, double-click a function. In the
formula box, replace the placeholder parameter with a
value or expression.