User manual

Creating and managing layouts and reports 6-23
For more complete information about specifying number formats,
see the FileMaker Pro onscreen Help. Choose Help menu > Contents
and Index, click the Index tab, and type number fields.
4. Click OK.
Keep these points in mind:
1 If you specify General format and the field value is a number with
10 or more digits, FileMaker Pro displays the number using scientific
notation, or rounds the number, or both, if necessary, to fit within the
10-character maximum for the default field boundaries. When a
number is expressed in scientific notation, you see a decimal number
expressed as a power of 10, for example, 123,456,789,000 would
be displayed as 1.2346E+11 (or 1.2346 x 10
11
). If the field value is a
number of fewer than 10 digits, specifying General format produces
the same result as specifying Leave data formatted as entered.
1 If FileMaker Pro displays a number in a field as a ? try enlarging
the field boundaries in Layout mode to see the entire value. (When
you print a layout with a field that is displaying a ?, FileMaker Pro
prints as many digits as will fit within the field boundaries and
truncates the other digits.)
1 Numbers formatted as decimals are rounded when the number of
decimal digits exceeds the specified fixed number of decimal digits.
(For example, if you enter 789.78 and you specify 3 fixed digits, you
see 789.780 in the field; if you specify 0 fixed digits, you see 790; if
you specify -2 fixed digits, you see 800.) However, FileMaker Pro
stores and uses the unrounded number (up to 15 digits) for
calculations and summaries.
1 Only numbers are displayed and printed in a number field
formatted as decimal (except for separators and notations specified
in the Number Format dialog box). To display text and symbols (for
example, @1.98 per pound) in a number field, select Leave data
formatted as entered. If you use the field in a calculation or summary,
only the numeric value is used.
Specifying formats for date fields
You can control how FileMaker Pro displays the values in date
fields, calculation fields with date results, and global fields defined
as Date.
Note To avoid confusion when using dates in fields, always use
four-digit years. For more information on how FileMaker Pro 5
handles Year 2000 issues, see www.filemaker.com.
1. In Layout mode, select one or more date fields, calculation fields
with a date result, or global fields defined as Date.
2. Choose Format menu > Date.
3. In the Date Format dialog box, select the formats you want to use.
You see examples of the options you choose in the Sample area.
For more complete information about specifying date formats, see
the FileMaker Pro onscreen Help. Choose Help menu > Contents and
Index, click the Index tab, and type date fields.
4. Click OK.
Keep these points in mind:
1 No matter how you format a date field in Layout mode, whenever
you click or tab into the field in Browse mode, FileMaker Pro
displays the date with a 4-digit year.
Set font, style, size,
color, line spacing,
and alignment
Choose options
for day, month,
date, year, and
separator
characters
Choose to display
numbers either as entered,
in a predetermined format,
or in a format you specify