User manual

Creating databases 41
Keep these points in mind:
1 Any field type except summary can store a global value. For more
information, see
“About storage and indexing options” on page 47.
1 Be sure to use a date field (instead of a text or number field) to store
dates. To avoid confusion when using dates, always use four-digit
years.
1 Use text fields instead of number fields to store postal codes, phone
numbers, and other values with leading zeroes or characters like
hyphens or parentheses.
1 Although you can’t find or sort records based on a container field,
you can define a text field to describe or identify the contents of the
container. Then, you can find or sort records based on the data in that
text field.
1 To change the way data is displayed in text, number, date, time,
and timestamp fields, see “Formatting field data on a layout” on
page 56.
Defining text, number, date, time, timestamp, or
container
fields
1. With the database open, choose File menu > Define > Database.
2. In the Define Database dialog box, click the Fields tab.
3. If your file contains more than one table, select the appropriate
table from the Table list.
4. For the Field Name box, type a name for the field.
See “About naming fields” on page 39.
5. For Type, select a field type.
See “About choosing a field type” on page 40.
You can enter a description of the field in the Comment box.
6. Click Create.
7. To define options for the field, click Options.
For more information about field options, see Help.
8. Continue to define fields, or click OK.
Defining calculation fields
1. With the database open, choose File menu > Define > Database.
2. In the Define Database dialog box, click the Fields tab.
3. If your file contains more than one table, select the appropriate
table from the Table list.
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 45.
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 46.
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.
Make the field
repeating
Click the Storage tab, then select Maximum number of
repetitions. Type the number of repetitions (up to 1000),
then click OK. For more information, see Help.
Select options for
indexing the field
Click the Storage tab, select the options, then click OK.
Make the field use one
value for all records in
the file
Click the Storage tab, select Use global storage, then
click OK.
Create a link between
the “parent” data field
and the Furigana
“child” field, so that
when you input Kanji
characters into the
“parent” field, the
corresponding Kana
reading appears in the
Furigana “child” field.
Click the Furigana tab, select Use Furigana Field, the
Furigana field, and the Kana reading input format, then
click OK.
Note This option is available if your operating system
is configured to support Japanese text entry.
Available for text fields only.