User manual

Creating databases 47
8. To display a custom message when the data doesn’t meet the
validation requirements, select Display custom message if validation
fails
, then type up to 255 characters.
9. Click OK to close the Options for Field dialog box, or click another
tab to set additional field options.
For more information, see Help.
About storage and indexing options
FileMaker Pro provides options for indexing fields and for storing
the results of calculations. You can:
1 Create an index, which is a list of the values stored in a field. An
index greatly speeds searches, but takes up space on your disk. You
can index text, number, date, time, and timestamp fields. You can also
index calculation fields if the results are text, numbers, dates, times,
or timestamps.
1 Store the result of a calculation field in your database, or you can
tell FileMaker
Pro to perform the calculation only when needed
(
unstored). Storing the result is faster but takes up more space on the
disk. You can specify storage options for text, number, date, time,
timestamp, and calculation fields.
1 Set any field (except summary fields) to share one value across all
records in a file if you select
Use global storage in the Storage tab of
the Options for Field dialog box. Fields defined with global storage
are also referred to as
global fields.
.
For more information about setting field options, see Help.
Defining database tables
Use database tables to organize and group your data by a common
characteristic or principle. Your database can contain as many tables
as you need to organize your data (limited only by the amount of
storage space on your hard disk).
In addition to storing data, FileMaker Pro uses tables to describe
relationships in the relationships graph, and establish the
context for
layouts and some calculations. In FileMaker Pro, context is the
starting point from which calculations and scripts are begun and
from which a relationship is evaluated in the relationships graph.
Does not exceed the specified number
of characters
Maximum number of characters, then
type the maximum number of
characters allowed
To require that
the entered value Select
Select validation
options for the field
Click Validation
Click Storage
Select the storage
option for the field