User manual

54 FileMaker Pro User’s Guide
Working with fields on a layout
After you create a layout, you can place new fields on it, remove
fields you don’t want displayed, and determine the format in which
you want data displayed.
Fields on a layout are objects, which you can select, move, resize,
and reshape. In Layout mode, each field displays its field name,
formatted with its attributes for font, size, style, alignment, line
spacing, and color. All fields except container fields display text
baselines to indicate where the data appears in Browse mode and to
help you align fields with each other.
Keep these points in mind:
1 A field that doesn’t appear on a layout still exists in the database,
and its data can be used in calculations and summaries.
1 To control the formatting for data in a field (text formatting,
formats for number, date, time, timestamp, and container fields) as
well as how the field looks (fill and border settings, scroll bars, and
so on), choose field formatting options with no fields selected.
FileMaker Pro applies these formats to all fields added later. You can
also specify formatting options individually for each field. See
“Formatting field data on a layout” on page 56.
Placing and removing fields on a layout
You can place a field anywhere on any layout, as many times as you
want. (You can place only fields that you’ve defined. See
“Defining
database fields” on page 39).
You get different results by placing the same field in different
locations on the layout. For example:
1 Add the same summary field to a subsummary part to calculate
totals for each group of sorted records, and to a grand summary part
to get totals for all the records in a table.
1 Add a field to the header or footer part to repeat data from the first
record or the last record on the page as a header or footer. (For
example, add a
Last Name field to the header in a directory.)
1 Add the same related field directly on a layout to see the field’s
value in the first related record, or inside a portal to see values from
more than one related record. (A portal is a layout object that displays
records from related tables.)
To place a field on a layout:
1. In Layout mode, choose the layout you want to work on from the
Layout pop-up menu.
2. Drag a field from the Field tool to the position you want on the
layout. (Or choose
Insert menu > Field.)
As you drag the field onto the layout, you see a border and text
baselines to help you align the field with other objects on the layout.
Release the mouse button when the field is where you want it.
Note If you’re placing a related field in a portal, position it in the first
row of the portal. Make sure each field in the portal is from the same
related table from which the portal is set up to display records.
Fields
display
field
names
Text baseline
Field label
Field tool
Field tool
The field’s border and
baselines appear as you drag
the fields onto the layout