User manual

Table Of Contents
Chapter 2
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Creating databases 43
If you didn’t install templates and want to use them, see the
Installation Guide for FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Pro Advanced.
1. In FileMaker Pro, choose File menu > New Database.
2. In the New Database dialog box, do the following:
If Show templates in New Database dialog box isn’t selected in the
General tab of the Preferences dialog box (or if the templates aren’t
installed), the New Database dialog box doesn’t appear. Skip to the
next step.
3. In the dialog box that appears, type a name for the file and choose
a different folder, if needed.
Windows: For Save as type, select FileMaker Files. If you don’t type a
filename extension, FileMaker
Pro adds .fp7 to the filename. (To view
filename extensions in Windows, see the Windows operating system
Help.)
4. Click Save.
The Define Database dialog box appears.
FileMaker Pro automatically creates the first table and the first layout.
The table and the layout are given the same name as the file.
To define fields, see the next section.
For more information about creating FileMaker Pro files, see Help.
Defining database fields
To define a new field, you give it a name and select a field type. Then
you select options that determine how the field interprets, enters,
calculates, stores, and displays data. These characteristics make up the
field definition. See “Setting options for fields” on page 49 for
information on setting these options.
See “Formatting field data on a layout” on page 63 for information
about setting options for field formats, which control how data appears
on a layout.
The following sections describe how to define fields using the Fields
tab in the Define Database dialog box.
To Do this
Create a file using a
template
Click Create a new file using a template, then double-click
the name of a template.
Create a file without
using a template
Click Create a new empty file, then click OK.
Open an existing file See “Opening files” on page 14.
This field stores only numbers
This field calculates a value based on
another value in the record
(“Discount” is 10% of “Unit Price”)
This field stores multiple values
ET14Product ID
Jacket
Product Name
ClothingCategory
BlueColors
$52.50Unit Price
$5.25Discount
Black
These fields store text