User manual

Chapter 3
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Creating databases 63
6. To select indexing and global storage options for the field, click Storage Options, select options in the
Storage Options dialog box, then click OK.
7. Click OK to close the Specify Calculation dialog box.
8. Continue to define fields, or click OK.
Note If your FileMaker Pro file accesses data from external ODBC data sources, you can add supplemental fields
to specify calculations using external data. For more information, see
“Using supplemental fields” on page 65.
For more information about creating or changing calculation fields or the use of context in calculations, see Help.
Creating summary fields
Use summary fields to calculate values such as subtotals, averages, and grand totals across multiple records.
For example, a summary field can display in a report the grand total of all sales in the month of May.
Use the New Layout/Report assistant to create a report with grouped data (data in a summary field). See
“Creating layouts and reports” on page 70.
Tip You can use Table View in Browse mode to quickly create a dynamic report that groups your data by a
field, displays subtotals for a field, or creates subtotals for each group of data. For more information, see Help.
The value in a summary field can change depending on where you place the field on a layout, how many
records are in the found set, whether the records are sorted, and which mode you’re using.
If you’re modifying a layout that contains a summary field, you must know about layout parts to get the
results you want (see
“Working with parts on a layout” on page 90).
1. To create a summary field, follow steps 1–5 in “Creating and changing fields in the Manage Database
dialog box” on page 59.
2. Choose Summary as the field’s type, then click Create.
3. In the Options for Summary Field dialog box, select a summary type, then select the name of the field
you want to group by.
To Do this
Set the field type of the result Choose a data type for Calculation result is <value>. Choose the correct type for the
result you want. See “About choosing a field type” on page 58.
Make a calculated field repeating Select Number of repetitions, then type the number of repetitions.
Prevent calculation if all referenced
fields are empty
Select Do not evaluate if all referenced fields are empty.
When enabled, FileMaker Pro does not evaluate a calculation if all fields used by the
calculation are empty.
Select this type of
summary To summarize values in a field in the found set of records by
Total of Calculating the total of values in the field
Average of Calculating the average of values in the field
Count of Counting the number of records that contain a value for the field. For example, if a field
contains 100 values (one value for each record), the result of the count is 100.