Category list

make a new database

New databases are created in the New Database dialog box. If you've just launched FileMaker Pro, the dialog box will appear automatically. If FileMaker is already running, choose File > New Database to open the dialog box.

A file dialog box appears. Name the database Investment Minder.fp7 , specify where on disk to store the file, and click the Save button.

Mac OS X (Tiger) file dialog box

The Define Database dialog box appears, open to the Fields tab. To create each new field, enter its name, choose a field type, and click Create.

The specific fields you'll create, as well as their field types and options, will be explained in the pages that follow.

about creating fields

At a minimum, a field definition consists of a field name and a type. The field type determines what kind of data will be stored in the field. Of the field types supported by FileMaker Pro 8, Investment Minder uses Text, Number, Date, Calculation, and Summary field types. Define each field listed in the following pages by entering the name in the Field Name box, choosing its field type from the Type drop-down list, and clicking Create. To set additional options for a field, you select the field name in the Define Database dialog box, click Options, and then click the appropriate tab on the Options dialog box.

We'll start by creating the fields for Main, the primary data entry layout. As you can see, the layout includes a tab control a new feature of FileMaker Pro 8. A different set of fields will be placed on each tab panel, reflecting the kinds of data we'll be gathering for each type of investment.

The Main layout has a tab control with four tab panels, one for each investment type we'll track.

To make it simple for you to create the necessary fields for the Main layout, we'll group them according to field type. You'll create all Text fields first, followed by the other field types. ( Note: Do not click OK to dismiss the Define Database dialog box until you've finished creating all the fields in this chapter.)

create Text fields

Text fields can store any kind of character data, including letters , numbers, and punctuation. Examples of Text fields include addresses, comments, and phone numbers. (Because phone numbers generally include non-numeric characters , such as minuses and parentheses, they are better represented as Text fields than as Number fields. In fact, any field that can contain a mixture of numeric and non-numeric characters should be a Text field.) The table below shows the names and descriptions of the Text fields you'll create for the Main layout.

Text Field Name	Description
Account Type	Classify the investment as Savings/Money Market, Stock/Mutual Fund, CD, or Savings Bond
Bond_Serial #	Bond identification number
CD_Certificate	CD certificate identification number
CD_Institution	Name of institution from which the CD was purchased
Description	Descriptive account identifier
Sav_Institution	Name of bank or money market institution
Sav_Savings Account	Savings or money market account identification number
Stk_Account Number	Brokerage account number
Stk_Broker	Broker's name
Stk_Brokerage Firm	Name of brokerage house
Stk_Phone	Broker's phone number
Taxable	Taxable investment: Yes, No, or ?

In the Define Database dialog box (see page 10), enter Account Type in the Field Name box, select Text from the Type drop-down list, and click Create. Repeat this procedure to create the other Text fields in the table.

Flylib.com

Category list

Similar pages

make a new database