FileMaker Pro 4.1 Mac User's Guide

1-4 FileMaker Pro User’s Guide
Fields and field definitions
Fields are the basis of a database file. Fields store, calculate, and display
the data you have entered or calculated. For example, you might create
a field named Tour Name to hold a descriptive name for each tour you
add to a Tours database file.
The information you put into a field—by typing, copying, looking up, or
importing—is its value. Field values in a FileMaker Pro file can be:
1 text
1 a number
1 a date
1 a time
1 a graphic, sound, or movie
1 the result of a formula that calculates the field’s value
1 a summary of the values in the field for a group of records
Each field has a set of characteristics that defines how it will store,
display, and interpret data, and whether the value is typed or entered into
the field or is the result of a calculation. These characteristics are the
field definition. You create a field in a file and define it to suit your
needs. For example, the type of data in the field and whether to calculate
the field’s value are both part of the field definition.
This field is designed to hold
only numbers
This field is designed to calculate
a value based on other values in
the record