FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual

Building a Data Tunneling Interface

Finally, it’s time to start the actual construction. Start with the new global field. It’s an easy place to begin, and logical too, since you need the global field for all the subsequent steps.

Creating a Global Field

Since the context of your interface is the Expenses table, that’s where you add the field. Open the Customers database and proceed as follows:

1. Choose File →Manage Database and switch to the Fields tab. From the Table pop-up menu, choose Expenses.

   FileMaker shows the fields in the Expenses table.

2. In the Field Name text box, enter Global Invoice ID, change its type to Number, and then click Create.

   The new field appears in the field list. (See the box on Building a Global Field Layout to see why you’ve put the word “global” in this field’s name.)

3. Click Options and then, in the Field Options dialog box, click the Storage tab.

   FileMaker shows you the field storage options. You first saw these on Global storage.

4. Turn on “Use global storage (one value for all records),” and then click OK.

   FileMaker creates the field, and it now appears in the Field list.

You use this new global field as a key field in the next section.

Creating a New Table Occurrence Group

Before you start throwing new TOs on the graph, review your goals for the new layout. Its purpose is to show you an invoice based on data you enter in a global field, and to show the job name and a list of line items related to that job.

Since the Assign Line Items layout needs the context of the ...