FileMaker® Pro Design & Scripting For Dummies®

Chapter 6. Finding and Sorting Your Data

In This Chapter

• Searching through your data

• Using the built-in search functions

• Building custom search functions

• Sorting table columns

If you have ever moved from one house to another, you know what a nightmare it is! Especially if you have a bunch of unmarked boxes. What I really like, though, is when I help my friends move. I throw in a box that I packed with junk from my own place. Then I wait for the stories later about how they found a strange box full of stuff they never saw before. (Snicker.)

When moving a bunch of boxes from one location to another, if they're not sorted or marked, it becomes a major pain in the seat. You feel the same pain if you can't find the data that you want. FileMaker shines in avoiding that pain. Not only does FileMaker have a very sophisticated search function, but it also provides functions for easily sorting your data.

If you need a FileMaker database to work with to try your hand at the searching and sorting tasks covered in this chapter, you can download the Hey, Look at Me! database file for this chapter from the Web site mentioned in the Introduction. This file has some additional data for searching and sorting, and I've included some code for supporting the addition of Actions records, which are records providing an audit trail of the actions you've performed.

Searching for Data

Searching for data in FileMaker is actually very easy. You can almost do it blindfolded. But then, it would be hard to see the results. ...