Database Reference
In-Depth Information
NOTE
If you're viewing the Fields tab in Manage Database, you have to select at least one field for the
Print button to become clickable. Then, when you click Print, you'll get details for any field that's
highlighted. To select and print just a few, Ctrl-click (
⌘
-click) each field you want to print and then
click Print. If you want a printout of
all
the fields in the table, first select one field and then choose
Edit→Select All. Now every field is selected, and the Print button prints them all.
Beyond Text: Container Fields
Text and numbers are the backbone of most databases, but as you saw when you placed a
PDF of a lease agreement right in the record with its data (
Embedding a File in a Container
you can store a photograph of each employee along with the personnel record, or add product
shots to your inventory database. In either case, you use the graphics much like data. You
could print picture badges or product catalogs using your new container fields.
Unlike all the other field types, container fields don't expect (and won't accept) typed text.
Instead, you use the Insert menu to insert just about any file you want, including pictures,
sounds, animation, music, and movies. You can even put any file from your hard drive into a
container field, like a PDF file or a Word document.
NOTE
The Fields database you downloaded at the beginning of this chapter has a container field on the
Container Field tab of the Lease Agreement layout that you can use to follow this section.
The Insert menu shows four commands for placing items into a container field: Picture,
QuickTime, Sound, and File. Once you select a command and then choose a file to insert,
you can also choose whether to store the file inside FileMaker, or just store a reference to the
file. In the next sections, you'll learn how you can use these commands to get what you need.
NOTE
This section is about
using
container fields. See
Embedding a File in a Container Field
to learn how
to create them.
