Database Reference
In-Depth Information
And you've already seen where these settings live—the old familiar Inspector's Data tab.
Number Formatting
In this chapter's example file,
People.fmp12
, go to the Number Formatting layout, select the
“before “number field” and turn your attention to the Data Formatting section on the Inspect-
or's Data tab. Click the button with the “.01” on it, as seen in
Figure 8-12
, to activate the
number formatting options. You can use most of these in any combination, so the possibilit-
ies are vast.
Figure 8-12. FileMaker has six number format settings: “General,” “As entered,” “Boolean,”
“Decimal,” “Currency,” and “Percent.” If you're looking for the kind of number formatting op-
tions you're accustomed to in a spreadsheet program, choose one of the bottom three options and
go to town.
General
If you don't tell it otherwise, FileMaker assigns the General format to any new number fields
you create. Usually, this format means, “Show numbers the same way someone types them.”
But if your number has too many digits (either a very large number, or a number with lots of
decimal places), then FileMaker rounds the number or uses scientific notation to shorten it.
