Database Reference
In-Depth Information
GEM IN THE ROUGH: REFINING YOUR FINDS
When FileMaker looks for records, it expects them to match your find request
exactly
. For example,
if you put “William” in the First Name field, and “Adama” in the Last Name field, FileMaker finds
only William Adama. William Keikeya doesn't cut it, and neither does Lee Adama. FileMaker ig-
nores any fields that are empty in your request, so it doesn't matter what William's title is, because
you didn't type anything into the Title field when setting up your find request.
Finding the right records can be a real balancing act. Be too specific and you may not find anything
at all; be too vague and you find more than you can handle. When determining whether or not a giv-
en record matches your Find request, FileMaker may be more liberal than you'd expect. The next
chapter explains how FileMaker decides when a match is good enough, and how you can change its
decision-making process.
Here are some rules of thumb for creating find requests:
▪ Since FileMaker matches field values flexibly, you can often save typing and improve accuracy
by being brief. For example, if you're looking for someone named “Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla,”
just type
ruf
in the First Name field and
sar
in the Last Name field. Chances are you'll find the
right guy, and you don't have to worry about spelling out the whole name.
▪ Enter data only in fields you're sure you need. For example, even if you know Rufus lives in
Montana, you don't have to put Montana in the State field in your find request.
▪ If you find more records than you wanted, choose Records→Modify Last Find and enter more
specific data in more fields to narrow the search. Better yet, read
Chapter 2
, where you'll learn
about the many powers of Find mode.
Sorting Records
Alphabetical order is probably the most common way to sort things, but FileMaker is by no
means limited to the good ol' ABCs. You can sort the records in any order you want, as often
as you want. You can even do a sort within a sort, as you'll see later in this section.
Understanding Sorting
Don't confuse sorting with finding. When you sort, FileMaker doesn't change the records in-
cluded in your found set. Instead, it rearranges the records you're viewing into a new order.
For example, if you need a short-term loan, you might sort your contacts by annual income.
FileMaker still shows the same found set of contacts, but with Uncle Moneybags at the very
top of the list.
The process always begins the same way: First, choose Records→Sort Records or click the
Sort button in the Status toolbar. You see the Sort Records dialog box shown in
Figure 1-16
,
