Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Times
Although FileMaker's internal clock counts time as the number of seconds since midnight, a
time value doesn't always have to be a time of day. Depending on the field format, a time
value can be a time of day, like 2:30 p.m., or a time (as in duration, like 3 hours, 27 minutes).
TIP
FileMaker is savvy to the concept that time passes, but not all programs are. For instance, if you're
exporting data to Excel, you may want to make calculation fields that convert time fields containing
durations to a number field and then export the new field instead.
In both cases, times have a numeric value, in hours:minutes:seconds format. When you con-
sider a time of day, 14:30:05 represents 5 seconds after 2:30 p.m., but if you look at it as a
duration, it represents 14 hours, 30 minutes, and 5 seconds. If the time has fractional seconds
(a decimal point), then the numerical value does, too.
You can record how long your 5-year-old takes to find her shoes (34:26:18), or how long she
takes to find the Halloween candy (00:00:02.13).
The key to doing math with any kind of time value is to remember you're always adding and
subtracting amounts of seconds . Here are the guidelines:
▪ To get a time in the future or past, add or subtract a number of seconds or a time value. If
you know when a student finished her exam, and you know how long the exam took in
minutes (1 minute = 60 seconds), then you can figure out when she started:
Finish Time - ( Exam Duration * 60 )
▪ To get the number of seconds between two times, subtract one from the other. A Test Re-
porting database could store start and finish times for each exam. To find the duration,
use this calculation:
Finish Time - Start Time
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