Database Reference
In-Depth Information
NOTE
The word you're clicking is called a “button,” which is just a tool that you can configure yourself.
See
Creating a Button
to learn how you can create custom buttons for your database. You can also
see the View menu for the menu commands that switch views of your data.
Viewing a Table
Since it's a database, FileMaker has lots of power that spreadsheets don't have. But lots of
people prefer to see their data in columns and rows that look like a spreadsheet. That's what
the “table” button does for you here. Click the button to view your found set in FileMaker's
Table view and then see
Modifying Table View
for more information on how you can cus-
tomize this view of your data.
Creating a New Window
You can make another window by choosing Window→New Window. A second window
doesn't mean you have a second database—you just have a new view into the one you're
already looking at. Your new window is the same size and shape as the original, just offset a
little down and to the right. It has the exact same set of records you were browsing, along
with the same current record. Now you can switch to another record or do something com-
pletely different in the new window, without affecting what's displayed in the first one.
NOTE
If your original window is maximized, the new window lands right on top of it, not to the lower
right.
Multiple windows are useful when you're working with one set of found records and you
need to do another search. You can perform a find in a new window without losing the setup
in the original window. Say you've been working with a list of all your contacts who don't
have email addresses and then suddenly get the paperwork you need to edit the detail on an-
other record. Although you can enter data on the list layout, all the fields you need may not
be on that layout. Just create a new window, switch to the detail layout, and then look up the
record you want to edit (see
Figure 1-18
). Your missing email group is safe and sound in the
first window. (See the box on
Record Locking
to see what problems can happen when you
edit the same record in multiple windows.)
