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Showing posts from January, 2008

Behavior of FileMaker Global Calculation Fields

Global Calc fields in FileMaker are often ignored because they are poorly understood. The inimitable Ray Cologon offered the following analysis some time ago. I came across a re-post of it from Mike Kim in my FMDiSC mail archive. It's so useful, I thought I would share it back out again: 1. A global calc will update automatically if it references a global field that is located in the same table and that field is edited by the current user. 2. A global calc will update automatically if it references a regular field that is located in the same table (and referenced directly) when that field is edited on any record by the current user. In this instance, the value of the global calc will depend on the value of the referenced field in the record in which that field has most recently been edited. When the global calc references multiple regular fields, its value will depend on the values in the instances of those fields located on the particular record where the most recently edit...

Atomic Context

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The key to flexible Sub Summary reporting in FileMaker Pro. Get the PowerPoint slides

Secure Thumb Drives

I'm a big fan of Scot Finnie's Newsletter Over the last few months he has been reviewing secure USB sticks (thumb drives). Scot's current "Top Product!" designation goes to the Lexar 4GB JumpDrive Lightning USB Drive , calling it's software encryption, "easy to use and accessible from both Mac and Windows" He also makes a good case for the Corsair Flash Padlock 2GB USB memory stick , originally bestowing it with the honor due to it's non-software security feature. He mainly gave it minor dings for it's lack of curb-appeal and 2GB max capacity. Check out more of Scot's product reviews here http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/reviews.htm