Re: Request for Help from Fans of Filemaker Pro

[Barbara Shwom <bshwom@nwu.edu>]

In response to Jane Cogie's request for help with Filemaker Pro:

(I'm responding to this request on-list rather than off-list in case any
other Filemaker Pro users want to hear the answer.  All others, exit now or
prepare to be bored to death!)


Although Filemaker won't total non-numerical fields, one way to solve your
problem is to create a numerical field in each record (I call it the
"count" field) and in that field enter the number "1"  in each record.
Then,   create a layout which includes subsummaries for all the various
fields you'd want to count (for example, subsummary for student's current
writing course and subsummary for student's instructor.) In every
subsummary, be sure to include a subtotal for the numerical field.

To get a specific count, do a sort by the field for which you want the
count.  So, for example, if you sort by current writing course, you'll get
a list of all the tutoring sessions sorted by writing course; at the end of
the list for each course, there will be a subtotal of the sessions relating
to that course. If you're just looking for how many English 101 and 102
sessions there are, you can first do a find for English 101 and 102, then
do your sort. You'll have a list only of those sessions, with the subtotal
at the end of each course list.

To see how this works best, you can probably look at some of the Filemaker
pro templates that have to do with invoicing--and see how they handle
subtotals of dollar figures.

I hope this isn't too confusing. If more explanation will help, contact me
off list at bshwom@nwu.edu.




**********************
Barbara Shwom
Northwestern University
The Writing Program
1902 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208

Phone: 847/491-7690
Fax: 847/328-5536
E-mail: bshwom@nwu.edu
**********************