find empty records with empty fields

[mweier]

how do I do a search for all records containing nothing in a given field? I know that ! will find all duplicates; is there some sort of special character that will search for the attribute checked by isEmpty()?

-thanks

 

[lebisol]

one of the ways would be making a calculated field (eg. MarkRecord) that will record 1 or 0 if the field in empty and then you do a search on field MarkRecord where it is 1 or 0.
MarkReocrd= Case(not isEmpty(searched_field),1,0)
here is a sample:

http://mostarnet.com/tutorials/filemaker/EmptySearch.zip

All the best!

> need more info?
:: don't click HERE ::

 

[stanl]

Please ignore the simplistic nature of this response, but you mention a special character. The = sign placed in a field while in FIND mode will return all records with that particular field empty.
Luck.
stanl

 

[lebisol]

....if the user has DB skills using "=" would work but....most people like to just click. When in find mode u can specify any condition...however, I think most users have issues with them
eg. find a range "..."
so, user has to type in [1/1/2002...2/2/2002] leaving a lot of room for errors...anyhow, depends on your desire.
All the best!

> need more info?
:: don't click HERE ::

 

[Schlogg]

I'm fairly tolerant with idiots but there is a limt - if a user has trouble keying '=' he/she should not get access to the computer.
There is a minor(?) problem with '=' in numeric fields. '=' finds records wehere the field has not yet been intialised but doesn't find the ones with '0' in them.

Cheers,
Paul J.

 

[lebisol]

"he/she should not get access to the computer."
LOL....what do u do if its your boss?
Just kidding....


> need more info?
:: don't click HERE ::

 

[mweier]

thanks to all for your help - the = sign is exactly what I was looking for (incidently I had come to the conclusion o fmaking a calc field to check IsEmpty and did that before reading yer answers...

thanks again!

-Matt