Global

[Cillies]

Hi, I have started using Filemaker pro 5.5 and therefore a beginner so please excuse the simplicity of this question.

Could someone please explain the function of "Global".

Thanks any help will be appreciated.

 

[marty1452]

The left side on your browse screen has a rolodex type of icon. This indicates a change from one "record" in the database to another. If you had a client name field for example, you could click on this icon and visually see one name, which is one record, and then the next and so on. If you had a global field in this same scenario, the contents of this field would not change from record to record. So global is a constant value from one record to another. When you use a global field will depend on whether or not the contents are should be the same from record to record.

I hope this helps.

Marty

 

[BiggerDon]

The best explaination I have seen about Global fields in FileMaker is that they do not belong to any record. In the past, I have been taught to think of global variables as ones belonging to all records, depending on where that global was defined. However, in a networked solution be aware that each users Global can to be different.

 

[D0N]

Like the guys above alluded, don't expect the value you assign a global field to be there the next time you open your database. Basically, they're a handy way to set up a temporary variable without increasing the size of your database.

 

[Cillies]

Cheers Guys, I think I know how I can use it, i'll just need more time with it.

As they say practice makes perfect