Calculating "days" in FileMaker Pro

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3 total messages Started by Steven Russell Thu, 13 Aug 1992 18:08

#184

Author: Steven Russell
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 18:08

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I am trying to create a calculated field in FileMaker Pro that will
return the number of days since a date located in another field.  For
example, if today is the 13th of August, I want to know how many days
have passed since (for example) June 27th, 1991.  Is there a simple
way to do this?  The calculation functions don't seem to lend
themselves well to this task, but I may not be using them properly. 
Can anyone help me out with this?

--
-Steven Russell
srussell@uoneuro.uoregon.edu

Re: Calculating "days" in FileMaker Pro

#186

Author: Brian Schipper
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 22:03

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srussell@cie.uoregon.edu (Steven Russell) writes:

>I am trying to create a calculated field in FileMaker Pro that will
>return the number of days since a date located in another field.  For
>example, if today is the 13th of August, I want to know how many days
>have passed since (for example) June 27th, 1991.  Is there a simple
>way to do this?  The calculation functions don't seem to lend
>themselves well to this task, but I may not be using them properly. 
>Can anyone help me out with this?

Sure.  Make a calculation field that returns a number result, and make
the calculation "Today - <datefield>", where <datefield> is the name
of the field you are computing the number of days from.

Brian
-- 
Internet: skip@claris.com                 AppleLink: SCHIPPER1

Re: Calculating "days" in FileMaker Pro

#185

Author: Charles Albrecht
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 22:06

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In article <1992Aug13.180842.26281@nntp.uoregon.edu> srussell@cie.uoregon.edu (Steven Russell) writes:
>I am trying to create a calculated field in FileMaker Pro that will
>return the number of days since a date located in another field.  For
>example, if today is the 13th of August, I want to know how many days
>have passed since (for example) June 27th, 1991.  Is there a simple
>way to do this?  The calculation functions don't seem to lend
>themselves well to this task, but I may not be using them properly. 
>Can anyone help me out with this?
>
>--
>-Steven Russell
>srussell@uoneuro.uoregon.edu

The function you've probably written is:  Today - FromDate
                                          ^^^^^ (Today is a FMPro function)
If you define this as a number, FM Pro will beep at you and give you 
a stern warning that the function will return a value of type "date."  If
you indicate that you do want to define it as a number, FileMaker will
gladly allow you to do it, and should give you what you're looking for.

A WARNING HERE.  If you have a large database, you will find that the Today
function recalculates each time you restart the database (on a new day).
A few years ago, I thought it would be nice to use the Today function to 
age financial accounts, but the time required to recalculate 2000 records
convinced me not to.


Good Luck,


Charles

----
Charles Albrecht                "Nonsense, they only say you can't survive
charlesa@ncar.ucar.edu           The Fire Swamp because no one ever has."
303/497-1828                        - Westley, The Dread Pirate Roberts

NCAR - Scientific Computing Division * P.O. Box 3000 * Boulder, Colorado  80307

The opinions you are about to have read are fictitious...
          ...any similarity to opinions living or dead is purely coincidental.

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