VISUAL QUICKPRO GUIDE FileMaker Pro 7 Advanced FOR WINDOWS AND MACINTOSH [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Cleaning Up a Database Before Conversion

Upgrading to version 7 provides the perfect opportunity to clean up any residual clutter from previous versions. For example, it is a good idea to delete fields, scripts, or layouts that you no longer use before doing the conversion.

In addition, there are a few small changes in how FileMaker 7 handles dates and calculations that you should address in your current FileMaker version before you tackle the conversion.

FileMaker 7 stores years in a date field as four digit numbers. If confronted with a date field whose year contains only two digits, it assumes the century to be the current one if the number is within 30 years of the current date. It also assumes that any dates more than 30 years from the current date are in the past. So in 2005, it would treat a two-digit "20" as 2020, and a two-digit "70" as 1970.

But when converting from earlier versions, FileMaker 7 does not use this rule. It assumes that all dates are from the past and will convert any dates with two-digit years to "19XX." So if you have any dates entered with two-digit years that should begin "20," you must update the data before conversion.

Note that the following tasks and the figures that accompany them illustrate steps that take place in FileMaker version 6. You must work in the earlier release to clean up the database before converting to version 7. You may have to adapt these steps slightly if you are working in an even earlier version.

To update to four-digit dates

1 .Open the existing database in the earlier version of FileMaker.

2 .Review the data in all your date fields to make sure that the year entered has four digits.

3 .Update any two-digit years to four-digit years.

FileMaker 7 no longer supports date separators such as ":" or "+". If you have date fields or calculations that include these characters, you must remove them before conversion or the dates will not convert properly.

To replace date separators

1 .Open the existing database in the earlier version of FileMaker.

In our example, we use FileMaker Pro 6.

2 .

Choose Records > Show All Records (Control+J/Command+J).

3 .Click in the data field that contains the custom date separator.

4 .

Choose Records > Replace Contents (Control+=/Command+=).

5 .In the Replace Contents dialog box, click the "Replace with calculated result" radio button (Figure 15.1).

6 .When the Specify Calculation dialog box appears, scroll down the function list on the right and double-click Substitute (Figure 15.2).

7 .In the parentheses to the right of Substitute, double-click "text." From the field list on the left, choose the date field you want to update (Figure 15.3).

8 .Double-click "search string" to the right of the field name. Click the quotes operator button. Type the custom date separator character (Figure 15.4).

9 .Double-click "replace string." Click the quotes operator and type / in between the quotes (Figure 15.5).

10 .Click OK. In the Replace Contents dialog box, click Replace. The date field is now properly formatted and the file can be converted.

Unlike earlier versions, FileMaker 7 does not recognize alphabetic characters as numbers. So if you have been using "Y" or "T" to indicate Yes or True (and conversely "N" or "F" to indicate No or False) in Number fields, you will have to change any calculations that reference those fields. We do this by adding the Left text function to the original formula, which will return a text result.

To replace alphabetic data in calculation fields

1 .

In the database containing a calculation referencing a number field as text, choose File > Define Fields (Control+Shift+D/ Command+Shift+D).

2 .In the Define Fields dialog box, double-click the calculation field. (We use Discounted.) In the Specify Calculation dialog box, click in front of the number field name (Figure 15.6).

3 .Type Left and then an open parenthesis. Click after the field name and type, and then 1. Type a close parenthesis (Figure 15.7). Click OK and then Done.

Now that you've updated to four-digit years, replaced your old date separators, and updated your calculation fields, you can safely leave version 6 and move to converting your files into version 7.