Very Computer

Is there a limit to the max number of fields a db can have?

Im currently have to create a report with a break down of  7 items,  per
month with claims per Item adding in totals, percentages and such. approx 20
field per month,  showing 1 year of information. I was going to try and do
this with relationships and portals but i dont think the numbers would be
accurate, a three month contract purchased in january expiring in march with
no claims just gets deleted , using rel. and portals , january total sales
will change.

Im sure others have run across similiar situations to this, and how to
approach it.

There is no set limit to the numbers of fields. However, trying to
create a cross-tab system in FM is often fraught with problems. May I
ask if you've considered subsummary reports and whether they might
provide the required information even if it doesn't present *exactly*
like a spreadsheet cross-tab kind of printout?

Another alternative is to keep the information in FM, and create the
reports in Excel. FM 5.5 plays excellently with Excel, even to the
extent of being able to create a chart in Excel and update it with live
data from FM using Publishing.

Creating 20 new fields (or is that 20 x 7?) per month, is, I guarantee
you, the wrong way to structure your file.
--
Lynn Allen              Allen & Allen Semiotics
FSA Associate           Filemaker Consulting & Training

According to the FileMaker Pro Limitations record in the
FAQ:

Number of Fields per Record = Limited only by disk space or maximum file
size.

Cheers

Webko

Thanks Lynn & Tim,

File size i dont think will ever be a issue, i was more concerned with all
the extra 120 fields that will never be used until the following year. and
cluttering our customerdb,
20 fields per month mostly globals, few calcs

reporting prior to Jan was done with monthly excel files. just thought i
might be able to get it all out of FM..

Somehow just posting to this NG, just sparks a different thought or
approachs.   I Luv this NG and FM :c)
(maybe just be stopping for a few or maybe magic....)

I think I would be better off just creating a new db with a PriKey like
12002, 22002, 32002 ect representing monthYear and a concated value of the
same in my customerdb, create the relationship and just update the related
one record value upon saving the customers contract.

We or I have only been using filemaker since January this year. (Since a
failed attempt from a company in philly, of a siebel/great plains
implimentation. ) and still learning from questions and awnsers from this NG
and 5 big FM books.

    Thanks Again
        Ted