The recent release of FileMaker 20.2 introduces a feature that developers have long been asking for: the ability to define calculations at the layout level without resorting to workarounds (such as those we saw in Button Bar Segment Fun, part 1 and part 2.)
You can read the official word(s) from Claris here…
…and today I just want to share a few observations. First, in case you haven’t yet gotten your feet wet with layout calculations:
- Make sure you’re using FileMaker Pro 20.2 or later
- Go into layout mode
- Choose “Layout Calculation…” from the Insert menu
- The Specify Calculation dialog will appear
- Enter the syntax for your calculation, e.g.,
"Hello " & Get ( UserName ) - Click OK
You’ll see something like this in layout mode…
…and this in browse mode (if your user name happens to be Kevin).
Okay… let’s go back into layout mode for some experimentation. If you control-click on the layout calc block you can access the Specify Calculation dialog…
…but, if you prefer, you can also edit the layout calc directly on the layout.
