Filemaker Pro 9 (58)

Question 1

5. 3.14.2

1. What are the PROPER steps for entering FIELDS in a table?

Answer 1

a. Enter PRIMARY KEYS on ALL TABLES
b. Enter FOREIGN KEYS on ALL TABLES
c. Enter all the OTHER FIELDS on ALL TABLES.
This is not the FASTEST, EASIEST method, but an ORGANIZED APPROACH PAYS OFF.

Question 2

2. Adding the FOREIGN KEYS requires a little more thought than the PRIMARY KEYS, but not much. You start by:

Answer 2

looking at the ENTITY RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM, the CROW’S FEET will show you where the FOREIGN KEYS go.

Question 3

3. Remember that a FOREIGN KEY is just:

Answer 3

a PRIMARY KEY from another table.

Question 4

4. Each table with a CROW’S FOOT stuck to it needs a FOREIGN KEY inside it. WHAT SHOULD THE FIELD BE CALLED?

Answer 4

Simple: find the other end of the line, that’s the ENTITY THE FOREIGN KEY POINTS TO, and name the FIELD APPROPRIATELY. For example, the LINE ITEMS TABLE needs a field called INVOICE ID.

Question 5

5. Why do FOREIGN KEY FIELDS also need to be UNIQUE?

Answer 5

They DO NOT. They’re just plain TEXT FIELDS. NO NEED TO AUTO ENTER SERIAL NUMBERS in these fields, and NO NEED to turn on the PROHIBIT MODIFICATION DURING DATA ENTRY option.

Question 6

6. You tell Filemaker how the tables in your database fit together (ARE LINKED) by:

Answer 6

MATCHING UP KEYS

Question 7

7. In writing, how do you denote what TABLE a FIELD belongs in?

Answer 7

Use the DOUBLE COLON ( :: ). A ‘JOB ID’ FOREIGN KEY FIELD in the EXPENSES TABLE would be written as: EXPENSES::JOB ID

Question 8

8. FileMaker figures out by itself which lines need CROW’S FEET. It does this by ASSUMING EVERY END OF EVERY LINE NEEDS A CROW’S FOOT UNLESS:

Answer 8

a. The field used in the relationship is a SERIAL NUMBER

b. The field used in the relationship has the UNIQUE VALIDATION TURNED ON.