Formula Field Properties Window

Name

Accepts a name for the field. If you have not named a field it is indicated by the prefix "eg_" and the sample data from the first record encountered. Field names may be up to 62 characters in length and may contain uppercase and lowercase characters, spaces and punctuation except for period (.), exclamation point (!), accent grave (`) and brackets ([ ]). Names may begin with any character, except for an underscore or space. If a name is entered with leading spaces, the name is accepted but the leading spaces are ignored.

Note

 If you elect to enforce DBF field naming rules, field names must adhere to the dBASE III field naming convention:

• Names may be up to ten characters long and may contain any letter or number and the underscore character (_).

• The first character must be a letter.

• Spaces and punctuation are not allowed.

Type

Displays the field’s type. The drop-down list contains all available field types: character, date/time, numeric, and memo. Monarch Classic initially sets the field type according to the data it finds in the field.

Decimals

Accepts a value representing the number of decimal places of accuracy that will be calculated for a numeric field. (This value is grayed for character, date, and memo fields.) Note that the data length value must be large enough to accommodate both the integer portion and the decimal portion of the largest number that the calculated field expression is likely to produce. Monarch Classic rounds all values in the field to accommodate the specified number of decimal places.

Format

Displays the selected format for the field. The drop-down list contains all available formats for the field type. For character fields, the only format available is General. For numeric fields, the formats are General, Thousands, Currency, Percentage, and Time Span. For Date/Time fields, the formats are General, Date – Short and date – Long. For memo fields, the only format available is General. For more information on field formats see Changing a field's type.

Display Width

The display width refers to the width of the field (or column) on screen in the Table window. If the display width of a numeric field is set to less than the width of the field values, the field values display as pound signs (####). For character fields and date fields, field values are truncated on screen. In all cases, the actual data in the field remains unaffected; the display width setting affects only the way that the data appears on screen.

Hidden

Select to hide the field from view. Note: Hidden fields are not available for export or copy operations. They can be restored (i.e., re-displayed) by selecting Edit, File List from the menu to open the Field List dialog, then unchecking the Hide check box for the field you want to re-display.

Alignment

Displays the current alignment setting of each field. Text fields are by default left aligned, while numeric fields are right aligned. Alignment settings carry over to the summary.

Fields

Displays a list of fields from the table. When a field is selected, its field type is displayed in the bottom box of the dialog.

Operators

Displays a list of available comparison operators and logical operators. The operators list also includes parenthesis, braces (to enclose date values), quotes (to enclose character strings) and special comments brackets. When an item is selected, a brief description of the item displays in the dialog's status bar.

Functions

Displays a list of the available database functions. When a function is selected, its syntax and a brief description of the function are displayed below the Expression field. Note: You may limit the list of functions displayed by selecting a specific type of function from the drop-down list (e.g., if you select Date from the drop-down list, only date functions will be listed).

Expression

Accepts a valid calculated field expression. Calculated field expressions may be up to 32768 characters in length and may include field names, operators, functions, and constants. For more information, see Creating expressions.

Zoom Slider

Use this slider to increase and decrease the font size.