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Contents > Editing objects on layouts > Selecting and working with objects on a layout > Specifying formats for fields containing numbers
Specifying formats for fields containing numbers
You can control how FileMaker Pro displays the values in number fields, calculation fields with numeric results, and summary fields.
To specify formats for fields containing numbers:
1. In Layout mode, select one or more fields that display numeric values.
For more information, see Selecting objects.
2. Choose Format menu > Number.
3. In the Number Format dialog box, select the formats you want to use.
You see an example of the options you choose in the Sample area.
To display numbers Do this
Rounded as needed or expressed in scientific notation, so the number fits within the default field boundaries
Select General format.
Exactly as entered (if the value has more digits than will display in the field, a ? appears in the field)
Select Leave data formatted as entered.
As a Boolean value (a value that is generally expressed as one of two values — zero or non-zero)
Select Format as Boolean.
To change the default values, type a new value (up to seven characters) for Show non-zeros as and Show zeros as (such as "Yes" and "No").
As a decimal number
Select Format as decimal.
To specify that each value be displayed with the same number of places, select Fixed number of decimal digits and type a value. (A positive value specifies places to the right of the decimal place, a negative value specifies places to the left.)
To change the character that separates the whole value of the number from the fractional part, for Decimal separator, type a character.
To include a character to separate every 3 digits, click Use thousands separator and type a character.
To include a Kanji separator, click Use Kanji separator and choose either the every 4th place or full notation options.
To specify special formatting for negative numbers, in the Negative area, for Format as, choose a notation. To display a negative numbers in color (for example, red), select Use color and choose a color.
As a percentage (FileMaker Pro multiplies the value by 100 and displays %)
Select Format as decimal. Then select Use notation and choose Percent.
As currency
Select Format as decimal. Then select Use notation and choose one of the four Currency options from the list. You can choose whether the currency symbol:
leads before or trails after the value
appears inside or outside of the negative sign
To change the currency symbol, for Currency symbol, type a character.
As nothing if the number is zero
Select Format as decimal. Then select Do not display number if zero
Using a different Japanese numeral type (if you're using a font that contains Japanese characters)
Select Format as decimal. Then, for Numeral type, choose Half-Width, Full-Width, Kanji Numeral (Modern), or Kanji Numeral.
With different text formatting
Click Text Format. In the Text Format dialog box, choose text attributes, then click OK. For more information, see Specifying text formats for fields.
4. Click OK.
Notes
If you specify General format and the field value is a number with 10 or more digits, FileMaker Pro displays the number using scientific notation, or rounds the number, or both, if necessary, to fit within the 10-character maximum for the default field boundaries. When a number is expressed in scientific notation, you see a decimal number expressed as a power of 10, for example, 123,456,789,000 could be displayed as 1.2346E+11. If the field value is a number of fewer than 10 digits, specifying General format produces the same result as specifying Leave data formatted as entered.
If FileMaker Pro displays a number in a field as a ?, try enlarging the field boundaries in Layout mode to see the entire value. (When you print a layout with a field that is displaying a ?, FileMaker Pro prints as many digits as will fit within the field boundaries and truncates the other digits.)
Numbers formatted as decimals are rounded when the number of decimal digits exceeds the specified fixed number of decimal digits. (For example, if you enter 789.78 and you specify 3 fixed digits, you see 789.780 in the field; if you specify 0 fixed digits, you see 790; if you specify -2 fixed digits, you see 800.) However, FileMaker Pro stores and uses the unrounded number for calculations and summaries.
Only numbers are displayed and printed in a number field formatted as decimal (except for separators and notations specified in the Number Format dialog box). To display text and symbols (for example, @1.98 per pound) in a number field, select Leave data formatted as entered. If you use the field in a calculation or summary, only the numeric value is used.
If you specify Format as Boolean, any values in the number field that contain non-numeric data display as blank because they do not contain any numeric content. For example, the value "ABC" would display as blank. However, non-numeric field content returns false in calculations.
For more information about defining number fields, see Defining number fields.
Related topic
Defining conditional formatting for layout objects
Contents > Editing objects on layouts > Selecting and working with objects on a layout > Specifying formats for fields containing numbers
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