Ability understands many types of information:
textual
numeric
date
time
In addition to these basic data types, Ability can also work with:
Large blocks of text: comments and memorandums
Automatically incremented numbers: invoice numbering, membership registration.
Automatically calculated formulas: cost equals unit_price multiplied by quantity.
Predetermined lists of valid entries: {yes | no | pass}, {Green | Blue | Brown}
Predetermined logical entries: {yes | no}, {true | false}, {1 | 0}
OLE objects: pictures, graphics files, other file formats
Ability recognizes that all of these different types of information have unique requirements for data entry, storage and formatting. When you create a field in the design window, you must choose one of the ten standard data types, and appropriate formatting for the type of field (see step 3 of Creating fields in a database). As the most common type of field, the Character data type is the default.
The following sections explain the various field data types (Character, Numeric, Date/Time, Memo, Incremental, Calculated, Logical, Enumerated, OLE) and their associated formatting properties.
See: