How to work with fields where you want automated data (formula) that you can manually override?

[Nathans]

If I’m remembering my FileMaker days correctly, I had the option to have a field filled by a formula/action, and I could then enter something into that field if I wanted to change the info.

For example, I’m working on an attendance database in which I check students by creating a record. The creation time of that record is used by a formula field to determine if they were on time or late. I’m trying to figure out what to do if, for example, I step out for some reason and end up logging them in later than they arrive. In that case, I’d want to override the “calculated late”.

The best I’ve come up with is to have 2 fields: 1. a Manual Entry Late/Present field and 2. the Formula Based Late/Present field that includes an addition to use the value from the Manual field if it’s not empty. Is there a better way?

[Jeremy_Oglesby]

No, there’s not a better way. That’s the best way to handle this kind of situation. So you’ll do something like:

IF(
   {Override Late/Present},
   {Override Late/Present},
   ... << your created-time formula >>
)

where {Override Late/Present} is a manual entry Date/Time field that you can hide in your table and only access when needed by expanding a record to access the hidden fields, or else placing it at the end of your list of visible fields.

[Nathans]

Perfect - thanks much!