Hey Dave,
>
>Never dealt with the two currencies before, but I had a challenge a
>while back that looks similar.
>
>I needed to add a second address with a check box to select which one
>gets used in labels and the like. There are lots of places the
>address gets used, and I didn't want to track them all down. I chose
>to let the existing address fields stand as is. I added sets of data
>entry fields for the two addresses, and a field to mark the address
>to use. The existing address fields became calculation fields, with
>the result based on the selection flag.
>
>Similarly, you could add a new Amount Entry field in the payments
>file, and as you suggest, a flag to indicate which currency and an
>exchange rate. The existing field Amount would get set based on a
>calculation with the amount entered, flag and exchange rate. The
>existing Amount field would still get used in all the summaries, in
>consistent units.
I thought of doing it this way, but then there'd be other things to change. Namely,
scripts that work off the existing Amount field. (Like the one from Pledges that
enters payments - I'm sure there are several more.) And we have the further
difficulty that in this case we want to display the field in its base currency (in
USD/CAD) every time it appears as a single payment, and only convert it for
aggregation. So then I'd also have to change every instance of the Amount field on a
layout. But maybe it would still be easier. That's one reason that Analyzer file
would be helpful. Did you do yours on a Mac using Print2Pict? That's what I'm
lacking, so I don't get script references. No-one else has responded, so if you are
still willing to send it, I would be most grateful.
>You've probably already thought this through, but you will want to
>preserve the historical record of calculated amounts (since they are
>already in the bank). You'll need to set up the calculation so when
>you change the exchange rate, calculated amounts already entered
>don't change. I'm not sure at first glance how to make that happen.
>FileMaker isn't set up to trap a data entry event, so you can't
>easily trigger a script with a Set Field step to post the calculated
>amount. I think there is a plug-in that will do this, though.
Yeah, I've got this covered. Exchange rate (lookup from "global" field in Setup) is
stored with each payment. When excange rate changes, they change the field in setup,
but all past payments keep their old rate.
Thanks,
Matthew
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