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BarryDolan1's avatar
BarryDolan1
Qrew Member
5 years ago

Summary fields

I'm very new to Quickbase. I have a thorough knowledge with MS Access programming, which I find helpful in many aspects of this database. But there are many things that I find head-scratching.

The latest is how to utilize a summary field. I have a relationship to the table that I want to count records based on specific criteria in the parent table. I add the summary field but all I get is a big fat zero. I compare it to a summary field that someone else inserted and they setup is identical.

The only result I can get is zero and when I click on that number it takes me to a report that filters for criteria that seems odd. Do I need to change the criteria in some way? I'm really at a loss. Any advise would be helpful.

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Barry Dolan
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  • DonLarson's avatar
    DonLarson
    Qrew Commander
    5 years ago
    Barry,

    The Summary Field lets you do a variety of mathematical calculations but the specific criteria are from the Child Table not the Parent.   Here is a screen shot of a Summary field counting records where there is criteria set about the Child


    This will give us a numeric field in the Parent table of the number of child records where the Check Box [Deposit] has been set in the Child table.

    Naturally the next question is what it the total dollars deposited. That requires a different Summary field.


    This time we are not counting the records.  It is a summary of the filed [Deposit Amount] in the child table where [Deposit] is checked.


    The drill down behavior of the Summary field is controlled in the Parent table after you have created the field.  If you do not configure the field after creations you will get all the default settings and those are terrible.

    In this case I created a report in the Child table just for use with the Summary field.  Here is a screen shot for you showing all available reports.




    I always use Drill Down in the name of a Drill Down report and use a folder just for organizing them.  It is easy to have a thousand Summary fields in an application and the corresponding Drill Down reports.   It is one of the most fundamental parts of Quick Base.




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    Don Larson
    Paasporter
    Westlake OH
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    • BarryDolan1's avatar
      BarryDolan1
      Qrew Member
      5 years ago
      Thank you for all this. I still can't get any results.
      I created a summary field in the relationship to the parent table. Added the field to the default report and still get a zero.
      I believe I set it all up following your description. But obviously there is more to it.

      Here is my relationships setup:
      Here is my criteria on the summary field:

      You can see that I set up a drill down report. The only criteria in the drill down report is that I want to only want a count of records created during the current month.

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      Barry Dolan
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      • DonLarson's avatar
        DonLarson
        Qrew Commander
        5 years ago
        Barry,

        Lets test this with an entirely new Summary Field set up to get the Total Number of Records instead of a Count.   Here is the screenshot.

        I have included the filter to only Total ( Count # of records) where the Child record was created in the Current Month.  Leave that out until you get your first result with a positive number.  Then edit the Summary Field and add the filter on the Date Created.


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        Don Larson
        Paasporter
        Westlake OH
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