The definition of local fields allows you to generate new information from the fields in an InfoSet, without having to include an additional field.

The InfoSet FLBU contains a field for the distance and a field for the flight time. A local field is used to calculate the speed.
To define a local field, choose Edit à
Local field à Create on the Select Field screen. The local field for the speed can be used as an example.
When making this definition, the following information is needed:
Here, you enter a text, which describes the field contents. On all subsequent screens, the local field is identified via this name.
This is used when calculating column headers. Please note that headers are only taken into account for the output length of the field. The header can be divided over two rows.
The local field is included in the field group.
When defining the technical attributes of the local field, you can use any of the following options:
The advantage of this option is that the local field can accept the same values as the reference field. If the reference field is a currency amount field or a quantity field, the local field inherits the currency or unit assignment of the reference field. In our example, the field Distance with the short name DISTANCE is a quantity field, since it contains a distance specification and a measurement unit. Therefore, the local field SPEED is also a quantity field and has the same measurement unit as the field DISTANCE.
With text and calculation fields, you must specify the field size (number of characters/digits and number of decimal places).
With these fields, the contents are interpreted as a symbol or icon and output is consequently in graphical format. You could do this if you wanted to emphasize particular values or lines in the list.
You can determine the value of a field in either of the following ways:
In the simplest case, a calculation formula consists of a single formula. All formulae conform to the usual mathematical rules and contain operands and operators.
%NAME(the name of the user processing the query)
%DATE(the current date when the query is being processed)
%TIME (the current time when the query is being processed).

If you were accessing the 2nd character to the 5th character of the field, the notation would be text[2:5 ].
date field [YEAR]°°°°°°°°°°°°°°year
date field [MONTH]°°°°°°°°°°month
date field [DAY]°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°day
time field [HOUR]°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°hours
time field [MINUTE]°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°minutes
time field [SECOND]°°°°°°°°°°°°°°seconds

Please note in the example that time specifications (TIME) in calculations are always quoted in seconds.
To define the values of symbol and icon fields, you can specify the names of symbols and icons in formulae. These names begin with SYM_ or ICON_ and can be determined by pressing the appropriate pushbutton. A formula, which contains a symbol or icon, can consist only of this symbol or icon; i.e. symbols and icons cannot be linked with other operands.
You can make the calculation of the value of a field dependent on a condition. In this case, the value according to the calculation formula is only made available if the condition is satisfied. If the condition is not satisfied, the field is set to its initial value.

These types of fields are required when calculating special statistics (see Defining Statistics).
To formulate conditions, you use Boolean formulae. These formulae consist of comparisons (e.g. AMOUNT +5 > LIMIT) which can be linked with the operators NOT, AND and OR. Parentheses may also be used in the usual way.
In more complex cases, you can make the calculation of the values of a field dependent on any number of conditions, i.e. the value is calculated differently, depending on which condition is satisfied. You can even specify a calculation formula to be used when none of the conditions is satisfied. For any of these complex cases, you use the Complex calculation function on the screen for maintaining local fields.
When defining the calculation formula, you can make use of different functions, which allow you to display existing short names, symbols and icons. You can also choose a symbol or an icon from the short name display and place it in the position within the formula where the cursor stands.
In this case, the local field is treated like a parameter whose value is determined once by an entry on the screen. This is not possible for symbol and icon fields.
If you want to force input of a value on the selection screen, select the field Obligatory.

You can use these types of fields in conditions for calculating other local fields. This means that it is possible to influence these calculations when the query is processed. For an example of this, see below in this chapter.
When you have made all the necessary specifications for defining a local field on the screen, select Continue to return to the Select field screen. The field you have defined is now included in the specified field group and can be used on all screens, just like any other field from the InfoSet.
An example of a complex calculation is the local field Long text flight class. It determines a long text for the field Flight class with the short name CLASS. The field is defined as a text field with 15 characters. To specify the calculation formula, you use the Complex calculation function to branch to the appropriate editor for such calculations.

To change or delete a local field on the Select Field screen, place the cursor on the local field and choose the relevant function from the Edit menu.

Local fields are only known within the query where they are defined.