Steve Martino

It's also being used in the GetValue expression to pull the proper value in each loop iteration.

Nice post! Definitely the first time I truly understood how a recursive function works and is constructed. Thanks Steve

I'm in the northeast and I hear ya (had enough of winter). Yeah I think virtual list would be the way to go. Maybe a button that opens up a popover so when a user picks 'Appliance 1' the popover would show the VL like a mini sub-summary: Appliance 1 Date 1 Estimate Inspections Date 2 Estimate Inspections etc. There's plenty of things about all types of virtual lists on FileMaker hacks, and links to other referenced material. For me, after some head banging, that was the easiest to implement. The other thing I have been playing with is Data Tables by Jeremy Brown to create reports in a web viewer. https://www.geistinteractive.com/2018/08/24/using-datatables-in-filemaker/ https://www.geistinteractive.com/2018/07/09/use-javascript-without-knowing-javascript/ There's a lot to digest so I don't know how much work time you can dedicate to it. But with the above sample, every time you change an Appliance record or its related Estimate/Inspection, you could trigger a script to update the compiled JSON into an array, and it would display instantly in the web viewer. Even a report showing all the appliances for one customer, and their related estimates/inspections would render instantly in the web viewer.

Thanks for posting that. I thought I was going crazy with something similar where I thought for sure I selected the right parameters going thru a button bar and then go back and find I didn’t (more like they didn't take as you described).

Hey Caroline! Long time no see. Trying to understand the structure better. Based on your description, where does "1. Appliance123" come from? Is that a Job, Location? IOW, can the Customer have more than one Inspection/Estimate(/Job)? Does each 'job' get only one inspection and only one estimate? Meaning will 'Appliance 123 get another Inspection/Estimate or will that be another record? Is there a conclusion to the inspection or estimate that turns into work (invoice?) I think one solution would be to use a virtual list report (or JSON) to gather the data in one spot for display. This leaves you the flexibility to report by Customer, Inspections (or specific Inspectors if applicable), or Estimates individually. The other options, probably not good, would be to flatten the file, then you lose the ability to report in more detail. Here's a starting point for VL and JSON: https://filemakerhacks.com/2018/06/29/virtual-list-reporting-with-json-arrays/

He's done that to me and many others-many many times 😊

Could it be a simple typo? You are setting $End (capital 'E") and performing a find on $end (lowercase 'e'). However, if you're looking for the last 12 records Show All Records Sort Records... Go to Record/Request/Page [First] Omit Multiple Records [With dialog:Off; Get(TotalRecordCount)-12]

When you want to update it, from the Recipe table, you want to change it in Inventory for all new records that will use that inventory item in the future? If so you have to be careful that I’d doesn’t trigger calculations and Lookups that trickle thru all you other records and change them. You don’t need a loop script. Just grab the name in a variable, open a new window in the Inventory layout, Enter Find mode, set the proper field (Item_name?) to the variable, Perform Find. When your done editing, commit record, close window. Thats a simplified explanation of the basic process. incidentally, your first script is not the way I would create a new record. You seem to be doing it backwards. Another simplified version would be a recipe layout would have a portal from the join table Recipe_line. When creating a recipe, you create portal records (from Recipe_line) which you look up from the Inventory table. If you change a line item for that recipe, it won’t affect all the other records. However, if you do want to change it, you then would change it in Inventory.

Seems like your tables and relationships are not correct. I don’t understand why you want to create a record and the delete it. With the limited information you provide and your explanation at the end seem to indicate 2 different directions. id guess you would need a table of materials , a join table of ingredients , which combines all the different materials and a table of recipes. Much like an invoice solution of Invoices, Line Items & Products.

Where are you getting the error? What error (code)? Did you step thru with the script debugger to see where you are getting the error?

I don't understand what you mean by you 'can not get to the code behind the layout'. You cannot get into Layout Mode, or Manage Database? Edit. Ahhh. Hit Ctrl +1 which will fire a script to show menu bar and toolbar. Here's a version with the opening script changed. Jeopardy.fmp12

I’m curious as to why you can't?

Is it always 5 categories? I misunderstood your original question. I thought you need to go 5 layer deep like for a car: Make>Model>Style>Color>Options. But if I do understand, you just want to display 5 different portals on the same layout. Maybe this file will help. Not fully finished but go to Manage Database and look at the relationships, and go into layout mode and note the portal filters. Jeopardy.fmp12

I would probably do this with a find, or a self join, and summary fields to gather the info. But you're not saying what you want to do with this data, how you want to display it. You could probably even do it with an Execute SQL statement, which would be even easier.

Have you researched dwindling value lists or conditional value lists? There are plenty of sample files too.