S Molly T

Is there any way to verify an email address during data entry? Same question applies to a web address. Right now to verify a web address we have a script that uses open url and fires up the web browser. For email verification the script copies the email address and then opens up a web site that the user can then paste the email address into a box (on that website) to test if the email address is valid. Both of these approaches are kind of clunky as I would like to keep the users in the FM environment and not distract them by opening a page in a web browser. I didn't know if there was a way to test or verify the web/email address and then report back to the user if it is valid or not.

Thanks very much once again for your help. I do appreciate your time. Don't know if it is necessary or not but I did something a little different to account for an empty taskStatus. There is no difference...a task and a request are the same thing. The distinction is SENT or RECEIVED tasks and that is the reason for two different portals, to show SENT and RECEIVED tasks. isComplete Case ( IsEmpty ( taskStatus ); 0; taskStatus = "complete"; 1; 0) isOpen Case ( IsEmpty ( taskStatus ); 1; taskStatus = "complete"; 0; 1)

Wow, very cool...thanks for the help. Hate to admit but I had no idea that relationships worked in this manner which is probably like very beginner type of stuff. It took me a while but I finally figured out that by typing (or placing) the recID of the related task in the Selected Task field that the corresponding record would show up. I think I understand WHAT is happening but not sure HOW it is happening. Would like to have something like a CountIf function. Seems like I've done something like this before just have to remember how I did it before. I looked at this solution before I made the initial post but I'm not advanced enough to understand it and the advantages of using that method or the disadvantages of the method posted by Ocean West. a.) what is the harm in the record being modified? b.) only one logged in user should be accessing their own records (corresponding to their record in the User table) at any given time. I don't know it may be bad design but I was planning on using the Users table as an access control list and use it to control access to records and fields. Each user (in the user table) should only be able to view/edit the task records created by them and tasks created for them. Sorry if I'm a little daft when it comes to some of this stuff, but I really do appreciate all the help from everyone...thank you all for your time.

I have three portals on one layout. The top layout contains a list of tasks that a user has received. The middle portal contains detailed information on ALL tasks a user has received or sent. The bottom portal contains a list of tasks that a user has sent. The top and bottom portals contain just a fraction of the task information, like name date and priority. The middle portal contains ALL the task information. The purpose of this format is to provide the user with a quick and easy way to look at the sent and received tasks and to easily navigate to the desired task to get more detailed information about a specific task. I would like for the user to be able to click one of the tasks in the top or bottom portal and have the detailed information be displayed in the middle portal. This works to some degree but since the middle portal contains more records, the portal numbers do not match up with the top and/or bottom portals so the results are inconsistent. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. taskplanner.zip

Not sure if this is the place for this but seemed to be the closest fit since this is maybe a data entry (input) issue?? Currently working on a very simple database that consists of one table with seven fields. recID -number field auto enter serial number dateCreated - auto enter time stamp dateModified - auto enter time stamp name - text field nameID - number field auto enter serial number phoneNumber - text field date contacted - date field Data entry happens one of three ways 1) manually by creating a new record typing in the name, phone number and date contacted 2) importing data from a text file 3) duplicating an existing record and changing the date contacted People using the database have no knowledge if the name already exists in the database or not. They are simply typing names, phone numbers and date contacted (or importing them from a text file). All design issues aside, what is the best way to ensure that the same nameID number is applied to each occurrence of the same name. Example John Cecil Browns was contacted for the first time on 1/1/2011 and given a nameID of 0034. The next time John Cecil Browns was contacted was on 2/1/2011 and is given the nameID of 0082. Now what should happen is he should be given the same nameID of 0034. Is this somehow done using some of the Validation options?

I have a very similar issue as well. We have some files that do not show all the available layouts from the Layout:DropDown menu. In order to access the "missing" layout we have to open the Manage Layouts window and then select the layout from there and click open. I have built buttons on the main layout to navigate to some of the more routinely accessed layouts but that just doesn't seem like a very elegant solution. Don't know if it is relevant but the files are hosted on a FM10 server but most of the clients are FMP11Advanced with one or maybe two machines still running FMP10.

Didn't think it would be so complicated. The ultimate goal is to generate an invoice number. Each time we invoice a client right now we have to do a find in the database for how many invoices we have sent that client for that particular contract number and then manually create the invoice number by concatenating the found count number (xN) with the contract number (cNum). So the formula is cNum & xN+1 For example contract number 2358 has received 4 invoices to date so when we send out the next invoice the invoice number will be 235805. What I was trying to do was create an invoiceNumber table that would handle numbering the invoices and then store that invoice number (as well as date, amount and other pertinent information). If there is a better way to accomplish this, I am more than willing to consider an alternate approach.

I am simply trying to number each record based on the value of another field. Each time a record is created the field contractCount should check to see if the value in the field contractNumber already exists. If the value in contractNumber exists, then the value in contractCount is incremented by one. The goal is to apply a serial number to each record that has the same contractNumber and then start over for each new/different contractNumber. First time a record is created with a contractNumber of 88 the value of contractCount would be 1 Second time a record is created with a contractNumber of 88 the value of contractCount would be 2 but the the value of contractCount in the first record stays 1 Third time a record is created with a contractNumber of 88 the value of contractCount would be 3 but the the value of contractCount in the first record stays 1 and the value of the second record stays 2 When a new contract number is then entered the process starts all over but the existing data stays. Like a serial number that resets each time a new (unique) contract number is entered. The example above is what I am trying to accomplish.

Need some help with what seems like it should be simple. Would like to increment a number in a table based on the value of another field. If contractnumber = contractnumber then contractcount is incremented What I am currently doing (which doesn't work entirely) is a self-join calculation that uses Count. Count ( sj_invoiceCount::contractNumber) This works for the most part but does not place a value (the number 1) in the first record. The results I am looking for are in records 1-10 but what actually happens is shown in records 11-15. invoicenumbers.fp7.zip

I need a quick (but thorough) lesson on setting up IWP. I have a small database that will act as a quick fix until I can finish developing and deploy a more robust php/sql solution that will reside on the companies web site hosted externally with 1and1.com. Independant contractors (field reps) need to access a daily tracking database. Currently there are 10 reps all with their own computers, next week there could be more or less. I do not want to and can not provide FMP licenses to for all reps, so the best way to share the database is with IWP? For local reps this is not a problem, they simply come into the office and plugin to the network. I need to know how to allow out of state reps access to the database (via IWP). I have dedicated computer currently running FMP 6, but I just recently bought FMP 9 and will probably develope the solution with FMP 9. enough ramblings What do I need to do to allow outside access to my database shared on my local network? Open up some port on my router? Port mappings or port forwarding? Also do I need to contact my ISP (embarq) and have them give me a static IP? I have limited knowledge of networking but enough that if it was explained to me I can probably accomplish the task.

When importing from one file to another is there anyway to sort or specify the left side (source file) field order? I know it is possible to sort the right side (destination file) field order by name, field type, matching names, etc. But trying to find the field name in the source file can sometime be a tedious task, especially when there are hundreds of fields. I don't know if this is a limitation that pertains to version 6 or if FM has fixed this in later versions?

Thanks for the help. This problem is only a small part of a larger inherited database system that is rife with such design problems, but it seems that all I have time for is to apply bandaids. Besides, don't really know where to start with a complete rebuild.

Seems like I should know the answere to this one, but cannot figure it out. Need to compare the value of five fields pub1 - pub5 and determine if they are the same or not. If they are ALL the same then set the value of multipub to the value contained in pub1 - pub5. If they are NOT the same, then set the value of multipub to "multipub". I can do this with a calculation for multipub and it works except for when fields pub2 - pub5 are blank and then the calculation set the value of multipub to "multipub" because the value of pub1 is different than the value of pub2. The attached file shows the result I am after. Thanks for any help or pointers. :B multipubtest.zip

I need to know of a good impact printer that will work with FMP 6 across multiple platforms (OS X, win 98, win XP, os 9) and will print on three-part forms. I have looked at a few okidata printers, but am not sure of the compatibility with FMP. Basically we will be printing data from one of our FMP database files onto pre-printed forms.

You are right, it only does work after you press enter or click the continue button, but it does work. I should stick to asking the questions instead of butting in trying to answere them, but as I ran into a similar situation recently which was corrected by removing the duration in the Pause/Resume Script step, I thought it might help here. Seems to me that the Pause/Resume Script works just like it is defined; if there is a specified duration time it will wait for that time and then continue regards of user input or interaction, else if there is no specified duration time, it will wait for user interaction before resuming.

Thanks again for your help. It solves the problem as it was defined but causes other problems. More specifically when a record is duplicated, so is the value in recID which sort of defeats the purpose. I need to rethink the problem through a little more. I will go away now and not bother you anymore.

Remove the duration from the Pause/Resume Script step Instead of Pause/Resume Script [0:00:00] use Pause/Resume Script[] Should work just fine formatted as a pop-up list or pop-up menu. The attached file does what you wanted, I think. date&time.fp5.zip

Of course not silly. The users of the database have a three digit number as their userID based upon their login group. Long story, but basically the reason for this is because not all computers(we still have a couple of old StarMaxes and even an old PPC6115) have mulit-user capability or are not set up as mulituser so I cannot really use Status(CurrentUsername). Which brings me to my next question. Can I do this without using the Status functions? Oh, and one more thing, should the fields be defined as text with the option of auto-enter calculation OR should they be defined as plain old calculation fields?

Thanks for the reply. What I have in mind is something like this: recID = userID & julianDate & seqNumber where seqNumber is the above calculation that you suggested. Example: 03-2004167-001 but without the hyphens. Any issues/pitfalls with this calculation that I should be awares of? This will mainly be used to keep a log of user records as the sequence number will show any gaps in record numbers. Now as you may have noticed I need the sequence number to be applied to and be relevant to each user. For example user01 creates three records today and user04 creates two records on the same day, the recID numbers would be something like: 01-2004170-001 01-2004170-002 01-2004170-003 04-2004170-001 04-2004170-002 So do I need to define one of your Case calculation fields for each user?

Probably not the answere you are looking for, but I have been and continue to be the victim of the very same said error -20. As far as I can tell, it happens when the client loses the connection to the host. We do not use fm server (less than 10 machines on the network and only about 5 of those are db users), so I just have one machine sitting there acting as the host with all the files on it and on occasion and for apparently no reason that error -20 pops up and the client files closes down. I know for certain that this will happen if the host closes the file, but it also happens even when the host file is still open. When this happens I usually just go back to "Open Remote" and re-open the file. I am sure someone else may have an actual solution for you, but atleast you know you are not alone and that it probably does not have anything to do with your actual files.

CobaltSky, Thanks for the link to the demos, helpful stuff there. Yeah not as straightforward as it appears to be in fmp7 and a little kludgy. Maybe I will just wait until we upgrade to fmp7 before trying to get fancy with the conditional formatting. Thanks again.

How can I reset on a daily basis, a field that is defined as an auto-enter serial number? Each day I want this field to start with 1 and go up to n, and then the next day start over again at 1 and go to n, repeat ad nauseam. This will be used in part of a calculation of another field to build a record ID number.

Is there anyway to do this conditionally formatting of text in FM6? It would sure would be nice to have this nifty ability.

Thanks. I am a virtual windoze dummy, I did not even know such a thing (VPC) was possible. I will give it a try and see what happens, seems like it should work. I do not know how fast it will be, sending an entire GUI over dialup, but it will probably be faster than bringing the computer over here ever month or so to add new users. As for the IP address, I simply created a webpage that is just a form (the page just has a submit button on it) and all the user has todo is goto the page, click the submit button and I am emailed their IP. Thanks for the tip on VPC.

Thanks to all that have tried to help me with this issue. I have finally fixed the problem (replaced the modem) and I can now connect to the remote database over the dialup. But... ...wouldn't you know that what I was wanting and needing to do is not available unless you are the host. I need to add users (create groups, passwords, and access) to the database but when I just tried, the only option I get when I login as a guest (with full admin controls) is the Change Password option and not the Define Access Privledges. I have looked around and it looks like there is not a way to create new users unless you are on the host machine? Am I (hopefully) wrong about this? Is there a way to access the Define Access Privledges remotely?