lonntj

Slick. Thanks!

So I have a table that tracks transactions, and each transaction gets an ID number. The ID Number looks like YR-### and is a concatenatation of the YR field (calculation of two digit year), and the auto-entered serial. How to I reset the serial number every year or every time the YR field changes? This one's been killing me. Thanks, Lonn

Thanks, but it looks like its not filemaker's fault- I tried printing to a different printer, and no problems with that one. If I use a font that's not installed on the initital printer everything works fine. Guess I need to take this one up with the printer company. Lonn

I've got an interesting problem. I have a number of layouts that consist of mostly static text and a few merge fields (they're form letters). At the bottom is a container (global) that has a bitmap signature image in it. It all looks great on screen, but when I print it the signature shifts vertically relative to the text so that its in the way wrong place. I've tried it with out the container and the image just pasted into the layout -- same problem. This layout has other graphic elements as well, and they line up just fine with each other. Any ideas? Lonn

The Idea here is to use the relationship to determine whether a record contains one of the subject names or not, since going through 20K records by hand isn't an option. I need some way to match the imported names to the names in the related DB. The ONLY way to match these records is by name (and although there is some variation in the names, there are usually one or two words that never change and are unique). There may be some way to do this with a script instead, but I think it will would much better with a relationship. The ultimate result of the relationship is that there is another calculation field in the main DB which counts related records and if it finds one will flag the record. Right now I just have to create a record for each name variation which is possible now, but as this DB will grow to 100K plus records and we will be continually adding names to the related file, some kind of workaround will save considerable grief.

You can put calculation fields in your tables to pull the data you're looking for across the relationships. So in your worksites file create a calculation field that equals the name of the staff member from that relationship. Then from the members file just show that calculated field you just created. I'm sure there's a more articulate way to put it, but this should get you started. Lonn

Is there a way to set up a relationship that will match any record whose match field contains (but is not necessarily equal to) a search string? I have a database of 26K records, making up our mailing list, there are a number of people and companies we do not want to send mail to, and need some way to designate that. Easy enough, the problem is that the people we get our data from do not always enter Company names the same way. For example a company "Housing Authority" can be entered as First=Housing, last=Authority, or First="Housing Auth" last="", (And they're always coming up with new ways to do this. Is there some way to set it up so that a match field containing "Housing" would match all these records? Thanks!

Try this: In Browse mode, Copy a line break - in a blank field, hit return key, then selecte the contents of that field and copy. Then enter find mode and paste it inside quotes: " " There's probably a more elegant way to do it, but this works. Lonn

Hey All, We have a number of different tables that store prospects, each table has very different field definitions, layouts, etc. so putting them all in one table is not an option. However when we are contacted by a prospect we do not necessarily know which table their information is stored in. I need some way to search across these 6 tables. More Information: Each table has an address field which is unique to (nearly) every record, and that is how we identify a prospect when they call/write/email. This is the field I want to search. I had thought of putting together some kind of joinfile, populated with every address we have, do the search, and then go to the related record. I am unsure, however, of how to go about populating the joinfile with all the current addresses, and then keeping it current -- I would like to do thie without scripting the upkeep, since the contents of the 6 source tables changes frequently. Also, I don't know if this makes a difference but it is a multiuser solution. Thanks Lonn

We have a similar set-up, and instead of fields for each mailing, I have set up two related files to hold the mailing information. The first is a mailings database, where the information about each individual mailing is stored (number of pieces, design, letter choice, etc). The second is a joinfile, it's function is to connect the main DB (with customers) to the Mailings DB. It initially had only two fields, one that was related to the Properties DB, and one related to the mailings DB. But in your case you could easily add a few fields to track donations for each mailing. This way in the joinfile a record is created for each piece of mail sent out. Then you can put a portal in your main database that displays all the information you need for each individual. You can also use calculation fields to pull information accross from the Mailings database. Also, this solution works just fine with multiple databases of customers. Lonn

We had this same problem with a nearly identital setup. It happened lots when someone was actively doing work on the server when logged in as a different user than the one running filemaker (using fast user switching). Now we leave the server alone and haven't had any problems.

We have a multi-user setup with two Macs and two Windoze boxes, the files are hosted on one of the Macs. When a windows machine opens one of the files, it ALWAYS reverts to landscape orientation, so that when a user prints the record (without using the script that changes the page setup back to portrait), its screwed up. I do have a script that changes the page setup back and prints the record, but people usually forget to use that script and just hit ctl-P. On the Macs, if I change the page setup to portrait, close and re-open the file, that change is preserved, however that is not the case on the windows machines. Any Ideas? Lonn

Worked Perfectly....Thanks!!!

Okay here's my problem: I have two related databases. One (DB A) contains a mailing list (addresses, names, etc), the second (DB : is a list of mailings (mailing type, date, number of pieces, description, etc). They are related, and matched by a serial number field in the mailings database (each mailing gets its own serial number), which is related to a repeating field in DB A (called Mailing ID Nos). Mailings do not necessarily go to each record in DB A. I am trying to write a script, that after I do a mailing, will add the serial number of that mailing, to the last repetition of the Mailing Serial Nos Field, which depending on the record may be repetition 1, 2, 3, etc, as this database is constantly having new records added. Since this is a new addition to this database, if there is an easier way to set this up, I'd love to hear it. Thanks, Lonn