Miko

what i need to extract is the name associated with the number. so the field is filled with 1 as the object id and then the attribute as alpha for example. what i want to know in summary is have a list of all the attributes that correlate to that item. to return a list of all checked items by attribute not by object id. does that make sense? only cause the client wants to see what is assigned to the item in a short list rather than scroll a long portal of thousands of items to see which are checked.

can anyone explain how to return the list of checked items back to a paragraph separated list? thanks

replying to myself. gotta love that. here is the applescript syntax for anyone interested in a calculated applescript to test whether a file exists or not. "set thePath to "" & YourTable::FilePath & """ & ¶ & "alias thePath" you must convert the filepath to something that applescript understands. Like: VolumeName:FolderName:FileName.pdf and this can be done with a calculation easily enough. then setting error capture on, trap for -43 which is the applescript error for a file not found. enjoy.

do you know how the syntax would be if you were to use a calculated applescript which dynamically set the file path to a field on the layout?

how do you trap for the error. cause currently, my script attempts to copy a file from a server to the desktop using a global container to hold the path. if it doesn't locate it, a window pops up asking for it to be located. the only error i seem to be able to trap is the one canceling the locate dialog. i too am stumped with how to script it to detect a missing file that was originally placed in a container but has been moved or deleted. thanks, Limore

have three tables: staff, time punches and job tickets. time punches is a database to track user's time. they put in a job ticket and the date and time and their name is auto entered. what i need is a portal on the job ticket database that will show me all staff members and the total time spent to date for that job number. right now the portal shows me each instance of a time punch. so if joe shmoe worked for 3 hours one day and three hours the next for job x, i want the portal on the job ticket to report joe shmo 6 hours. this way i have one portal record or line item for each staff member with time on that job. thanks, Limore

ok so the answer to this is to test for get(application version) and if it returns anything greater than "web publishing" (cause they all contain web publishing but will also add the version of the server to the end of that string) you have it go to the correct layout. thanks to me for so much help and support : Limore

trying to create a startup script that will go to different layouts based on account priviledges and system platform. i want it to go to the web layout when an admin accesses it via a browser. thanks, Limore

ok. so i finally looked more closely at the file that you submitted. i was only looking at the portals that show all the hours and all the time purchased (my fault) and it is perfect. i worked it into my solution and my business partner who is responsible for contract tracking really liked it. so thank you very much for all of your help. Limore

no not quite a time limit but a set start time that it can be used. a contract purchased on 8/1/07 can't be used prior to that date and therefor should not show up as being available for use prior to the contract start date of 8/1/07. can you give me an example of a relationship match key by name? and why not? just curious. Limore

i need an ongoing balance. but what i need it to do in the hours remaining column is to only show the hours purchased to date. in other words, the client hunter bought a 100 hour contract on 1/15/07 and another 100 hours on 8/1/07. i dont want the hours remaining column to reflect the 100 hours purchased on 8/1/07 until sro is entered on or after that date. right now the top portal row is debitting hours out of a total of 200 hours. from 1/15-7/30 it should show the remaining hours subtracted from the original 100 hour contract. then all time entered on or after the next contract was purchased, it should debit the hours from what remains from the first contract plus the second contract. is that more clear? if it worked the way i wanted it to, it would show 85 hours remaining on the portal row dated 7/23/07 and 184 hour remaining on the portal row dated 8/2/07 (which would reflect the newly purchased contract correctly, only after it was purchased) if you think about it this way. client purchases a 100 hour block in august, your system really shouldn't consider those hours available in january because they weren't purchased in january. i am attaching a file for you to look at. i think it illustrates what i am trying to do a little bit better. thanks for your help, Limore Templeton_SRO.fp7.zip

yes but i believe that this would still put me in the same position which is needing to know when the amount gets added. for example. lets say the client has 10 hours as of last week. on monday i work 5 hours, on tuesday i work 6 hours and on wednesday the client buys another 10 hours and i work another 2. here is how i would like it to look: date hours used hours remaining 8/20/07 5 5 8/21/07 6 -1 8/22/07 2 7 (here is where i show the new 10 hours cause it was bought on or after that date) what i don't want is for the first line of the portal to show 15 hours remaining when i add the 10 hour contract on the 22nd. and this is where my problem lies. it all checks out for me except for that. is there a specific calc that you have in mind that would achieve this? thanks a bunch, Limore

I am creating a time tracking database for our macintosh consulting business. the database contains an area for techs to put in their hours spent, client visited, day visited and details of work performed. it also contains an area for an account person to put in contracts purchased, date of purchase, amount of hours purchased. what i need to do is to track, probably via a portal (that is how i approached it thus far) the date, how many hours used (there can be several entries for a particular date, reflecting different techs at one place on the same day. so these do not need to be summarized in any way) the amount of hours remaining. so for example, if my client purchased a 100 hour contract yesterday and i did 5 hours of work today, it would report 95 hours left. if i did 2 more hours today it would report 93 hours left as of today's date. have this working fine. the trouble is, sometimes clients run out of hours and need to buy new contracts. i have the database set to display red when that happens, however, when you add a new contract, the total number of hours gets added to the top portal row as if they started out that way. what i need it to do is to only add tne new hours after the date specified in the contract start date window. right now it looks like this: If ( Clients::Contract Type = "BH" ; Contracts::Total Contract Hours - Total Hours ; "NA" ) where BH is block hour (some clients pay as they go and for this i do not need it to subtract anything)and contracts::total contract hours is a summary field that adds all contract hours when sorted by client. how can i have this field only add contract hours on or after the contract start date to have an accurate picture of the client's activity? last but not least, all summary information is in the sro table with the exception of the total contract hours which is in the contract table. the portal is displayed in the contract layout. thanks, Limore

i have followed this to what i think is a "T" and what happens is all my rows highlight not just the row where the criteria are met. and now for some reason only the first portal will activate anything. the highlight field isn't extending past the portal so i am not sure what gives. i can only get the record id to work correctly if i put it in the table with the data that i am pulling into the portal and then put that field in the portal. thanks, Limore

i should have prefaced it all by saying that the portal contents is a container field that contains a file. this has actually become more complex than it started out being. i am working with someone who is assisting me in an automated workflow using applescript to tie a few apps together. the problem is that when applescript inserts the file, it shows as only an icon. (i originally formatted two of the same container fields differently. one that would display the graphic on the left and one that would only show the text on the right. it worked fine for manually inserting a file) so what i would like to do now and can't figure out is, how do i extract the name of the file from the container field which produces a path to the file that looks like this: file:Conflicts Test/Docket Report (Enron).pdf filemac:/Macintosh HD/Users/limore/Desktop/Conflicts Test/Docket Report (Enron).pdf and obviously i can't really hard encode any of this as the directory locations can change as well as the names of the files. any ideas would be stupendous. thanks, Limore