ktalent1

Well that makes sense - sorry I didn't include it originally. "Thesis Data" is where the button is located. "Monitoring Data Entry" is where a new record is created or an existing record is pulled up when the button is pressed. Each record in "Monitoring Data Entry" is basically a header that sits over a portal to "Monitoring Data." In the relationship graph, it goes: ThesisData->MonData->MonDataEntry I've attached a jpeg for the ThesisData->MonData relationship, and one for the MonData->MonDataEntry relationship.

Hi, I wrote a script for a button that is intended to create a related record in a new table. The logic of the script is supposed to be: 1. If there is no related record in "Monitoring Data Entry", then create one and automatically populate three fields. 2. If there is a related record, go to it. It works most of the time, but for some reason, some records end up with two related records, and usually the second does not have the correct values for the fields I am trying to auto-populate (mdeNestID and mdeSpecies). I have attached the script as a jpeg. Any advice on why it does not quite work correctly is much appreciated!

Hi James, Thanks very much for your help! It now successfully returns the user to the correct screen but the error message won't display. I wonder if it has something to do with the kind of import I'm doing? I've attached a copy of the script (maybe I should have attached a copy of the actual DB???) But clearly, no worries if you don't feel like figuring this one out - you've already helped a lot. Andrew

Hi, I created a button that activates a script to automatically import data from a text file. It does not import the entire file, but rather a select line based on another field. So, for example, if the entire text file said: Num Type 005 Cat 006 Dog and the "Pet number" field in filemaker said "005" then it would import "Cat" into the "Pet Type" field of a record that contains various info about a family's animals. However, there are cases when the "Pet number" field might say 010, which is not in the text file. When this is the case I would like to create an error message to let the user know that the pet number they entered doesn't exist. But I cannot figure out how to do that - as it is Filemaker doesn't even stay on the same "Family" record - it just goes to a blank, non-existent record and the user must relocate the family they were working on. Thanks for any help you can provide!

I'm trying to get the date from the most recently entered record because somewhere between 70 and 180 consecutive records will have the same date. This actually points to a bigger problem I'm having, which is that my portal is not recognizing any auto-enter options I select for a field. The second example is for the behavior field. If a behavior is "FON" (Female getting on a nest), then the next behavior MUST be "FOFF" (Female leaving a nest). So I set up a calculation that automatically makes the "Behavior" field "FOFF" if the previous record is "FON." It works great if I am in the "Video Data" table, but if I am accessing it through the portal in the "Video Data Entry" layout, it doesn't work.

Hi, In layout "Video Data Entry" I have a portal to table "Video Data." In that table, I have a field "Date" that I have set to auto-complete from "Value of last visited record." Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Can anyone tell me why? (I've attached a picture of the "Video Data Entry" layout if needed). Thanks! Andrew

That didn't work either. I imagine I have something set up in an amateurish way that is preventing full functionality. So I took a slightly different tact. For the button that takes me back to the main layout from the second one, I edited the script and had it check to see if a record was created in the portal. If it wasn't, it deletes the record before returning to the main layout. Seems to work. Thanks again for your help!

Thanks very much! It is almost perfect but there is one scenario in which it doesn't work. Example: From record #6 at main table/layout, I click the button and it takes me to layout 2, which contains a record ID field and a portal to another table. It correctly fills in the record ID field with a 6. But if I go back to the main table/layout via another button I created WITHOUT having entered data into the portal, and then click on the button you provided the script for again, it takes me to layout 2 but creates a second record with a 6 in it. This does not happen if I enter data into the portal the first time I go to layout two. Very confusing to me. Regardless of whether or not you provide a fix for this, I very much appreciate your help! This forum is really great for users such as myself.

It turns out I am terrible with Filemaker, so I'm hoping someone can help. I have a database that will be used by several people and so I want to make it dummy proof. For each of two tables there is a layout, so I use "layout" to refer to both a new layout and table in this description: On layout #1, I have a button that, if clicked, should switch to layout #2 and 1) create a new record if the ID field in layout #1 does not exist in layout #2, or 2) go to an existing record if that ID does exist. Thus, there will never be more than one record in layout #2 for each record in #1. Hopefully this makes sense. Any help is much, much, much appreciated!

Thanks to both of you! This is exactly what I'm looking for. And thanks for the example. The behavior options were great.

Hi, I am a complete novice with Filemaker, so please forgive me for asking a question that is probably very simple to answer. I am trying to set up a database for a research project. Basically, we will be entering a record for each time a behavior of an animal is observed. There will be several hundred animals, for each of which there will be many observation sessions. In one observation session, there could be 200 total occurences, each of which could be one of a 10 different behaviors. My inclination was to have one record for each individual tied to records for each observation session, in which I would define several repeating fields (time, behavior, etc). But I have since learned that repeating fields are a kind of temporary storage and so I'm at a loss as to what I should do. Do I need to create 200 invididual fields for "time" and 200 for "behavior", or is there an easier way?