Machi

Hi there. As part of a database Ive developed i had to include a field that summarized the information from a portal. I did that using the "List" Function to create a calculation field that looks like this: Substitute (List (tablename::fieldname);[enter symbol];",". The calculation gets the information, and presents it as a comma separated list. It works perfectly fine in my computer, im using FMP9. Ok, what i didnt know was that they wanted to use the database on FMP8, where it seems the "list" function does not exist... is there a workaround for this? maybe the list function had another name in older versions? help?

Thanks for your help. I've been trying to understand how bento works and translate it to FM9 scripts. The dbs I developed is not so simple so I created several menus and something like 20 different layouts to connect information that pertains to survey, excavation, analysis, archive, media, etc.. I'll try to post more detailed information about it on the forum as you suggested. Right now there are 2 things that I am interested on for my dbs that are inspired by Bento: (1) a sidebar menu to jump between different layouts. Right now I have a Splash screen and a floating menu since I decided to develop the whole database in different floating windows to allow the user the ability to reorganize different parts of the database and cross check information. It'll be nice if I could freeze on big window and keep other windows open... I dont' know if thats possible at all but I welcome any suggestions. (2) I really like the ability of Bento to create sub groups in the data in the form of collections and smart collections, is that possible in FM9?. That's it for now, thanks for your opinions

Hi there, i was looking for some help, maybe some of you guys can help me. I've developed a relational database using FMpro 9 (i started with 7 and then move up all the way to 9 throughout the years) to manage an archaeological project in south america. So far the database is doing great and it works. I recently run into Bento and I liked the way the "Source" Menu works, making it easy to jump into different layouts and grouping things in the Itunes way. So the question might be a little challenging, I havent got the time to really look into how this menu works from the point of view of a relational database, in the next days i'll try to "disect" it, but i was wondering if maybe someone around already thought about this. Is it possible to create something like Bento in Filemaker pro? to create an interface that works like Itunes? Opinions? Comments? I'll appreciate your input. Thanks

Ok, I followed the advice of previous post to re-design my database. This time I put all the images in a different Filemaker file with the pictures embedded on it, store it on a shared drive that can be accessed by everyone, and then relate the two files (Photo.fm7 with Data.fm7) with a foreign key. First test was flawless I could see the pictures in both computers. I thought I finally figured it out. But now, that I re-made my whole database I run into problems again. This time, when I want to see the pictures I get the message "Photo.fm7 could not be found", which is weird since Data.fm7 is working fine in the host computer. When I point out the location of "Photo.fm7" in the client computer I get this message: "Photo.gm7 database is currently in use and could not be opened". Result: Filemaker frustration level to the top and "File missing" in all the pictures in my client computers. What I'm doing wrong? is Filemaker that bad for sharing?. please heeelp!!!!

:B I wanted to thank you for your advice, It was really helpful and I'm on my way to fix my mistakes. It is a shame that none of the reference books that I got to do this ever mentioned the problems on sharing "referenced files", but well, nevermind. So thanks a lot and i have another question for you, or anyone, now I followed your advice and created a set of Filemaker DBs that contain the graphical information embedded on them and then related to my main data dbs... in order to make the main dbs run smoothly I just related the thumbnails but I want to be able, through some script to click on the thumbnail and open the original image on an editing program (i know you thought that that was going to be hard, I've been using "openURL" before but of course in this case won't work). What would be a solution for that? thanks a lot again.

As part of my master's thesis in archaeology I developed a database that holds the information of several excavations in a given site, linking the graphic information (pictures, floorplans, etc) with the written information (publications, notes, etc) and the results of the analysis. I got to a point where I need to share this database with other users, so forth I set up a small network and turn up sharing... then I realize that all the graphic information is not showing in any of the clients (just 1 for now). In another post someone pointed out that maybe I didn't store things using a "network path". True, my bad. How can I do this though? it seems I have to start from scratch and insert 500+ again but it doesn't matter how I insert them I always get my computers path on the container field, therefore none my client won't see them... please help! what is the correct way to work with pictures having in mind sharing without bloating the database by embedding them in?

I have the same problem and I just can't figure it out. Have you find a solution for that?

;) hmm.. how can I create a shared volume? In order to keep the size of the file small I didn't embed anything on the DB... I hope I can still fix this in some way. please help!!! thanks a lot!

;) Hi, I'm an archaeologist working for the first time with FileMaker on my ongoing masters thesis. I was always looking for a way to truly share information between different computers since the ammount of data we have to organize is so big its impossible for one person to handle. So, I'm hosting my database with Filemaker Pro 7 and i have a client on another computer using FM Pro 8. Both can see the text and work in both computers and so far sharing seems fine but the graphics, pictures, buttons and other graphic content just appear as "missing" in my client computer. Do I have to copy everything there? I thought that was the whole point of having it shared on the first place? what's not working? thanks!