m3gan0

True, but it seems that building a self-referencing database is more complicated than it should be (keep in mind that i'm a database outsider for the most part). I guess I just wish there was a button that says "link" A to B or something similar. Anyhow, thanks to everyone's help I have a rough draft of this working, I'll post a sample when it's a bit further along.

Sadly I have come to the same conclusion. I may have to leave this part of the database unfinished for now and go back later. It seems like this is a fairly common question/problem, I'm surprised that a plug-in or other, more streamlined solution hasn't been implemented into the program.

Yes and no. Sometimes the heiarcy skips steps. Things like "superfamily" and "subfamily" for example are optional and depend on the group. The system I listed above is listed in order of rank - everything is with in an [color:blue]Order but not everything is within a [color:blue]Superfamily, sometimes it skips strait to [color:blue]Family. Thanks for the links - it looks like they would be wonderful guides, too bad I don't have a subscription and the demo video cuts out right as it starts getting interesting! I did find a similar article in Filemaker Advisor (which my dept. does subscribe to) Here. Hopefully it will be of the same quality as the ones you suggested.

My problem is this: I want to be able to search for a record and have the other related fields auto fill in based upon the record searched for. I have a database of taxonomic names that goes in this order (commas represent new fields): [color:blue]ORDER, SUBORDER, INFRAORDER, SUPERFAMILY, FAMILY, SUBFAMILY, TRIBE, SUBTRIBE A typical entry looks like this: [color:blue]Coleoptera, Polyphaga, Cucujiformia, Chrysomeloidea, Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae, Trachyderini,Trachyderina I want to be able to enter "Cerambycidae" for FAMILY and have the other fields that come before it fill in (order, suborder, infraorder, and superfamily). There are thousands of entries, each with 1 to a maximum of 8 filled fields. I originally generated the data in excel, which is why the data is laid out the way it is. Is there an easy way to do this or does each category need to refernce each other? Thank you, M. PS. I'm pretty new to FileMaker in case you couldn't tell.

Yes, it's true, I do need to learn more about Filemaker. I was hoping that I would find the FM functions to be more logical, but alas my logic is not the same flavor as that of the programmers. That said, I've made decent headway and still hope to complete this project. Thanks again for the help Comment. Your last post really helped explain what the scripts are doing; hopefully I can adapt the concept to my project.

Completely understandable. Most of the problem is on my end - I's a complete beginner at FM. Do you think you could help me troubleshoot the custom script I'm trying to write? It's similar to yours. Here's what I have so far: >If[isValid (label_base_entry::Print?)] >Sort Record [Restore] >Loop >>duplicate Record/Request >>exit loop if [Get(FoundCount)>label_base_entry_::#ofSpecimens] >End Loop >End If The "Print?" is a check box that allows the user to select if they want to print labels from that record; #ofSpecimens is # of labels to print. So far this duplicates the record the correct number of times. Now I'm stuck on how I can get those duplicate records to purge themselves after printing. Which is also where I stopped understanding your script Comment. Any way you can help? Let me know if you want more info.

I guess what I was looking for was a way to keep all this in ONE file since it will be distributed to multiple computers around the office (not a shared DB since each user might modify it). The script works but can't be easily incorporated into a new file. I noticed that another user asked you about this in a different thread a few months back as well and didn't get an answer (that i could find). Is there any other way to preform this kind of function without referring to an external file?

Comment, any chance you can break down the "Generate Labels" script for me? After looking at it a few times I'm still confused and not sure how to import it/use it for the database I already have built. Thanks. edit: script is as follows: #FIND DATA Show all Records # #SORT DATA Unsort Records # #RESET LABEL TABLE Go to Layout ["Lables"(Lables)] Show all Records Delete all Records [no dialog] # #GENERATE BLANKS Loop Exit Loop If (Get (FoundCout) > Lables::gskipLabels] New Record/Request End Loop # ...etc

Wow! That the kind of thing I've been trying to find for the past few days. Thanks a lot Comment - it looks like a great place to start. I'm sure I'll have questions later...

Okay, so after solving various input issues I'm now focusing on the problem of output. Goal: To be able to print x number of labels off the same set of data (take the information in 9 fields and output into "one label" that prints multiple times on the same layout). Problem: do I really have to duplicate the data for every "duplicate" label I want to print? There has to be a work around, right? Any help or ideas are very much appreciated. -megan

Thanks Raybaudi, but I was already aware of how to convert between the three formats. My conundrum is that I'm making specimen labels, not using the coordinates in formulas. I think I may have to just make a static text box and let the user format it, oh well. So much for trying to do it the "fancy" way! As for the quick reference, I was referring more to a "cheat sheet" type format than a database of information. Digging around in forums for the "right" thing can take a while and it's nice to have a list-format.

Thanks for the help. This is the first FM file I've built from scratch so I'm trying to keep up with how I envision it working! Do any of you know a good quick reference source for the FM calculations? The help files really aren't as helpful as I though they'd be. Yep I just used digits 1-9 since it was easy. My problem has been made more complex because the group i work with uses three formats to record their lat and long (DMS, DD & DM). I was trying to program a check box to activate one or the other but have fallen back to "buttons" for now...

update. Due mainly to reading the articles on this site I can now get most of what I want using this code: LatitudeDegree&"°" & LatitudeMin&""" Which outputs 123°456" I still need the ' and the backslash trick doesn't work. maybe I'll try the global work around that was suggested in the article I read.

Hi, I'm fairly new to Filemaker, so I might have overlooked the obvious... My goal is: to be able to have the user enter a set of numbers that will generate an output like this: 123°456'789" This will be used to display coordinates (lat/long). So far I can get the "123°" part to work but filemaker won't let me use ' or " as characters and not code. Is there a work around or will I just have to make that a manual step? Thank you. Megan