Getting rid of pop up lists

[Jack]

I have a production workorder for an item that has several attributes.

Example: a pendant that can be gold, silver, brass, aluminum.

The shape can be: flat, curved, semi curved.

The attachment can be: pin, ring, clip, none

The color lettering can be: green, red, blue.

etc...

I currently use drop down boxes to select the attributes for each pendant.

That means 4 or 5 drop down boxes.

I would like to number each attribute and make a single entry to come up with the final set of attributes.

For example entering 1,6, 8, 12 would give me gold, curved, ring, red.

I know that I can concatenate every possible combination of numbers to achieve the result, but I am sure someone can suggest an easier method.

Thanks

Jack

[The Bridge]

There are a number of ways you can do this; if the options depend on what sort of jewellery you're referring to, i.e. more than just pendants, you may want to look into a series of related files.

However, here's a quick answer:

Two fields:

Style_Code (text)

Style_Result (unstored, text) =

Choose(TextToNum(LeftWords(Style_Code, 1)), "", "gold", "silver", "brass", "aluminum") & ", " &

Choose(TextToNum(MiddleWords(Style_Code, 2,1)), "", "flat", "curved", "semi curved") & ", " &

Choose(TextToNum(MiddleWords(Style_Code, 3,1)), "", "pin", "ring", "clip", "none") & ", " &

Choose(TextToNum(MiddleWords(Style_Code, 4,1)), "", "green", "red", "blue")

This will parse the Style_Code field (no commas required in entry, by the way, as long as there is a space between values)

The obvious drawback to this method is that the values are hard-coded, which is why I suggest looking into using related files to draw the values from. A bit more work up-front, but a time-saver down the road.

[Jack]

Peter:

I don't have a problem using related files, but how do you suggest I do it so I don't have to create a record for each possible combination ?

Thanks.

Jack

[The Bridge]

Here's one option, off the top of my head. I tried out a quick test which seemed to work well. Here's a basic run-down.

Two files: Style_Code.fp5 and WorkOrder.fp5

Style_Code.fp5 fields:

Code (unique serial number)

Description

Description is every descriptive word, e.g. Pendant, Ring, Earring, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Flat, Curved, Semi-Curved, Pin, Ring, Clip, Green, Red, Blue

WorkOrder.fp5 fields:

Style_Code (text)

Jewellery_Type_Key = LeftWords (Style_Code, 1)

Metal_Key = MiddleWords (Style_Code, 2, 1)

Shape_Key = MiddleWords (Style_Code, 3, 1)

Attachment_Key = MiddleWords (Style_Code, 4, 1)

Colour_Key = Middle Words (Style_Code, 5, 1)

Define 5 relationships from WorkOrder.fp5 to Style_Code.fp5, the various calculated keys to Code.

Then, in WorkOrder.fp5, define this field:

Style_Description (unstored, text) =

Jewellery_Type|Jewellery_Type_Key::Description & ", " &

Metal|Metal_Key::Description & ", " &

Shape|Shape_Key::Description & ", " &

Attachment|Attachment_Key::Description & ", " &

Colour|Colour_Key::Description

To take this to the next level, you can split Style_Code.fp5 into 5 different databases: Jewellery_Type.fp5, Metal.fp5, Shape.fp5, Attachment.fp5, and Colour.fp5. This will be particularly helpful when you need to store information specific to those various qualities, e.g. the current price of gold, the cost of a particular clasp.

I hope this gives you some ideas.

[Jack]

Thanks Peter, I'll try it our over the weekend and see if I get it right.

jack