Forcing update of portal field (or merge field)

[wedgeman]

I've got 2 tables in an invoicing scheme:  a primary table1, and table 2. 

Table 1 (invoice) shows a portal into which (Table 2) Invoice Item records are created, and which show in a portal field in the current layout (Table1)..

On the layout (Table1), i'm showing a summary field (which totals all invoice items in Table2).

IT maintains the correct amounts and updates, but does not automatically update every time a change is made in Table 2.

Say for example if i change qty or change amount in one of the items in the portal, the summary field doesn't automaticallyupdate in my current layout.

in order to force an update, I have to force the window to refresh.

is there a way around this, so that windows refresh automatically when the remote table is touched? 

I've tried an "update" button, (tied to "refresh window"), but that doesn't seem to do it... the only thing that seems to work is clicking around on the page (forcing an eventual commit). .... I'm lost. is there a way to force a timed update?

Edited October 27, 2017 by wedgeman

[bcooney]

https://www.teamdf.com/blogs/14-for-14-ditch-those-cartesian-joins-use-refresh-portal-instead-maybe/