Displaying current records on a layout

[Jim65]

Long winded but hopefully descriptive enough to describe my problem.

I have the following Tables:
Students
Ledger
Ledger_Chgs
Ledger_Pay
Ledger_Self

They are connected as such
Students table to Ledger table - StudentIdPk > StudentIdFk
Students table to Ledger_Chgs table - StudentIdChgs > StudentIdChgs
Students table to Ledger_Pay table - StudentIdPay > StudentIdPay
Ledger_Self table to Ledger_Chgs table - StudentIdFk > StudentIdFk

These are all used with a layout called Students.

In my students layout I have a portal to Ledger_Pay (and Ledger_Chgs but that's not an issue) In this portal I can create a new record and record the students payments. This works really well. I also have 4 other text fields (DuesPaid, Clinic Paid, Exam Paid and ISKF paid) than I mark either Pd or leave blank when I take their dues or other payments.

Here's my problem

I have another layout (Attendance) not based on these tables but on TO's that shows the students name, attendance daily for the month and phone numbers. I also have text fields for the above mentioned text fields - DuesPaid, Clinic Paid, Exam Paid and ISKF paid that I have been filling in on this layout too. Double work and double the chance for a mistake. I can get the fields to show on this layout from the Ledger_Pay table but not for the correct month/year. When I script a FIND I can go to the Ledger Table and get the correct Month and Year using varibles based on g_Month and g_Year but when I go the the Attendance layout it always shows the last recorded created unless I sort differently. I want to be able to pull up these records for the correct month/year at any time, not just when the month is current. I'm not trying to get fancy financial software or complex book keeping, just to show the records created in one place to display in another. I do have the attendance table connected to a TO of the Ledger_Pay TO but can't get past what will probably be simple to most everyone but me.
Thank you for any and all help,
Jim

[Steve Martino]

It's hard for my to visualize the relationships in my head.  Can you post a screen shot of your Relationship graph?

But you may need some more TO's to make it happen.

Where does Attendance land in the graph?

Are any of the portals filtered?

[Lee Smith]

Why not attach a copy of the file or a mockup.

[Jim65]

Lee,

I am attaching a copy of my file. To create a record for the payment of dues and such you need to go to the Students Information layout and click the Payments tab. Click the New Payment button and click on what was paid - Dues, Clinic, Exam or ISKF. Then go back to the Main Menu and click on Print Attendance. This the layout I want that information to show. To change the Month and year of this layout you need to go to the Administration Menu and click on the Month and Year drop downs where it says Select - Month/Year. This runs a script that updates the information and takes you back to the Attendance layout. Hope this makes sense. I realize that by putting my file up for help it will also receive a lot of criticism for how it's created. I will take all and any help I can get. This file is used only by me and for a very small martial arts dojo that I own. It doesn't have to be fancy but it does need to be accurate!

Thanks for everything,

Jim

 

Edited September 30, 2018 by Jim65

[Steve Martino]

This looks familiar.  I do have a few points.  And I think we discussed this before, either here or on another site. And BTW, I'm no expert, just an enthusiasts.

I do like your U/I look.  It's not perfect, but it's on the right track and shows creativity.

--A little about me, because I do want you to understand I've been where you are (not as bad )--

I also know you're in the same 'boat' as me.  Need a DB for your business, can't afford to spend the kind of money needed.  For my business, db software is in the 20-30k range.  I'm sure it's worth it, but I don't have the money to do it.  I enjoy building it myself, and customizing all the functionality I need, as I learn.

Mine is an ongoing 6 year project, including a complete re-write when I went from 12 to 16.  I started out with solid bases, and built from there, adding functionality along the way-with tremendous help from the forums.

--Back to you--

I will also tell you that you are doing many many things in an unconditional fashion.  Sometimes that could be good, but in reality, you could risk a total catastrophe.  Because of this, your database is extremely complicated, more than it needs to be, and has too many TO's that are unnecessary.  This is always a point of frustration.  You go down one road to make something work, then you have to jump a few more complicated 'hoops' to get the next thing to work, and it grows expotentially until you get to where you are.  It's hard to get into the specifics.  I was looking at it for about 20 minutes, and can't wrap my head around why many of the TO's are needed.

My recommendation is to follow the many free examples online about data modeling, and get as much as you can on paper.  Then spend a few bucks for a couple hours to talk to a developer, and hash out on paper what you need into a relationship graph.

I think if you had a roadmap like that, you could easily start building it properly, and the whole process would be more enjoyable.

Your method, of figuring out how to fix this one issue, could probably make the next issue even harder.  Like I said, requiring even more hoops to jump thru.

I would post in this forum, and the other two, in the appropriate thread to ask about hiring a free-lance consultant to get you going.  Some do it thru Skype, & PayPal, and it wouldn't be that expensive.  One of the people I'd recommend and has helped me, but hasn't been on in quite some time.  I emailed him a few months ago and haven't heard back.

Here's another guy who is awesome, has many videos, you may want to reach out to him:

Website:  https://www.databasepros.com/index.php

Consulting Link:  https://www.databasepros.com/consulting.php

There are many really smart developers on the forums, many super qualified.

[Jim65]

Steve,

Thank you for your time and input. Without actually showing me where the issue is with the way I'm doing things it's difficult to learn to do better. I can't hire someone - that's why I'm asking the forum for help. This 'version' of my file is of one that started with Filemaker 8 so it's come a long way also. I'm sure there's ways to do things better and I do try when I'm shown. This old dog can learn new tricks when taught!

That said I'd like to mark this as closed as I've figured out what was wrong with what I had already set up and have gotten it to work exactly like I wanted. I had a relationship id incorrect and I needed to add 2 more fields to connect the dates of my dues fields and such with the month/year on the attendance sheet so they showed only the data created during those months/years.

I re-uploaded the corrected file. Specific advice and hand holding on anything is always greatly appreciated. 

Thanks,

Jim

Attendance.zip

Edited September 30, 2018 by Jim65
To upload corrected file