fmp17 Help! CreatedBy requires a value error

[mjrp]

Hello there

I am hoping for some guidance from those far more knowledgable than I. I am new to filemaker, using the Asset template, adding some extra fields and making it work for me, unfortunately, there is an error with "CreatedBy is defined to require a value, but it is not available on this layout" as the pop up.

I have worked out I need to have a box, linked to createdby, I am logged in, when I complete the process of assigning an asset to an individual, the createdby linked box inserts my name automatically, then when I try to click off or to a new asset entry, the warning comes up. 

 

I am on mac, Mojave, if that makes any difference. I have validation on "not empty" which it isn't, as my name is auto populated, so not sure how else to sort this out. Any advice would be appreciated, aware this may be a little vague, I'm new at this so let me know what extra you need to see.

Many thanks

Mat Richardson

 

[OlgerDiekstra]

Did you check Manage->Security->Privilege set that you actually have permissions to write to that field? Does it work when you remove the restrictions? Ie, untick 'not empty', 'prohibit modification'?

[mjrp]

Hi, thanks for answering! I checked both of those options, it didn't change anything when I unticked the "not empty" box within the Assignments table, same error. So I unticked it in all 4 of the tables, Assignments, Vendors, Employees, Assets, still no change, same error. I checked the privilege set, I have full access to everything, so I don't think it's that. 

Strangely, it is auto populating the CreatedBy field I have put on the page, it does this for my name when set to that, I can also log in as Admin, it populates then too with Admin, but still has the same error. I started a new database with the same template, made no changes other than to add a random name, a random asset, assign the asset to that name and the same error comes up, so I don't think it is something I have changed or removed, it's something I'm not doing. Added the relationships as well in case that shows anything, I haven't changed them from the original template though.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[mjrp]

I just made a copy of the database, then tried removing createdby from each of the tables, thinking maybe I could remove the problem by not having a record of who created the entry, just leaving the time and date with the creationtimestamp, now when I click somewhere within the record, it says creationtimestamp is defined to require a value, same issue even though the time and date have been automatically entered, so I think I have bigger issues than just removing the requirement for my name to be assigned to the action of creating the entry.

[mjrp]

Ok, so I got to the bottom of it, solved for now. In case anyone has this error in the future, I had made the mistake on the asset table, of thinking I had added createdby and creationdate to the layout, but I had only done so within the assignment section of the layout, not in the actual asset section. By creating another createdby box and creationtime box, creating a new asset, these 2 boxes were automatically populated and the error then goes away when I assign this asset to an employee.

I wouldn't say it's intuitive for a beginner but every day is a school day. 

[comment]

I did not understand your original description of the problem - and I don't understand your solution now. A field defined to auto-enter a value (such as Account Name) does not need to be placed on any layout at all.

I am also not sure why such field needs to be validated as 'Not empty', since it will be automatically populated on record creation without the user having to do anything. In any case, because the field will be automatically populated on record creation, it will also pass such validation, if you choose to add it.

Both these actions - auto-enter and field validation - take place at the data level, and placing the field on a layout or removing it from a layout should have no effect at all. If it does, there must be some other factor at play here.

--
As an aside, if you do place such fields on the layout, they should be non-modifiable by the user in Browse mode.

[mjrp]

Thanks for the comment, I guess that's the nature of problems, I don't understand it either! I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. 

All I know is, that if I didn't have a physical entry on my asset sheet, showing who created the entry and when, then when I tried to assign that asset to an employee, the warning box would indicate that the createdby field required data and didn't have any. Soon as I put 2 fields in the layout, assigned to creator and time, the error went away because the fields now had data in them. That may not make sense but it's the only thing I did differently and it worked. 

I have another issue concerning this now, it's fine if I manually add a new asset, the 2 fields are automatically populated and I can assign it no problem, but I have all my assets on a spreadsheet, when I import the assets, then the created by and date are not automatically filled in, the error returns and as they are autofill boxes, I can't edit them. 

Any idea how to force the createdby and date to populate on the import of data from a spreadsheet?

Sorry if my simplistic way of explaining things makes little sense, I'm not coming from a position of knowledge on how filemaker works.

[comment]

Well, as I said, I did not understand neither the problem nor the solution. As a rule, in order to understand a problem you must be able to reproduce it - and I can't think of a way to reproduce the behavior you describe. If you can create a simple file - say just two fields, one for a user-entered value and one auto-entered - that exhibits the same behavior, please post it here. Or use a copy of your existing file and remove everything except what's necessary to show the problem (usually, when people do that, they find the problem themselves).

Until then, I would urge others reading this not to draw the wrong conclusion. And in your place I would be prepared for other issues to follow.

 

46 minutes ago, mjrp said:

how to force the createdby and date to populate on the import of data

When you import, you should see the option to "Perform auto-enter options while importing" in the Import Options dialog. If you don't, then the target table does not have any fields that auto-enter values (and that could be a hint as to what the real problem here is).

 

46 minutes ago, mjrp said:

as they are autofill boxes, I can't edit them

It's not because they are auto-entered fields per se - it's because you have also checked the "Prohibit modification of value during data entry" option. And you still can modify them using a script.

 

Edited October 24, 2018 by comment