Layout "modes"

[fsterman]

Hi, I am a new FMP user and am actually starting out developing POS and Inventory software for my friends/employers. I am an interface designer (one of the reasons I chose FMP, interface is given equal credence) and HATE "modes." They are bad and they are evil and they will suck you soul. Anyway is there any way to display the "list" view and the "form" view at the same time? Like have a "form" view on the left hand side and have the "list" of things on the right? Or do I have to have them in seperate windows?

[RussBaker]

One way would be to use the form layout but include a portal on the right to show information from the records based on a self-relationship using a key field which is common to all records (I use a text field aith auto-enter "A" in it).

For example, on the left part you could have all the personal details for an individual, and on the right a list of all the people in the file showing their surname, firstname etc. This would be in a portal with, say 25 rows, and a scrollbar. Because this is a portal, the list is able to be refined - for example, your list might only show people whose surname starts with the same letter as the person in the "form" part on the left. For this, the key field would be Left(Surname,1).

Because this is a portal, you can also create an invisible button in the portal row which will use the Go To Related Record function to take you to the "form" view for that person you click on.