Should I not use value list in this situation?

[mehronx]

I currently have a contacts database that uses value lists to designate the category the contact is a member of.

So it looks like this: At the top of my contacts database, I have a row of checkboxes that is one value list for categories such as Personal, General, Press, Client, etc etc.

Under each of those values there are sub type value lists (i.e. print and web under press).

This layout is starting to seem a little sloppy and I'm wondering if anyone has a better suggestion for categorizing contacts. One contact must be able to fall under several categories.

[kennedy]

One option would be a pulldown list of the major categories setting a global. Based on the selection, you show the field of checkboxes of subcategories for just the selected major category. It could be argued that you need not set the major categories... rather, the major is set automatically if any of its subcategories are selected.

Advantages and disadvantages... just an idea.

[mehronx]

Sounds good. This would probably work well, but I'm not sure how the second part works. How would the sub categories only appear based on the first selection?

Is there a way to make the second field conditional or something like that?

I didn't think the layout could change like that.

[CobaltSky]

Yes, there are several ways to make value lists operate conditionally.

The one that kennedy is referring to is based on relationships. The way to get it to work is to define the second value list to be based on "values from a field" and select the "only related values" option (then choose an appropriate relationship from the drop-down list within the value-list dialog). In this example, the global field would be defined as the key field for the relationship which you base the checkbox value list on, so that whenever the value in the global field (ie the pop-up menu) changes, the corresponding related values appear in the checkbox field.

Try it. You'll never look back!

[mehronx]

Thanks, but I'm still not quite there.

Do you know where I could find a template of this type of value list / relationship?

Also, would this allow for someone to fall into two different main categories?

Thanks for the help!

[CobaltSky]

Well yes, if you wish, you could download a demo file from my website at the following URL:

http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos/ConditionalValues.zip

It is a password free file, which shows a conditional list based on a "self-join" relationship (ie between the file and itself), but the same principles apply to relationships to other files in a solution.

Hope that is of help.

[CobaltSky]

Well yes, if you wish, you could download a demo file from my website at the following URL:

http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos/ConditionalValues.zip

It is a password free file, which shows a conditional list based on a "self-join" relationship (ie between the file and itself), but the same principles apply to relationships to other files in a solution.

And yes, values can appear in as many categories as you like - it all depends on what values they appear against in the file that the conditional lists are based on.

Hope that is of help.

[cmartin]

The one that kennedy is referring to is based on relationships. The way to get it to work is to define the second value list to be based on "values from a field" and select the "only related values" option (then choose an appropriate relationship from the drop-down list within the value-list dialog).

Does anyone know if this above-referenced feature: select only related values, is one that is NOT available in FM Pro 4.0?

trying to make conditional value lists, too.

thanks.

[CobaltSky]

I'm afraid that your guess is correct - the conditional value lists feature that Kennedy is referring to was introduced with FMPv5.0 and is not available in v4.

There is an alternative technique that you can use - one which I call 'Automatic value lists', which will work in FMPv4.

There's a demo of that one on my web site also, but it's in fp5 format. However if you're interested, I am attaching a copy of an fp3 file which shows the same technique.

It's not password protected, so you will be able to have a look at how it is set up.

AutoListSelect.fp3.zip

[cmartin]

Thanks Cobalt. I took a look and I'll give it a try. Much appreciated, as always.