filling down

[mbeaumont]

We are new at this but we are using FM 5 for a geneolgy data base, name, date, event, father, mother, id, and source.

All of the fields are different in most cases, but the source field can be the same for 20-30 records.

I would like to high light the source fields that are the same and do like a copy down, so that we do not have to reenter the information in each field. I do know that when building the records we can do copy from previous record but thats only one at a time.

Any suggestions would be very much apprciated

Mike

[Lee Smith]

Hi Mike,

You can't do this like you would in Excel, However, you can copy the entry in the field from the previous entry. Insert the curser in the field in a list view (it works in form view to, but I think it would be faster in a list), and hit Cmd ' (Mac) and it will put in the entry from the last enter in the field.

HTH

)

Lee

[Vaughan]

I hope you are using a self-join relationship and a portal! That way children are easily associated with parents (the children appear in the portal).

This also reduces data entry and subsequent mistakes.

Geting the data out into a tree-like diagram is not FMP's strong point. Somebody posted an amazing sample file a few months ago that created trees in FMP. Do a search of the forum (maybe search for "tree diagram" or something similar) because it was really pushing the limits of what FMP can do.

I've attached a quick-and-dirty file to demonstrate self-joins and portals and entered in a few records. This file is not finished -- the entry of spouses is not good, for instance, but the entry oof children and the navigation up to parents isn't bad.

tree.fp5.zip

[Ugo DI LUCA]

Hi,

Just in case you were only looking for a way to process entry within a list, I would recommand the following.

Use a self-relationship (constant) and a portal with allow creation of records.

Then, as a first field in the portal, place a global field (call it " g_repeat source" field, and define your "source" field to be a lookup from Constant::g_repeat source.

If you are concerned about the risk of a relookup, you could create a calculation using g_repeat source and use that field as a "conditional lookup" field to keep it secure.