Help with Global Field Text

[dbies]

I am learning how to create a tabbed interface and am following the instructions from a FileMaker Advisor magazine article. I am brain dead though on how to get a global field to equal text. What it is telling me to do is name the tabs throuhg global fields. I am assuming I need to do this through a script but then where do I place the script and what should it say?

This article has been great and I have been able to do everything except this one part. Thanks for all the help you have given me on past and future items. This Forum is a GREAT resource. I do not get to work on FM on a daily basis - only as time permits so I forget a lot in between. This has taught me lots of tips and tricks. Thanks again.

[Chuck]

I'm not sure exactly what the article is saying, but you can simply place the global text fild on a layout and enter the information into it. I usually have a developer layout for such items that I need to access but shouldn't be visible to the user.

Chuck

[dbies]

DUH - OK, I was trying to make it much too hard! - now one more step. The article had me place the global fields naming the tabs in their own layout (named Preferences) and place merge fields related to them on the tabs themselvs (in my template). That way anytime you want to change the name of the tabs it will automatically change where ever the merge is (I actually understand this concept) - but - the names will not show up on the tabs for me. I am sure this is another brain dead thing I am trying to make way too hard. Thanks.

[Chuck]

Are you placing Merge fields on the tabs? While in layout mode, select the text tool, click on one of the tabs and select Insert->Merge Field. Then select your field. If you're not in the file that has the global field, you'll need to create a constant relationship between the files (probably covered in the article).

Chuck

[dbies]

Yes - I am placing the merge fields on the tabs and I am in the same file - just a different layout. The merge fields were placed right after I created the global fields. The global fields were then placed in the separate layout and named in a later step. I have since gone back and replaced the merge fields (after naming the tabs) but that didn't do the trick either. This is the template. Then I duplicate it however many times I need and the names should automatically appear on each layout.

The names do show up in the Preferences layout (where the global fields are listed) when I go to Browse so I know that part is working. Should I have done something different in define fileds other than select global and text?

Deanna

[Ugo DI LUCA]

Hi,

Hope I will not "hurt" you.

Your merge field should look <your field>

Is it the way they appear in layout mode ?

Is it that the merge disappeared backgroud (behindt he Tab) ?

Are you using Insert ?

[dbies]

Yes - that is how they look. I used CTRL + M.

OK - let's back up - how exactly do I enter the information into my global field? Maybe I was the DUH and just typed the information in my layout and not acutally in my global field. You need to be specific with me - remember my brain is dead.

[Chuck]

OK, go to your preferences layout. Enter Layout mode. Click and drag the Field tool from the status area on the left to an empty area of your layout. A list of your fields should show up. Double-click on the (global) field you want to place on the layout. Enter Browse mode. Click into the field you just added to the layout. Enter your text. Switch to your tab layout and see if the text you just entered appears. If not, double-check that the merge field has the same name as the field you entered text into. If it still doesn't work, delete the merge field and try adding it again by using the Text tool while in Layout mode and using Ctrl-M to add the merge field.

If all of that doesn't work, attach your file here and I'll take a look.

Chuck

[dbies]

That did it! I absolutely did not know that you could type in browse. Thank you, thank you, thank you. May seem like a small task to you but it was HUGE to me. Hope I can help someone else someday! Deanna

[Chuck]

Browse mode is where you actually edit the database records, telling FileMaker that this record has information X in field 1 and Y in field 2. Layout mode is where you set up how the records look, giving the user access to fields 1 and 2. In layout mode you can place text anywhere you want. In browse mode you can only place text into fields.

There are some very good introductions to FileMaker available. Special Edition Using FileMaker Pro 5.5 is particularly good. Soon (I hope) No Starch Press should be releasing The Book of FileMaker, which I had a small part in creating, which also has some good introductory FileMaker material.

Chuck

[dbies]

I didn't word that one quite right. I do know how the browse and layout work but it was my understanding of how the global field worked and probably how I was trying to inerpret the writers instructions. I have the FileMaker Bible, Using FileMaker Pro5 by Rich Coulmbre and Scriptology for my resources plus all of you. I have attended one FileMaker conference in Orlando a couple of years ago and learned a lot. My prolem is that I don't have anyone else to bounce anything off of that knows FM so when I get stuck in a rut and have tunnel vision, sometimes it is hard to break out and see something in a different direction. I am sure you will hear from me again as I have a huge new project - I am doing lots of reading.

Thanks again for all your help and I will be looking for your book. Good luck!!!