Hi all,

Here is the case

Category for a Company/contact file.

A company can either be a :

- Customer or Prospect

- and/or Supplier

- and/or Other

These are not really Status fields as I am not looking for active/inactives, but that's the way I defined them...

The status would be first entered at the creation of records using 3 globals (g_statusProspect, g_statusSupplier, g_statusOther) with "toggles" scripts activated containers (when filled with a "1", the container shows a full menu button), assuming that a New "Customer" is a prospect.

When the record is created from the globals, the appropriate numbers are filled into 3 num fields n_statusProspect, n_statusSupplier, n_statusOther.

Then 4 definitive status calcs (there is a calc for Customer at this point) would first "look" to the n_status fields and to the Related files :

i.e.

c_defStatusProspect =

Case(n_statusProspect = 1,

Case(is Valid (RelationshipToProposals),

Case(is Valid (RelationshipToCustomerOrders), 0, 1),

0),

0)

Is this the way to go, or is there a simplier method ?

If a company can be two (or more) things at once then it suggsts to me that there are two (or more) separate criteria. Think more about what you are categorising.

I suggest that "other" and "miscellaneous" *never* be allowed as options! Instead, base the value list on the field and allow the user to add new entries.

Ugo, you're hurting yourself ;-)

Have a Category field, checkbox formatted

Have a ActiveCategory field, formatted with checkboxes derived by the entries in Category, in which you check which categories are active

It's peraphs simplistic but makes your life easier and it should work

Hi Vaughan, Hi Pupiweb,

Not sure I get it all. But sure I'll have to think more about it. There are currently 3 kinds of stuff to "categorize"

- The Category : Prospect, Customer, Supplier and Misc.

- The Type by Category : Wholesaler, Construction Company, Painter, Tiler, Insurance, Tax, Advertising...

- The Activity : Active, Inactive, NC

In fact, I use the category field (for Multikey in my Companyt db, where it leads the user to different layouts according to the category (as you'll remember, my solution is "Portal and Form Only"), but I'm lost with the settings.

When the user will Click the Tab while being in a record (when created !), the script will lead him :

- to the appropriate Layout if there is only one category

- to a Show Message (not the FM dialog) for multiple category, where he will choose.

Vaughan said :

it suggsts to me that there are two (or more) separate criteria.

Right. But when the entry is processed (with the globals), the user only pick-up a Category (the Job must be done quickly over the counter or at the phone). The type fields which act as a sub-category - see first lines of this post for the difference I made- will be filled (or not) later when the record is definitely created.

in the c_defStatusProspect ,

is Valid (RelationshipToProposals) checks that there is a relationship in the Proposal db (Pricing db)

is Valid (RelationshipToCustomerOrders) checks that there is a relationship in the Customer Order db (If a Company placed an order, it's definitely not a Prospect but a Customer). If no relationship exists, then I'll use the first option selected when creating the record (1 for prospect, or 0)

I use the same structure for Customer with Is Valid (RelationshipToCustomer)...

For Supplier, the calcs is refered to the Product file (if there is a record there, either in the Manufacturer or Wholesaler fields, it can be considered a Supplier)

It gets a bit confusing when it comes for Misc.

As these are categories (not status fields), the Misc. Category (used Mainly for Tax or Services not linked to the Commercial Activity) can be checked by the user when creating the record, but there are no related calcs to go with it as there is no current files dealing with "Financial/Accounting", in which the Tax or Insurance or Bank could be used).

So I cannot identify errors when the entry is processed ...

Thanks for reading.