is it possible to have more than one match field

[milen]

Hi,

With FileMaker Pro 6, is it possible to define more than one match field for a given relationship?

If it is not possible is there any workaround?

Does FileMakerPro 6 allow to link files by more than one field?

For example I want to create a relationship between 2 files.

The master file has 2 key fields (CountryID, RegionID). The related file has the same 2 key fields (CountryID, RegionID) plus one more field called City.

I want to display in a portal all records from the related file that match to a given set of key fields values from the master file, i.e, I want to display all Cities in the specified CountryID and RegionID.

Thank you for the help in advance!

[ernst]

Hello Milen,

The only way to do that (as far as I know) is to combine the two ID fields into a calculated third field and use that for the relation.

So in both master and related file you could have a calculated text field cCountryAndRegion = CountryID & " " & RegionID

The reason for the space in the calculation is to avoid conflicts like

CountryID 1 combined with RegionID 25 resulting in CountryAndRegion 125

whilst

CountryID 12 combined with RegionID 5 also results in CountryAndRegion 125

Hope this helps,

regards,

Ernst.

[milen]

Thank you for the help Ernst,

I your answer will help me to solve the problem.

As I understand it is not possible to define a relation

between 2 fields in the master table and

2 fields in the related table in a FileMakerPro 6.

In some situations where I can't guarantee the uniqueness of any single field, I want to designate two or more fields

as a primary key. In the terms of FileMaker these should be called "match" fields.

So, I created an additional calculated field as you told me and I solved my problem!

But if I need to link my master table to another related table and if in the relation I want to have again 2 fields

(but different from the fields i'm using in the first relation) I have to create another calculated filed.

This aproach seem to me a bit weird.

Let me know if there is another way too!!!

Thank you again!

[ernst]

Hello Milen,

I do not completely understand what you want to do.

But, to your last question, you can indeed only make a relation between a single field on either side of the relation. So you'll again need to use a calculation which combines fields if you want to use other and/or more fields on one or both sides of your second relation. Which is i.m.o. not really weird, but actually quit flexible.

If you want more help I'm affraid that you'll have to explain your problem better though.

Regards,

Ermst

[cjaeger]

But if I need to link my master table to another related table and if in the relation I want to have again 2 fields

(but different from the fields i'm using in the first relation) I have to create another calculated filed. This aproach seem to me a bit weird.

weird?

just about as weird that you end up with at least 4 shoes when you don't want to wear the same shoes every day (unless you had some kind of an accident, that is).