Better "Find" option without using status area

[Mark Snyder]

Here's how you can duplicate the "Continue" and "Cancel" find buttons displayed in the status area when a user is paused in find mode; so you will not have to show the status area in your layout.

Copy any portal (just the portal, without any fields) from another file (it can't be a portal from the file you are in!) If you don't have a handy file with a portal already in it, go ahead and create a new file and a portal. What portal you copy does not matter, as long as it is from another file.

Paste the portal onto a layout you use for finds. You will notice the portal shows: <Relationship Missing>, that is what you want, don't assign it a relationship in Portal Setup. This is critical, in order for this trick to work you need to have a portal with the relationship missing!

In Portal setup, set it to show 1 row and uncheck the option to show the vertical scroll bar.

Create two buttons, one named "Perform Find" (assign it the "Perform Find" script step) and the other, "Cancel Find" (assign it the "Enter Browse Mode" script step.)

Place the two buttons inside the portal and resize it to be slighty larger than the buttons. Position the portal containing the two buttons anywhere on the layout where there is a convenient blank spot.

Set the portal fill and borders to invisible.

Switch to Browse mode. The 2 buttons and the portal should be invisible.

If there is not already a find button on your layout, go ahead and add one.

Now for the neat part, click the find button to enter into find mode. Did the two buttons in the portal suddenly show up? If they did, you now have the option of continuing the find or cancelling. When you enter back into browse mode the buttons will vanish.

To summarize. By using an undefined portal, one without a relationship assigned, which you get by copying any existing portal from another file, you can use it to hold buttons which are hidden in browse (and preview mode) but show in find mode.

If this trick does not work for you, feel free to email me at [email protected] or post your question in the forum and I'll try to clear up any questions.

[-Queue-]

How weird! I just found out this works for headers in list view too, which isn't true for normal portals with buttons in them. Nice job, Mark! Did you find this by accident or were you just really, really bored?

[Helpful Harry]

Now that's just sneaky!!

Actually, it doesn't need to be a missing relationship, any old relationship link with no related records will do.

[Mark Snyder]

The portal trick is one I discovered by accident back in the days of FileMaker Pro 4.

To help better understand the method, I've included a file which shows how it works.

Hope it proves to be useful. And I hope others can find more ways to use it.

[sawindel]

Wow -- great trick, I had been creating a "fake" status window to hold these types of buttons, but this is a lot easier!!.

thanks