could i get a quick instruction on how to setup a portal, i can't seem to get it. i create a relationship, create a portal, but get no records... i'm confused. thanks in advance for any help!

You still have to populate the portal with the related fields.

just by dragging fields into the portal?

Yes, that's one way. Or you can copy and paste fields.

Anyway there are some important things:

1) the fields have to be relying on the same relationship as the portal: Choose it fom the popup menu at the top of the "Define Fields" dialog, that will pop up, if you drag a new field on the portal (or duplicate an existing one).

2) You can only put fields in the top most row of the portal

3) the fields have to be completely within the border of the top most row

If I'm reading this post and the one you posted in the Relationship area of the Forums, I believe your problem is more than just having information in a field. I suspect it has more to do with how the portal is set up. I would verify that you have set things up the way you believe they are. Here are some things to check (recheck).

The relationship is backwards.

The relationship is based on two different field types.

The relationship is based on a field that can not be index.

The wrong relationship was used for the Portal.

The Fields in the portal are not from the related file (i.e. fields belong to the current file and not the related file).

HTH

Lee

I defined the relationship in the file that I want to display the records, not the one that contains the actual records.

The relationship is based on the same two field types.

The relationship is based on a field that can be index.

I only have one relationship at the moment.

The field that is in the portal is definitely from the related file.

On a more basic note, I can't even get this to work without Portal use! I can't believe this, today I go look for a Filemaker Basics book! please help

i tried this on a low level setup:

created two files, one field in each file, both same type and indexing available. then in one file i created a relationship that matched data with the other (one) field in the other file. i then assigned the field to the :FIELDNAME , indicating it's a related field. what more do i have to do?

Do you have any matching fields between the two files? A portal will definitely not work if there's no data to make the relationship valid.

yes, i simply copied the file... exact same, what am i doing wrong???

Try attaching the two files here. We'll look and see what we're missing.

thanks for helping bud

portalTest.zip

Hmm, well, for one thing, you have no data in the related file (one) to match that of the parent (two). And once you have matching data in both files, you'll only be able to see the related match field, which doesn't give you a very good idea of what it can do.

Check the attachment for a modification of your sample, to which I've added a field in the related file to demonstrate a working relationship.

Pmusaev.zip

ok, i'm seeing this in a brighter light now... thank you, so i should be using a Portal maybe now? so i can setup one file to be "Read-Only"?

I think it might help for you to have a better understanding of relationships. Here is a good summarization of them. Once you understand this, the idea of viewing related records in a portal will be more straightforward.

-Queue- said:

.... a better understanding of relationships. Here is a good summarization of them.

Wow, a link to something located at the same University as me, that I didn't know about! I love this forum - it helps even in my own backyard.

thanks Queue!

cheers,

Wendy

Thanks -Queue-, will do. cheers!

<breaks out into a verse of It's a Small World>

NOOOOO! Now look what you've done! I won't be able to get that song out of my head for a week.

sorting a portal... is this possible?

custom sort i mean, not that little dialog box in the relationships window

Technically, it's the relation that can be sorted, not the portal... but you can set a custom sort order for the relation (based on a value list) just as you can do in the standard sort dialogue... And, of course, you can create multiple versions of a relation if you'd like the portal to sort by date in one place and name in another (for example)...

Is there a particular sorting need that's creating a challenge?

(It would be very nice if FileMaker version N would treat portal fields like table columns, allowing live sorts by column header!)

ESpringer said:

(It would be very nice if FileMaker version N would treat portal fields like table columns, allowing live sorts by column header!)

That would be nice. In the mean time, you can still achieve pretty much the same result with a litte scripting.

so, with a little scripting, how would i go about, say, putting buttons in the header section of each column of the portal, and when clicked the buttons would sort by that column.