im an extreme newbie trying to create a database for my middle school classes. i teach lot of different classes, so in logging my information i was wondering if there is a way to have the value of the 'grade field' (which is a drop down list from 5-8) define which value list will be used in the 'teacher' field, thereby minimizing the number of names that need to be scrolled through. for instance, once 6 is chosen (as in 6th grade) only the value list with 6th grade teacher names is available for the 'teacher' field. alternatively, if 7 is chosen, only 7th grade teacher names are available in the 'teacher' field.

i just began using filemaker pro 5 last night, so my familiarity is limited. will a script be required or is there an easier strategy?

thanks for any help

I can't remember when this feature became available, so it may not be possible in your case. But, in FileMaker 6, you can do it this way:

create a second file, call it "students.fp5". Each record contains a student's name and his/her grade.

Then, in the main file, create a relationship to Students.fp5. It should be defined as follows:

Grade ::= Grade

That is, relate the Grade field in your main file to the Grade field in the Students file.

Then, change your students value list to use "Values from Field". You should get another dialog where you can specify "Only Related Values" and select the relationship you want to use (in this case "Students").

(The "Only Related Values" option is the part that I'm not sure exists in FileMaker 5.0).

When you specify a grade in the main file, the value list for the students' names should only contain those in that grade.

Jeff

This feature is available in version 5.0.

Jeff,

This is kind of a dumb question but could you tell me what the protocol is behind the suffix ".fp5". I see this appendage added to lots of file names but I'm not sure why.

Thanks,

Jarvis

FMP 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0 all share the same file format. Earlier versions use a different format (there are several depending on the version). For instance FMP 3.0, 4.0 and 4.1 use the same file format. These files have ".fp3" extension, whereas the newer files have ".fp5" to differentiate them.

It's strictly not necessary on Macintosh systems but is needed in Windows because it uses the extension to associate the program used to open it.

Thanks Vaughan!

I guess that's why I like Mac's.

Jarvis