variation of a conditional value list needed...

[oilcan]

hello all,

this is my first post to these forums. I'm a newb when it comes to working with Filemaker, so please bear with me.

I work in a production biochem lab, and our production is documented using Filemaker. First, a look at the database I'm working with and then, a look at what I want to do with them.

I have two files of concern right now. One is called Inclusion Body QC. The other is Tetramer Production. Inclusion bodies are reagents that we must produce to make tetramers, tetramers being our final product we ship to people.

so here's the deal. there is a lot number for each record in Inclusion Body QC. Tetramer Production references this lot number, it brings up a pop-up list of all the lot numbers that you select to indicate from which lot you used Inclusion bodies. At first, this simple list has sufficed. but as time goes on, given lot numbers get used up, new lots are made. Now, every time you bring up this value list, it is tediously long, of mostly consumed lot numbers. I was thinking of a way to simplify this list, but since I am completely new to databases, the solution eludes me.

what I want to do is this...I want to make a date field in Inclusion Body QC, being the date that the inclusion body lot was used up. Then, in Tetramer Production, there is a date field called Folding date that indicates the date the production of a given tetramer started. I would like to make a conditional value list that shows only inclusion body lot numbers relevant to the Folding Date. in other words, if a lot number is used up on 3/7/04, and I start a tetramer production on 4/1/04, it would be of no value to list the lot number used up on 3/7/04, or any lot number that's used up.

I've read a number of similar problems on here, but this one seems slightly different, in that a relationship seems to be only an equality thing, not a comparative thing. Can anybody help me troubleshit this problem?

thanks in advance. if i need more info to describe my problem, please let me know...

-oc

[djgogi]

here is the method that is suited for your case

Dj

[oilcan]

Thanks for a nudge in the right direction, djgogi. Much appreciated.

well, after messing around with this for a while, I've finally gotten this thing to work. However, I didn't directly use the djgogi method, I actually used the smart ranges technique by Mikhail Edoshin. I did this because, as you know, this technique is described in excruciating detail on that website. I unfortunately don't have enough knowledge of Filemaker to be able to pick apart the Clairvoyance sample by djgogi to figure out how to implement it.

Which is a shame, because as I've looked at this problem, I've noticed that this method would be much better, as I'd rather like to use it with a compound key. The smart range doesn't seem very compound key friendly.

To expound...there is another filter I'd like to run this thing through, before the date filter. I've found that another field, called allele, can be used to perform an equally nice trimmiing of the size of the value list, with a much more straightforward standard value list of only related values. If I could use allele in conjunction with this type of smart range, the value list could be simplified to probably one or two choices for standard production/data entry, a very attractive prospect to us techs in the lab.

But, I have no idea how to implement the smart range and this together. It seems as though the djgogi method would be better suited for working out this compound key. But I can't understand how it works! Any chance of a tutorial on this method coming about?

Thanks for a great site, guys. This is the only place I can find on the web with such extensive knowledge and communication on filemaker.