Track and field DB

[newbe]

Using FMP4.1

I am working on a track and field Db. I need to create 6 heats each heat has to have 6 randonly selected particapants from a age group such as Juniors.

Eg: Junior boys

heat 1 --------- heat 2

Name 1 Lane 1 --------- Name 1 Lane 1

Name 2 Lane 2 --------- Name 2 Lane 2

Name 3 Lane 3 --------- Name 3 Lane 3

Name 4 Lane 4 --------- Name 4 Lane 4

Name 5 Lane 5 --------- Name 5 Lane 5

Name 6 Lane 6 --------- Name 6 Lane 6

Heat 3 same as heat 1 Heat 4 same as heat 2

6 heats on the same page

Any suggestions?

I can do a find for the Junior girls that is ok

but on my layout the same name is displayed for every lane.

or there is no count for the lane or there is no space between the heats depending on how I try to create it.

Newbe

[Steve T.]

Hi, Newbe! I imagine there's lots of ways to do this but I can't think of a quick-and-easy one... maybe someone else will be able to give you an easy answer.

If it were me, I'd probably start w/2 databases (heats and runners) and use a script to pick 1 runner appropriate to the heat (criteria like class, gender, availability, etc.) and then temporarily mark that runner as unavailable so they are not selected again until the heat (or 2 heats) have been completely filled. You can then have another script run that script the appropiate number of times to fill a heat (or 2 heats) and then have another script reset the values. The nice thing about the heats database is that you'll have a permanent record of all the heats that were run so you'll have their running histories and how many times each runner has competed. The nice thing about the runners database is that it doesn't matter how many runners you have on your team (well, you need at least the minimum), the solution is not locked into "just 6" and you can make any of the runners unavailable for whatever reason without having to keep typing names in.

Didn't give it a lot of thought, but that's what I'd probably do...

--ST

P.S. I forgot to mention the use of FileMaker's randomization feature. I used it for a very simple poker-like game in FileMaker in which I added a 1 second delay followed by a beep noise every time a card came up to simulate a deal instead of an all-at-once immediate deal. Pschologically, it also felt more random for some reason.