I am new to Filemaker Pro7 and have a couple of trivial (I hope) questions.

1. When you click on a "popup list" and select an item from it, Filemaker automatically sends you to the next tab item. If this is another popup list, it opens it up. Is this by design, and if so, can I switch it off ?

I have tried "popup menus" but prefer the look/feel of the list. Also, I thought of using a dummy field behind the main field which is ahead in the tab order - but on a large layout this would be painful to implement.

2. Can I dynamically set the colors of the Header/Body/Footer ?

For instance, is there a function like SetHeaderColor(RGB(...))

3. Can you produce a list of table records (as in table view ) but neatly plonked in the middle of the screen, with buttons/text/anything around it.

I have looked at using a portal, but it seems to rely on their being a relationship between tables to start with (otherwise the OK button remains greyed). I only want some fields in ONE table to be reproduced.

4. A customer supplied with an FP7 database must have the Full Access Privilege Set, in order to add/modify accounts. This would also mean access to play with layouts and anything else in the DB - is there a standard approach for stopping this.

5. I have a table with message data in a separate file (fields are ID and Text). I want to access a particular message (say ID = 100) and show it in a custom dialog. However, it appears that I can only get to the message data if the table I am currently working with (in my layout) has a related field defined for the external file table data (and a relationship defined between the internal and external fields). Firstly, did anybody but me understand what I just said - and if so, do I HAVE to define related fields to get data from another table (the equivalent of "select Text from Messages where ID = 100).

Answers to any of these questions would be most appreciated.

RSpisketts:

Welcome to the Forums.

Your first question can be solved by removing the next item from the tab order - or by reorganizing/deleting your tab order altogether. I believe the functionality was, indeed, by design, as it allows for assisted data-entry without the use of the mouse, and can speed up data entry considerably.

As for your second question, I don't know the answer, but it may well have been addressed in the past. Search the Forums for something along the lines of "dynamic color" and see what you get.

-Stanley

There is no built-in function for setting the background colour. You could do it by creating big rectangular container fields which you can set equal to other coloured container fields. (You could also pull out your own fingernails.)

Depending on your requirements, extra layouts might be simpler.

There are no trivial questions - just trivial answers.

Oldfogey...

I have tried pulling out my own finger nails, but since I only had one set to start with, it was a very short lived form of distraction.

Thanks for your help (both of you).

Roger.

Re: #4 of 2...

Good question, I had not considered. This could be a lot different than in FM 4 and 5 (where most of my experience is). Not even sure how it's handled there, but there was pretty fine grain for determining what a user can or can't do. I always have uber geeks on site that admins, and everyone else as users, and it hasn't really come up.

However, I would try to separate the layouts in a different file and set it's password such that it can not be modified. This is easier to do in FM7. All users would have access to this file, but read only. I think that would work...:

Good luck

1. As posted, just remove your popups/menus/radio buttons/checkboxes from the tab order.

2. As posted, put a container field where you want the color to be and set it by script or make it a calculated field that pulls in the contents of another container field/fields containing a square of your desired color. One advantage to this is that you can set a field to be non-printing, whereas when you select a layout part and fill it with a color, you can't control printing.

3. ... a list of table records ...neatly plonked in the middle of the screen...

Try the Plonk Function. But seriously, a portal is the way to do it. I don't understand the problem you're having with that.

4. A customer supplied with an FP7 database must have the Full Access Privilege Set, in order to add/modify accounts...

The "Run script with full access privileges" checkbox at the bottom of the Edit Script window gives you very fine control over such things.

5. There's probably a really cool way to do this in 7, maybe pass a script parameter from the button, but in the past, you would set a global field to the left-hand key of the relationship, and your message ID would be the right-hand key.

Thanks for all your help.

Question 1

==========

I am on a Windows 2000 machine (don't know if this makes any difference) and I have tried removing any/all tabbing from my layout, but when I do that, the popup list tabs back to itself repeatedly and keeps popping up (perhaps it never likes the choices I make).

I have gotten around it by defining a dummy field 1 pixel wide and plonking it (using the Plonk function) at the end of the popup list field and crucially, next in the tab order). It works but I'm not a happy bunny.

Question 4

==========

Another way of asking the question might be - how can I allow users to add users, without giving them full access rights AND DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE.

Tripod - Your answer suggests to me that what I think is necessary here (in the way of user access control) may be superfluous ?

Clarifying my previous response to your fourth question: you need to create a SCRIPT that creates accounts. Such a script can be set to run with full access privileges, while not granting any other rights to layouts, etc.

Read the tech brief:

http://www.filemaker.com/downloads/pdf/techbrief_security.pdf

As for your first question, did you take the popup out of the tab order as well? That is strange.

Yes - took the popup out of the tab order.

Incidentally, this doesn't happen with popup menu's (only lists).

Perhaps someone (anyone, please) could confirm they too have this problem.

Perhaps I am starting to go mad.

I'm even seeing flying pigs when I read these forums.

The answer to your popup list problem is:

1. In the field options, turn off allow entry.

2. Create a script: Go to field(your field)

3. Select the field, choose Format-Button, and assign the script you just made.

Now your field is a button, you can't tab into it, and it won't go back to itself after you select an item from the popup.

Fitch - YES ! like the sound of that.

Thanks.

I'm sure I posted something on this a week ago, but anyway..

Thanks for that - I thought about using it (it DOES work!), however, I have a multitude of popups - each one requiring a separate script. Is there a way of saying:

Go To Field( The one I just clicked on please )

: