creating layouts in related file

[kejames]

<Standard disclaimer about being new and clueless.>

Using FM 5.5, I've created a basic phone log. I made a data input form in the related file (containing client demographics) which includes a portal that shows the specifics of each call made to/from the client (stored in the master file).

Now I want to add a button *in the related file* that will go to a call log summary layout. I want a chronological list of each call received at the office each day. If I place the layout in the master file, this works fine. But a similar layout in the related file doesn't work. It only contains as many records as there are clients.

In other words, the client file has, say, 10 clients, and the phone log file has a total of 50 calls. A layout placed in the phone log file will give me what I want: a chronological summary of all calls received, with a total of 50 calls. But the same layout in the client file will only give me the first phone call related to each client, not all phone calls.

Is it possible to produce this same report in the client file?

[Fenton]

Yes, but it's not a very good idea. It would have to be in a portal, which is fine for viewing such things as "calls for this Client" (based on a ClientID=::ClientID relationship) in a dedicated form view layout in Clients.

But to see all calls for 1 day you'd be better off going to the Calls file. For one thing, portals do not print well when they cross a page break (unless it's OK to chop a line of text in half). You can fiddle with them and maybe get it to work; but why bother?

It is easy to flip between files. All data pertaining to a Client can be accessed in the Calls file, simply by dragging a field onto the layout, then defining it based on a "reverse" ClientID=::ClientID back to Clients.

BTW, you can't just copy a layout from one file, paste it into another file and expect it to work. Each field on a layout is evaluated either as belonging to the current file, or as a related field in another file. The fields generally will not (and should not, in most cases) be the same in another file. That's redundant. Hopefully you don't have a portal in Calls.

Stick to a calls portal in Clients and a list in Calls (with related client field(s)) if you want the simplest correct structure.

[kejames]

Thanks. To clarify, I'm not copying and pasting a layout between files, and there's no portal in Calls. I was just constructing the same layout in each file with the relationships reversed.

After thinking about it, I guess my question is really about navigation. Lets say I'm staring at a form in Clients. How do I get to a layout in Calls without selecting the file from the Window menu? I want a button on a form in Clients that takes me directly to a layout in Calls. I can't find any way to jump between files in scriptmaker.

[-Queue-]

Create a script in Clients that Performs a script in Calls to go to the desired layout.

Perform Script [sub-scripts, External, Calls.FP5]

{external script}

Go to Layout [somelayout]