Please excuse my ignorance, but I have 2 files. Inventory & Invoice. as quantity of items are selected in invoice, i need inventory to be updated...

please help me!

Only 2 files? Do you limit the invoice to one item? Most such databases have an invoice line item file. You can update the inventory 2 ways. One is to use a calculation that counts the number of items in all invoices and subtacts that from the number that were in the inventory initially. As the number of items sold gets larger the calculation takes longer. The other method is to decrement the inventory by script when the invoice is printed or some other action.

In either case you need to make provision for adding to the inventory.

yes 2 files, invoices would have a number of line items. can u give me an example of each method.

sorry but iam totally confused...

Here's a recent thread about structuring an invoice system:

http://www.fmforums.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=105129

In the thread,are there 3 files? Sales inv., Purchase order, and adjustments?Are there any real examples available?

Can someone please help me with a simple inventory? I an having major problems! I apologize for my lack of knowledge, I thought I was adequate user of FMP until I started messing around with inventories. Included are 2 files. Inventory & Invoice. I want simple line items related by item id in invoice. Do i Need a portal or repeating fiels to have a line item list in this file? How can I keep the "quantity" field in inventories updated from entries into invoice. I am so confused, I don't even know how to use this forum properly. Can you please show me what I need to do with these files? Please.....

How Do I POST FILES TO FM Forum?

Building a successful inventory/invoice solution is fairly complex for a novice. Perhaps you should consider hiring a developer or purchasing a prebuilt system.

You should check out FileMaker's Business Tracker . It's an affordable prebuilt solution with the basics for managing a business. I can't vouch for the inventory management part, but it looks like it's in there. Also, I don't know if there is still an FM6 version of this; you may have to upgrade to FM7.

How Do I POST FILES TO FM Forum?

Edit your post. When you click the Continue button you will see a Browse... button which gives you an opportunity to submit a file.

RE: inventory system

I think I remember Ugo DI LUCA posting a sample inventory system... you may want to search for any of his posts having to with +inventory. I'm sure there's others, too.

--ST