FM7 can not set fields across tables. This answers my question in previous thread. Not a good deal. You have to set up a relationship to do what I wanted to do.

Ivan

FileMaker 7 is an amazing application, but it can't read your mind. I'm really sorry about that and if the folks at FMI work just a bit harder, maybe the next version will.

In the meantime, if FileMaker were to set fields between tables, it would have to know which record/s you wanted the fields set in. Relationships are the method by which you tell FileMaker, when it is setting fields in other tables, which record/s in those tables to place the values into.

So FileMaker *can* set fields across tables providing you give it some guidelines against which to determine which records to point to. In this respect, FileMaker 7 is not essentially different from previous versions, nor from other relational database applications.

Notwithstanding that, in the case of global fields - which are not attached to any record - FileMaker 7 *does* permit you to set them across tables *without* a relationship. This allows you to set up alternative mechanisms for moving data between tables (eg via script).

But if you want a program that will move data around without any mechanisms set in place by you to indicate where in the structure it should be moved to (eg without relationships), it seems to me you'd be better off with a ouija board.

Fields were globals. That should work.

Ivan