Displaying "Other..." Information in a Value List

[rwc.sheehan]

Seems simple...I searched the forums but didn't happen upon it. If i have a field of check boxes using value list with an "Other" option...how can I get it to display what the user inputs?

[Ender]

I don't think there's a good way to do this in FM6. There's no setting to just show the 'Other' values. You can either show the value list values in a checkbox with 'Other', or show the field contents as a list of values (using the Edit Box option.)

If the value list is pretty short, you could calculate it, but this would be hard coded. Not so good if the values list changes over time. Another option is to use a separate text field for Other entries.

In FM7, showing 'Other' entries could be done with a calc field using a custom function to filter out the values that are part of the values list.

[Ender]

FYI: One custom function that can do this nicely is DifferenceValues() from Brian Dunning's web site:

http://www.briandunning.com/filemaker-custom-functions/detail.php?fn_id=112

FM7 only, though.

[Vaughan]

I use Pop-up Lists for this reason, and base the value list on the field contents. Voila! Automatically updating value lists.

[Ender]

Aaah, but mulitple selections!

[MoonShadow]

A checkbox can still be used but it must be based upon Values from Field. You can still leave 'Other' for them to select from and it is added to the checkbox list of selections. If you give it space for it to expand, it works okay but you will be limited eventually.

Or leave the original checkbox on custom values intact; simply attach a popup to another copy of the same field with VL based upon Values from Field. You can place it on same layout or another layout to view the entries.

[-Queue-]

You can make multiple selections in a Pop-up menu or list using Ctrl on Windows, Cmd on Mac?