Hi-

I am working on designing an orders database. This will include several different possible order item types. Ideally I would like to have one main data entry layout that would include all possible fields. Depending on what item type is ordered, is there a way to only show the relavant fields? There are several fields for a given item type that would serve no purpose for a different item type.

My current thinking is to create additional views for each item type and have them mask the main view, showing only the relevant fields. The main problem I see with this is that what if I want to view all records, regardless of item type? Is it possible for the records to switch views based on their item type?

Sorry if this sounds confusing! Thanks for any help

Dave

Search on this forum for "hidden portal trick;" this may be what you're looking for. Basically, it goes like this:

Let's say you sell cars. If you sell a truck, you want certain fields to appear, like "BedCapacity" but if sell a car, you only want "NumberOfDoors" to appear. To do one part of this, have a calc field (let's name it AlwaysTruck) that is always equal to "Truck" and a relationship from the VehicleType field (where you input whether it is a truck or a car) to AlwaysTruck. Now that relationship is valid whenever you select "Truck" in the VehicleType field.

Thus, if you create a portal based on this relationship, and place the field BedCapacity inside the portal, it will be displayed if and only if the VehicleType is "Truck".

HTH,

Jerry

In addition to using a calculation to hide/display the portals containing certain fields, you can use a global text field. The reasoning is that you mentioned sometimes showing all type options. You can have a value list with type options listed plus 'All'. Use this in your relationship. Allow Users to select from popup and control the display accordingly.

You can also stack two popups, one for regular Users and one for Management. One popup would be restricted; the other with All. Stack them and control which one pops (either via Access Privileges or script attached to popup).