I have a project to combine several different FMP 6 databases together. They're all basically name & address lists, but of course using wildly different formats. There are tons of duplicates, but of course not exact duplicates. So I have a lot of hand-work to do to dedupe the combined list.

I'd like to make a layout that would allow me to show two records on the screen together, side-by-side, so I could compare them both and decide which fields to use, and then delete one of the two records.

Can anyone point me towards a technique for a form (not a list) to display two records from a single database at the same time? -Steve

Steve:

Welcome to the Forums.

You're going to want to create a relationship, which would allow you to see the records side-by-side. If, for example, you're trying to weed out duplicate names, you could make a relationship based on the name fields being equal, then put the related fields in your layout. However, I'd recommend doing it in a portal, since this is a self-join, and the record you're looking at will be related to itself. If you use a portal (scrollable), you'll see all the records that are related.

However, you say they are not exact duplicates, so you might have to use some creative logic.

-Stanley

This is yet another good reason to upgrade to version 7: you can have multiple views of the same file.

Hmmm, not sure how the self-join would work, and I really don't see how using a portal would work for a side-by-side situation.

Maybe I can phrase this a different way. Forget about the deduping situation.

Pretend I care about two records at a time, any two records, from the same database. Lets say the first two records from the currently found set.

Is it possible to display them side by side in a form-view layout, something like:

  

              rec1             rec2

name          Joe              Frank

id            333              555

city          new york         los angeles

When I think about this project, the only things I can think of are very complex scenarios with long scripts and extra databases. If there is a simpler way to do it, I'd love a hint, and if it is indeed complicated, it would be wonderful to see an example if anyone knows of one.

I hope it's not considered rude to reply to my own message...

It strikes me that what I want is really very similar to "View as Table" in Broswe mode -- I guess the major differences (besides being 90 degrees off from what I really want) are that I can't do anything with the table layout in terms of buttons with handy scriptlets, etc.

Is there a way to implement something similar to "View as Table" in the "View as Form" mode?

Or if I'm in the "View as List" mode, can I do scripts that access both the current record and the "next" record without some crazy complex stuff going on?

Thanks for your patience! -Steve

Go to "Layout Mode" and then go to Menu >> Format >> Layout Setup >> View Tab >> Properties This will produce a menu of things you can have in that view, including footers and headers, sort data using the columns,.

HTH

Lee

Steve:

You could do it this way:

Add a new field, called "n_Related_Record", and just to show how it works, make it a number field. Now make a relationship between this field and the ID number you're showing. On the right hand side of your layout, put the related fields you want to show. At the top of that, put n_Related_Record, and set it to be a pull-down (or pop-up if you wish) with the values from the ID number field. Now, you can select any record (via this pull-down) to show in the right-hand side of the layout.

This technique only works if your ID number is a unique number, by the way.

-Stanley

Stanley, that's brilliant!!! Exactly the technique I needed, I think.

Other than the ID needing to be a unique number, are there any other "gotchas" you can think of?

Thanks again for the tip!!!!

Just a followup, Stanley's technique has been working fabulously. Thanks again for all the help. -Steve