new portal data won't appear before validation

[eJK]

Hi everybody -

Here's what I'm trying to do:

I have an Invoice with a Line Item portal full of Transactions.

Each Transaction contains Product UPC, Quantity, Price, etc., as well as a 'Shipped' checkbox.

The Transaction also contains details like Shipping Method and Tracking Number that are not shown in this portal.

There's a second portal called the Shipping Manifest, and as Transactions in the Line Item portal are checked off as being Shipped, they show up in the Shipping Manifest, which lists the additional Transaction data such as Shipping Method and Tracking Number. I'm accomplishing this with a second Transaction Table Occurence that's linked to the Shipped checkbox in addition to the unique Invoice Number.

I'm validating the data in each Transaction, so that if the Product has been Shipped, there must also be a Shipping Method and a Tracking Number.

Clear so far? Hope so!

Here's the issue:

When I click the Shipped checkbox, the Transaction will not appear in the Shipping Manifest until I commit the record (or click out of the portal). However, when I click Shipped, this triggers the field validation, which in turn will not allow the record to be commited (and therefore show up in the Shipping Manifest portal) until a Shipping Method is selected. Since the Shipping Method field is only visible in the Shipping Manifest portal and not the Line Item portal, there's no way to enter this data! Filemaker gives me the validation alert, and selects the field in the last Transaction in the Shipping Manifest portal, but the new Transaction that is failing the validation is not yet in the portal to be edited.

This catch-22 is driving me to the point of being commited myself (haha, I know, sorry, BAD pun).

Any thoughts on the best way to get around this would be very much appreciated!

Thanks a lot - JK

[Vaughan]

One method could be to change the interface slightly: users enter the data into globla fields, then click a button that creates the related record. Data is no longer (initially) entered in the portal at all.

[eJK]

OK thanks for the tip Vaughan - that sounds promising, I'll give it a try.

Right now what I'm doing is popping up a custom dialog box from within the script with field entries for the parameters I want validated. The only problem with this: I can't do a pop-up list in the custom dialog, and I want to restrict those values.

Thanks!