I have a line item file containing products (item numbers, prices, etc) from various manufactures. I needed to find the total dollar amount for each manufacturer's items listed in the line items file, so I created a self-relationship based on the manufacturer's unique ID and a calculated field to calculate the total. That works fine. However, I now need to extract the total for each manufacturer and display it in another layout. Do I need a relationship for each manufacturer? I'd like to be able to see all the manufacturer's totals at once.

Thank You.

Hello Therber,

Have you considered creating a sub-summary report?

Assuming that your line items file has a field which identifies the manufacturer, you should be able to set up a report layout that includes one or more sub-summary parts defined to appear when the records are sorted by manufacturer (and perhaps also by item no), and place a summary field that totals the extended prices into the sub-summary part/s. You may not need any other parts (eg body) in the layout.

When you sort the data by manufacturer (or manufacturer and item no) and then go to the sub-summary layout and enter preview mode, you will have the data breakdown by manufacturer, for all the records in the current found set.

A report will not work. I need to perform other calculations with the totals. And I'd like to have each manufacturer's logo next to their total. I had done something like this in Filemaker 6. I thought perhaps it would be easier in Filemaker 7. I'll have to figure it out and create a tutorial for others. People running a business will understand the need to view vendor totals in a single layout.

Thank You.