I would like to have a few fields auto-enter looked-up values from globals that contain the current cost of an item.

Each time I create a new record (an order form), the record is assigned a unique serial number (through an auto-enter). I also want the current cost of an item to be auto-entered based on a lookup. The lookup is to the contents of a global field in the same file using a self-join relationship.

I am using the unique serial number as a match field for the lookup "self join" relationship.

But this does not work... it appears that the self-join relationship is not found because the auto-entered serial number (the match field) does not yet exist before the lookup is triggered.

Is this a bug in FMP?

I know how to write a simple script to do work around this, but how could I make this work automatically whenever a new record is created?

Thanks...

It's not a bug, just a causality problem. FM can't perform the operation until the items upon which the operation depends exists. I'm not sure why you need a self relationship to do a lookup from a global??? Why not just autoenter the global, only one value for each global exists in the file.

Anyway, one way to solve the problem is to create a "new record" script. In the script, create a new record and use the set field step to copy from the globals. The way you trigger the script is to connect it to a "New Record" button you define. To prevent the user from creating a new record from the menus or via key command, you will need to turn off the menus by setting up access privileges for the users with this limitation.

-bd