Hi,

Warning- Newbie

background:

I'm designing a database in FM7 to host my beer (bottle) collection. It is

currently a ragged excel file. After reading the FM7 tutorials and stumbling

along with the information on filemakermagazine.com, I am struggling with a

database design.

fact:

As we beer chuggers all know, a single brewer comes out with multiple beers, and

at times, the same beer gets a facelift and ends up with a new bottle design.

Database:

I have three separate tables each holding data about the "brewer", the "beer"

and the "bottle", repectively.

I have an id field (autoenter serial number) for each of the tables identifying

the brewer, beer and bottle.

Situtation:

I have entered the information for Budweiser (I am from St. Louis) along with

the brewer and beer information. My next bottle happens to be a Bud Light (both,

crappy beers) from the same brewer.

Question:

How do I go about entering the information about the brewer from a previous

record? The way, I want it to work is to enter the first few letters in a field

and the rest should be autocompleted.

Solutions:

1. I was looking through the database solutions that filemaker ships with the

FM7 application, in particular the one called "registration". Here, they make

you go to a list of previous records and then select the one you want. Is that

the way to go?

2. Or Should I just do away with multiple tables and have just one. This way, I

can just a select a previous record and then duplicate and edit in the new

information. Is there any practical advantage to having the data spread out into

multiple tables?

Thanks for your help and I promise to send you a finished version of the

database.

-Indy

Hi,

Warning- Newbie

background:

I'm designing a database in FM7 to host my beer (bottle) collection. It is

currently a ragged excel file. After reading the FM7 tutorials and stumbling

along with the information on filemakermagazine.com, I am struggling with a

database design.

fact:

As we beer chuggers all know, a single brewer comes out with multiple beers, and

at times, the same beer gets a facelift and ends up with a new bottle design.

Database:

I have three separate tables each holding data about the "brewer", the "beer"

and the "bottle", repectively.

I have an id field (autoenter serial number) for each of the tables identifying

the brewer, beer and bottle.

Situtation:

I have entered the information for Budweiser (I am from St. Louis) along with

the brewer and beer information. My next bottle happens to be a Bud Light (both,

crappy beers) from the same brewer.

Question:

How do I go about entering the information about the brewer from a previous

record? The way, I want it to work is to enter the first few letters in a field

and the rest should be autocompleted.

Solutions:

1. I was looking through the database solutions that filemaker ships with the

FM7 application, in particular the one called "registration". Here, they make

you go to a list of previous records and then select the one you want. Is that

the way to go?

2. Or Should I just do away with multiple tables and have just one. This way, I

can just a select a previous record and then duplicate and edit in the new

information. Is there any practical advantage to having the data spread out into

multiple tables?

Thanks for your help and I promise to send you a finished version of the

database.

-Indy

Hi,

Warning- Newbie

background:

I'm designing a database in FM7 to host my beer (bottle) collection. It is

currently a ragged excel file. After reading the FM7 tutorials and stumbling

along with the information on filemakermagazine.com, I am struggling with a

database design.

fact:

As we beer chuggers all know, a single brewer comes out with multiple beers, and

at times, the same beer gets a facelift and ends up with a new bottle design.

Database:

I have three separate tables each holding data about the "brewer", the "beer"

and the "bottle", repectively.

I have an id field (autoenter serial number) for each of the tables identifying

the brewer, beer and bottle.

Situtation:

I have entered the information for Budweiser (I am from St. Louis) along with

the brewer and beer information. My next bottle happens to be a Bud Light (both,

crappy beers) from the same brewer.

Question:

How do I go about entering the information about the brewer from a previous

record? The way, I want it to work is to enter the first few letters in a field

and the rest should be autocompleted.

Solutions:

1. I was looking through the database solutions that filemaker ships with the

FM7 application, in particular the one called "registration". Here, they make

you go to a list of previous records and then select the one you want. Is that

the way to go?

2. Or Should I just do away with multiple tables and have just one. This way, I

can just a select a previous record and then duplicate and edit in the new

information. Is there any practical advantage to having the data spread out into

multiple tables?

Thanks for your help and I promise to send you a finished version of the

database.

-Indy

I'd stick with the relational design, as it gives you more options and simplifies data entry. There's different user interfaces you could use for adding new records:

1. Enter data in each table separately, using value lists of Brewer and Beer where possible.

2. Going through a hierarchical group of data entry screens. To add Beers, you go the the Brewer layout and enter them in a portal. To add Bottles, you'd go to the Beer's Detail layout and enter Bottles in a portal.

3. Use the Brewer layout as the main data entry screen. You'd have both a Beer and a Bottle portal on the screen, where new Beers or Bottles would be entered. The Bottle portal would have a Beer field that could be defined as having a pop-up list of the Beers that this Brewer has.

I like option 3 the best, as everything can be seen from one screen. If you are tracking more than just a few fields about Beers and Bottles, then the space in the portal window may not be enough. In this case it may be better to do data entry using option 2 above, but still use an overview screen like in option 3.

I'd stick with the relational design, as it gives you more options and simplifies data entry. There's different user interfaces you could use for adding new records:

1. Enter data in each table separately, using value lists of Brewer and Beer where possible.

2. Going through a hierarchical group of data entry screens. To add Beers, you go the the Brewer layout and enter them in a portal. To add Bottles, you'd go to the Beer's Detail layout and enter Bottles in a portal.

3. Use the Brewer layout as the main data entry screen. You'd have both a Beer and a Bottle portal on the screen, where new Beers or Bottles would be entered. The Bottle portal would have a Beer field that could be defined as having a pop-up list of the Beers that this Brewer has.

I like option 3 the best, as everything can be seen from one screen. If you are tracking more than just a few fields about Beers and Bottles, then the space in the portal window may not be enough. In this case it may be better to do data entry using option 2 above, but still use an overview screen like in option 3.

I'd stick with the relational design, as it gives you more options and simplifies data entry. There's different user interfaces you could use for adding new records:

1. Enter data in each table separately, using value lists of Brewer and Beer where possible.

2. Going through a hierarchical group of data entry screens. To add Beers, you go the the Brewer layout and enter them in a portal. To add Bottles, you'd go to the Beer's Detail layout and enter Bottles in a portal.

3. Use the Brewer layout as the main data entry screen. You'd have both a Beer and a Bottle portal on the screen, where new Beers or Bottles would be entered. The Bottle portal would have a Beer field that could be defined as having a pop-up list of the Beers that this Brewer has.

I like option 3 the best, as everything can be seen from one screen. If you are tracking more than just a few fields about Beers and Bottles, then the space in the portal window may not be enough. In this case it may be better to do data entry using option 2 above, but still use an overview screen like in option 3.

Being lazy, I would go for a single table approach, close to the present Excel sheet. I suppose the Excel sheet has as only information of the brewer and the beer a name. Brewers can be set in a drop down list. The 'Contact Management.fp7' template shows ways to present related records in a single table, in this case brewer or beer, in a portal.

If the need arises extra tables can be created, although it is possible to avoid data replication even in a single table approach with the use of sorted portals.

Being lazy, I would go for a single table approach, close to the present Excel sheet. I suppose the Excel sheet has as only information of the brewer and the beer a name. Brewers can be set in a drop down list. The 'Contact Management.fp7' template shows ways to present related records in a single table, in this case brewer or beer, in a portal.

If the need arises extra tables can be created, although it is possible to avoid data replication even in a single table approach with the use of sorted portals.

Being lazy, I would go for a single table approach, close to the present Excel sheet. I suppose the Excel sheet has as only information of the brewer and the beer a name. Brewers can be set in a drop down list. The 'Contact Management.fp7' template shows ways to present related records in a single table, in this case brewer or beer, in a portal.

If the need arises extra tables can be created, although it is possible to avoid data replication even in a single table approach with the use of sorted portals.