Need To Relate ? - Where to start

[mikeh123]

Really need some ideas to progress here. Have some very basic skills but just don't know what I should be trying to do.

I have an existing customer database with names addresses and several layouts etc. I want a button on this to open up a new "quotes / orders database". I have created the quotes database separately and it works as a standalone.

Once I press the button in the contacts database it should copy all the address details into a new record of the quotes database.

I will also create a new "products database with product ID and description price etc".

What I would like is with the new quote I have started is to type the first few letters of a product description and for a list to be shown with all the product starting with "til " for example. As I type more then the list reduces.

Obviously if I type the product ID in it will fill the rest.

Hope this makes sense as it sounded simple in principle but I can't get any of it to work at all. If you can point me in the right direction and what features to use (relationship explanation and do I use portals :?)

Thanks for any help to get me started.

[aaa]

You can construct value list for your products.

Or you can create a script which in new window shows you all products with first typing leters, then in this window you can choose your necessary product. I did it and it works good.

[mikeh123]

Really not sure a list is correct.

I have a database full of contact info. I want to press a button to develop an order. The order database I have created as a stand alone database. So I have 2 stand alones.

I press a create quote button it opens up the order database, I then want to copy the details of that customer to the new order ??.

Now the second difficult bit is to create a section for the products sold. I can create a Third standalone DB full of products.

Now If I type "net" for example I want to see a list of 200 products begining with "net" etc etc. If I create a single list surely it is too big to use and to select from.

Where can I start, any ideas I, is this difficult using the standard Filemaker pro version 6 :?

Thanks

[mikeh123]

OK let me put it this way. If I use Filemaker 6 and the set templates included with Filemaker.

I use the product catalog and the Purchase order template so you can understand what I am using.

Now I want to link the purchase order item description field to the product catalog.

SO - I create a reletionship between the purchase order field and the product description field in the product catalog.

Does anybody know how to do this or the route to take, I looked at the help and it said use a portal . How do you use a portal. I put my field in the portal and just got nothing.

I am really really lost and need some guidance in the right direction.

Thanks if you can help.

[mikeh123]

Can anyone help guys, really got nowhere to go on this so can't get started.

Thanks again if you can help

[mikeh123]

OK.

So is this the right place for such a question as it is receiving no replies or should this be a portal question ??

Again any help appreciated

[J__]

One approach is to use a script and global variables.

The idea is your user presses the button in Layout A, your script copies the fields to global variables, you then switch to the other database, which I assume you mean a table in another file in Filemaker. Once you get over to that layout (your still running the script by the way) you create a new record in layout B and copy the fields into that new record from the globals.

Say you have a Contacts Table (for simplicity sake i'll only include a few fields but you can extrapolate from this)

name

phone

cust_id

gName global

gPhone global

in your script which is invoked from the button you first copy the fields in your record into the globals

ex:

set Field [ contacts::gName; contacts:;name ]

set Field [ contacts::gPhone; contacts::gPhone]

# and so on

# you then switch to the other layout (which is using the table in the other file )

Enter Browse Mode[]

Go to Layout ["OtherFile"] # whatever your layout is called

# now you create a new record in that table

New Record/Request

# then copy the globals into the new record

set field [OtherFile::cust_name; contacts::gName]

set field [OtherFile:;cust_phone; contacts::gPhone]

now you have copied the data from one record in table A to table B.

maybe set focus to the first field, which might be cust_name?

Set Field ["otherFile::cust_name"]

Hope that gives you a few ideas.

sincerely,

J__