Noob:Get a List By Repeatedly Searching a Field?

[Haberdasher]

I've got a really not fun situation for me. I'm working with FileMakerPro version 5, and I'm managing a database with a few thousand video records in it. I'm updating these videos with a new numbering system (a new field in their database) which is auto-generated by Filemaker, starting at some arbitrary number.

The new numbering system hasn't been a problem, especially for new videos. As I put a new video in the database, the new numbering system field is automatically assigned to the new videos, and I can choose to enter the video with the old numbering system as well.

My problem is this: I must have some representation of this new numbering system ON the video, just like the old numbering system, which is already labeled on the videos. No problem if I enter a hundred NEW videos into our system...I simply sort the last 100 entries I made, export them to a bar code labeler, and I'm good to go.

However, I'm also updating many old, old videos with this new numbering system. These videos are in my database, and have both an old number system number and a new number system number (which was generated for them). However, I can't simply export every single video record and print out 5000 bar code numbers. Instead, I have to draw these videos a handful at a time from a video vault to label them by hand, and their numbers are all over the place- 4366, 4805, 4806, 4885, for example, are the 4 I'm looking at now. Some of the videos don't even exist anymore, so printing reams of bar code labels gives me many useless labels.

This is a really, really long setup for either an easy to solve or impossible to solve problem. I need an easy way to look at the videos I've drawn from my vault, see the old numbering system number printed on them, enter that number into Filemaker, and generate a list of all the videos I happen to have drawn. Then, I could export this list to my barcode labeler, and print labels with the NEW numbering system for these videos easily and in order.

Can I do this easily? So far I've been doing my best to draw videos that are numbered closely together (within a few hundred numbers of one another) and then omit video records until I shave the list down to perfectly match the ones I've drawn. This is a HUGE pain in the butt.

Thanks for any help in advance! Please ask for clarification on any part if you don't understand, but you guys are smart...

[Ender]

If this is a single-user file, an easy solution would be to add a Mark field to the file which you can attach a simple checkbox to. Then simply find each record one at a time based on your old numbering system, mark it, and continue. When all the records for your session have been marked, perform a Find for the marked records, and print those. After printing, you'd need to clear the Mark field for all records so they wouldn't show up again the next time.

Or you might consider marking records based on the Date Last Checked or something, inserting the current date into a date field. Then find for that date when you're ready to print. This might be useful information later, and you wouldn't have to clear it after printing.

[Haberdasher]

Thanks so much for your reply, I think I might try your first suggestion, although I think I may have found a workaround with the barcode labeler.

Thanks!