Limit of Open FIles and Value Lists

[2 letter pi]

:crazy: I have a report file with 99 fields....almost all of which could use a drop down choice list. BUT FM Pro V6.0 only allows 50 files to be open at the same time. Any suggestions on how to get more value lists to work while I have 50 files open OR how not to open 50 files every time???

[Ender]

Eh? What's the maximum number of files have to do with using value lists?

If those external files are simply for generating value lists, then combine them. Group each value lists' records by adding a Type field or something, then use a separate relationship for each Type to view the correct values for each value list.

[2 letter pi]

My apologies for being so new and not havomg any professional training.

.

Can you give me an example relationship to pick out just one type of code for a value list using the TYPE field you suggested? Are you suggesting a self-relationship??

.

THANKS!??

[Ender]

Sure. Say you have a Value file, with fields Type and Value:

Type       Value



color       Red

color       Blue

color       Yellow

color       Green

style        Bold

style        Underline

style        Italic

style        Plain

Then in your file where you want to use those in value lists, you would define a global for each Type:

gColor (global, text)

gStyle (global, text)

Close that out and define two relationships to the Value file:

ValueColor =

MyFile::gColor = Value::Type

ValueStyle =

MyFile::gStyle = Value::Type

Back in Browse Mode, type "color" into the gColor field and "style" into the gStyle field. This populates the parent keys necessary to match the corresponding Value records for those relationships.

Now define the value lists:

Colors: Use values from field: Value::Value, Only related values via the "ValueColor" relationship

Styles: Use values from field: Value::Value, Only related values via the "ValueStyle" relationship

Of course, colors and styles is a trivial example. Simple value lists like these are usually easier to type directly into a custom value list.