related value lists & "find"

[Mr Nic]

Howdy folks,

Appreciate any responses on this one.

I have frontend and a relation which holds all my value list data.

This is Collections dbs in small museum and I have migrated 25 curator dbs into this "single" stack and are now trying to clean up categories/value lists/ to function across multiple accesses.

Everybody is accessing it from FMP 5 and I have a FMP Server 5 sitting on an NT box.

The frontend holds several categories of material and is used by users with access limited to sets of categories - limited by loggin & a gl;obal field.

Works fine - to point, more on that latter - but I can't get the value lists to show when they go into Find mode.

I've attempted setting the appropriate category link via a calculation script - no joy!

Would this function better if I ran this as a portal and as I mentioned above "Works fine..." would this permit me to use allow 2way relationship for editing of the value lists. The reason I ask is by activating "other" in the vl option those additional entries aren't added to the source dbs.

Thanks in advance and any suggestions are appreciated.

------------------

Nic English,

Technical Officer,

Musuem & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

[Vaughan]

In find more the paste from index script step works well, but that isn't necessarily the same as the value list. It might help though.

I have value lists working in Find mode. Are they related value lists by any chance?

Errr I just read the post's title again, and you state there that they are related value lists. Is this another instance -- along with Web Companion -- where related value lists break? <sigh>

[This message has been edited by Vaughan (edited December 12, 2000).]

[Mr Nic]

Cheers for your thoughts.

Yup thats what it looks like - broken relationships in Find mode.

They are hierarchical related value lists and they vary across a set of groups which makes the index less than responsive.

Still hoping someone knows a work around or should I just go back to huge array of direct value lists.

Thanks in advance.

[Vaughan]

If the problems is only in find mode, then avoid find mode.

Let me explain... create a "find" layout that people use when they want to perform a search. The find layout has the pop-up menus and lists on it that users can select their items. except the entries all go into a global field (or two or three). Since this is all in browse mode it'll work. When they click the "Perform Find" button it runs a script that changes into Find mode, transfers the selected values fom the global fields into the actual fields then performs the find.

I've done something like this a coiuple of times. It requires a little bit of layout and scripting work plus a good understnading of the user's needs to make a useable interface. But it's not hard.

[Mr Nic]

Hi Ya Vaughan,

Nice lateral response. I like it and can't see any other means of getting around this issue.

Bit tricky to implement straight up as I have historically had to implement a number (large) of individual layouts but am now able to win the argument for bringing them back to several multiuse ones. Which makes this solution achievable.

Thanks for your time and thought and all the best for the Festive Season - or summer if you prefer.

Nic

[Vaughan]

So, are you going to invite me up to Darwin to help you work on your database? ;-)

(For those that don't know, Darwin is right at the top-middle of Australia... tropical hot and humid... got bombed by the Japenese in WWII, leveled by Cyclone Tracy in 1970?, and a long way away from Sydney in every sense...)

[This message has been edited by Vaughan (edited December 20, 2000).]