Odd Behavior of Repeating Auto-Enter Calculations

[Steverino]

I'm trying to get a repeating auto-enter calculation to work -- but something's going wrong. My solution is a bit more complicated, but to start, I have repeating field of Titles (10 of them) and a repeating field of IDs (also 10). When I enter a Title, I want to auto-enter the Title's ID number (from a relationship in another table). When I enter another Title in the second repetition, I want my second repetition of the ID number to auto-enter that new ID number in the second repetition...and so forth.

The problem is that the results are unpredictable. The process works for the first two repetitions, but then when I enter a third Title, the system autoenters the ID number for repetition number 2.

Is this a known bug, or am I doing something wrong?

I'm hoping not to have to create separate fields (I would have to make relationships for all the fields, in that case). A portal might make sense, but I can't use a portal in my printout.

[Søren Dyhr]

Since we're using a multilinekey for a purpose, should you consider a or pilcrow delimited ordinary textfield, the linking works just as well as the repeating field would ...and yes repeating fields are buggy to some extend

....but the worst thing about them is that every newbe can't stand the temptation to fool around with them instead of getting a proper relational structure eastablished. If you tear professional developers template appart will you only encounter repeaters very rarely and only for swinging in graphic elements.

--sd

[Steverino]

Well, I'm not a newbie, and I do have a proper relational structure. I was hoping to use the repeating field so that I didn't have to create 20+ relationships.

The problem with the pilcrow, as I understand it, is that I can't get each ID number of the items in the field...only the first one.

[comment]

How is you repeating field defined? I see no trouble when the field is defined as a lookup. Auto-entered calculation cannot and will not work in this case - at least not the way you expect.

I am puzzled as to your purpose, though. A repeating key field functions (almost) exactly the same as a multi-line key. A relationship based on a repeating field is a single relationship - a child record matching ANY repetition will be considered a related record.

This, BTW, is precisely the reason why the auto-entered calculation above won't work.

There is one aspect in which a repeating key field differs from a multi-line, and that is lookup. If the key field is repeating, each lookup repetition looks up its own source value.

This, BTW, is the reason why the lookup above works.

[Søren Dyhr]

Sorry I didn't pay proper attention to this last comment:

A portal might make sense, but I can't use a portal in my printout.

A layout with a portal doesn't always behave when printing, since printing usually is done by a few script-steps, would I in a long list make a GTRR(SO) to a layout in a child-records TO where I then tunnel the parent records data into the header and footer areas, in a listview instead of the formview.

I was hoping to use the repeating field so that I didn't have to create 20+ relationships.

Can you explain what you need these for?? Not that's it's spot where the stucture nessersarily is wrong, but you seems to be needing looups from 20 different tables which might be joined in one tiered table ...alright the drawing of the 20 relations might take some time as well as making 19 extra keyfields...but maybe it's worth it.

--sd

[Ugo DI LUCA]

alright the drawing of the 20 relations might take some time as well as making 19 extra keyfields...but maybe it's worth it.

Usually, when such cases arise, you'd rather use an outer join relationship so you don't need 20 relationships anymore.

But I would be interested in seeing the reported behaviour anyway.