Wildcard in relationships

[Nephron]

Hi gang,

I was wondering if there were a way to use wildcards in relationships.

Specifically, I have a form with a field (SearchName) that is linked in a self-join relationship to another field (Name) in the same table. On that form I have placed a portal that shows the related records.

All works OK. When you type in a name into the SearchName field, any exact matches are displayed in the portal. What I would like to do is be able to search for non-exact matches. For example, type "sm*" or something similar into the SearchName field, and have the portal display "Smith, Small, Smoog" etc.

Any ideas how this could be done?

Cheers!

[T-Square]

It's not clear if you're using 7 or 8; if you're using 8, you can look into the Auto-complete feature, which should behave the way you want.

HTH,

David

[Ender]

Hi Nephron,

See my explaination of partial matches in relationships in this thread:

http://www.fmforums.com/forum/showpost.php?post/183594/

[Nephron]

Thanks David,

I am using Filemaker Pro 8 for Mac, and we will be deploying the solution using Server 8 Advanced.

I searched for auto-complete and autocomplete in the Help menu, no dice. Can you point me in the right direction?

Cheers!

[Nephron]

Hi Ender,

Thanks for the post.

I think the Type Ahead example holds promise for me, but I don't seem to be able to operationalize it.

Let me give you the specifics of my situation.

FirstName and LastName are text fields in tblDemographics. SearchByLastName is a global text field in the same table. Currently I have a self join that connects tblDemographics:SearchByLastName = tblDemographicsSearchByLastName:LastName. In this case tblDemographicsSearchByLastName is the name of the self-joined table.

I tried creating a new calculated field in tblDemographics called xSearchLastName, using the Type Ahead database as an example. I then changed the self-join to use xSearchLastName, using an >= AND <= join as per the Type Ahead example.

Doesn't work though :

Any advice?

Cheers!

[Nephron]

Just an update ...

I tried again with the Type Ahead example, and I am getting closer. The problem now is that I have to click a button within the portal in order to get it to refresh after I have typed a new search term in the SearchLastName field. Is there a way to force a relationship refresh in code?

Cheers!

[Søren Dyhr]

Other options exists:

http://www.newcenturydata.com/downloads/filter.zip

--sd

[Ender]

Other options exists:

That's prety much the same technique, only more convoluted.

[Ender]

Nephron, with all of these filtering techniques you have to exit the field before the portal updates. But you shouldn't need to hit a refresh button.