An odd-looking calculation, and checking child records

[dbanbury]

Hi again, guys and girls. Two questions this time. I'm studying the Business_Tracker demo database (well, actually pulling it to bits with the enthusiasm of a kid pulling the legs off a spider). I'm interested in using container fields to make graphical elements change on screen, such as darkening a button graphic ton indicate it's "on" and soforth. I've run accross this calcualtion which has thrown me completely.

Preferences::gSortHeaders [ Case ( SortField = 1 ; Case ( SortOrder = 1 ; 3 ; 4 ) ; 2 ) ] [ Case ( SortField = 1 ; Case ( SortOrder = 1 ; 3 ; 4 ) ; 2 ) ]

It appears the field should be set with the contents of Preferences::gSortHeaders, but what happens when you start throwing cases in square brackets?

Also, thanks to the kind people here, I now know how to test if a parent record has children without actually performing a find. However, is there a way to maintain context and "look into the portal" WITHOUT actually having a portal present on the layout.

In other words, when I look at the parent record, is there a way to retrive fields from the second or third child record without actually performing a GoToRelatedRecords script step and getting the information that way.

Again, many thanks in advance for your help. Best wishes, Dave.

[comment]

1. Square brackets after field name indicate the repetition of a repeating field.

2. Use the GetNthRecord function to retrieve data from Nth related record (v.8 only). A portal is not required.