More than one define value list?

[stedders]

I am designing our company's database for work being understaken.

I have a section for product/brand category, problem is the client's we do work for have (literally) hundreds of different brands etc. Is it possible under DEFINE VALUE LIST for to have more than category, for instance so we could choose brands A-C, D-F and so on?

[The Bridge]

One approach could be to create a foreign key for each brand and use that to "filter" your value list.

e.g. (Basic)

Define fields:

Brand_Filter_Foreign_Key (indexed) = Left(Brand_Name, 1)

Brand_Filter_Key_Selection (global, text)

Brand_Filter_Primary_Key (unstored, text) = Substitute(Brand_Filter_Key_Selection, " ", " ")

Define Relationship: Brand_Filter, in which Brand_Filter_Primary_Key matches Brand_Filter_Foreign_Key

Define Value List:

vl_Brand_Filters = "A B C", "D E F", "G H I"..."X Y Z"

vl_Filtered_Brands (from relationship, Brand_Filter::Brand_Name)

Format the Brand_Filter_Key_Selection field as a drop-down menu showing values from vl_Brand_Filters and Brand_Name as a drop-down menu showing values from vl_Filtered_Brands.

You can also use this technique to filter Brand_Names in a portal based on the Brand_Filter relationship, and will work whether this is a flat-file (i.e. single-file) or multiple-file (i.e. products in one database, brands in another) solution.

Hope this helps!