Checkbox not Searching Correctly

[dschaal]

I am having a problem with a checkbox list. Has anyone else had this problem with FM 5.5?

There is an established checkbox list which has always worked. It lists different committees that a person can be on. One of the committees changed its name and got new members.

My office assistant unchecked all the old members of the committee. Then she went in under the Define Value List and changed the name of the checkbox to reflect the new name of the committee.

Lastly, she checked the new members of the committee. The checkmark does stay on the record. However, now when she does a search she gets the message that "no records are found".

If you go to the individual person's record, the checkbox is definitely checked.

Does anyone out there know why FM 5.5 would not find an item that is checked?

Thanks! Donna

[LiveOak]

Here is how to track it down. Remember that a checkbox representation of a field just enters a list of values into the field separated by carriage returns. Place a duplicate of the field on a layout, formatted as a normal field. This will allow you to look at what checking the boxes is actually entering into the field and at anything else that might be in the field. The checkbox representation will not show values in the field that are not on the value list. A field could contain 50 values separated by carriage returns and still show blank checkboxes, if none of the checkbox values are contained in the field.

Don't know what your exact problem is, but this is how to diagnose it.

-bd

[tmanning]

I have run up against this before and am almost certain this will solve your problem.

As a test, go into layout mode and duplicate the field in question but then change the format of the field to a standard text box then go back into browse mode. You will almost certainly see that the old information is still stored in that field or some combination of the new and old data. The solution I have found is this....

Step 1) manually find all of the records that seem to be incorrect (the ones which should be found when you are searching for your criteria) and delete all of the information from the field that is formatted as the standard text field. This will clear out all of the data stored in that field.

Step 2) in the original field, choose the new option and then do a "Replace All" to repopulate that field in all of the records.

Step 4) remove the additional field from your layout and Viola! - your Finds should now work correctly.

Remember that checking a box only stores that value in a field as text and sometimes changing that value to be displayed in the field won't always correctly update the actual text that is being stored.

I hope that makes sense. Feel free to email me or repost if you need further clarification.

Best Regards,

Tracy Manning

[dschaal]

Thanks for the suggestions. But it didn't work.

After I got a text box with the information, I tried to "replace" the information and all of the checkboxes were turned to a blank.

I'm sure that I did something wrong. I just don't know what it is. We had to recreate the entire information so we just started the list over from scratch.

What a mess!

[Keith M. Davie]

As one who develops browser solutions I prefer to avoid checkboxes much like most db developers tend to avoid repeating fields.

However that does not answer your problem.

You are now using 5.5. You wrote, "There is an established checkbox list which has always worked."

Okay. What version of FMP?

[dschaal]

I figured out what I was doing wrong.

When you go to "replace", you need to use "replace with a calculated result" and then use the "substitute" command to replace the data.

You must also change the data first and then change the list. Once I did that, it worked beautifully.

Thanks for your help!

Donna