Need some guidance

[James Nierodzik]

Greetings forum goers. I'm trying to track some data and as usual I can't wrap my brain around it fully. I know what I want to do, which will be explained, I'm just not close to certain on how to bend FMP to make it a reality.. (isn't that always the problem LOL). So here goes..

I have multiple modules each with a varying number of ports. Each user is assigned to a module and one of the module's ports. I want to view data on a module level.. ie.. Show me all users on Module 1 and what port they are on or on a user level.. User A is on Port 12 on Module 3.

Ideally when adding a user I should only be able to select a port that actually exists on the selected module and one not already in use by another user. This though would end up being the proverbial icing on the cake.

With this said I believe that I would need the following tables...

User

Module

Port

Join Table

The problem is I have no idea how to do the actual joining in this type of a scenario so that all the data relates like it is supposed to. Furthermore I don't know how when creating a new record I would be able to select a module(via drop down) and then select an actual port that is on that particular module (some modules may have 8 ports while others have up to 30). After that I don't even want to begin to think about the error checking.. my brain would explode!

So I turn to you forum users.. Can someone point me in the right direction here. I've seen some pretty cool stuff with FMP done in the past and I am certain this is possible, but I'm so stuck on the conceptual I'm having a horrible time even starting the testing/design.

Thanks in advance for all who may help and those who read my novel =)

James Nierodzik

[Ender]

Hmm, it maybe doesn't matter, but I can't tell the context of a "Module" and a "Port". What are these in real life?

[James Nierodzik]

This is part of a much larger project for a two man IT Staff (one of them being me), but this particular portion is for an Avaya IP Office Phone System.

I have a need to track a number of things about the system using something other than an excel spreadsheet LOL

In this particular instance I need to keep track of which Module (Switch) they are plugged into and which port on the Module.

[comment]

Q1: Can more than one user be plugged into a port?

Q2: Do you need to keep a history of user-port assignments?

[James Nierodzik]

A1: No, Only one user may be plugged into a port.

A2: No.. I can't think of a situation where that would be very usefull.

[comment]

Then, unless I am missing something, it seems very straightforward:

Tables:

- Modules

- Ports

- Users

Relate Ports to Modules by ModuleID. Relate Users to Ports by UserID. I forgot to ask if a user can have more than one port. If not, you could also assign a port to user (using PortID), instead of the other way round. There's no many-to-many here, so no join table is required.

On a Module layout, a portal to Ports will show the module's ports. Add a field from Users into the portal to show who's using which port of the selected module.