putting info from a portal into another field.

[droderick]

Hi,

Newbie question i think.

I have a related field that displays in multiple (26) rows in a portal. I want to put all the information from this portal into a field that I can insert into a calculation so I can email it. to someone.

How do I get the contents from the portal into another field that I can email?

Much Appreciated

Edited July 1, 2006 by Guest

[Lee Smith]

Are they all in the same field in the related record?

[IdealData]

You need a script, with a loop/end loop construct.

You need the loop to increment between each portal row, then use the SetField() step to concatenate the field(s) from the portal into another field in the parent record. You can specify as many, or few, of the portal fields as you require, but do remember to EXIT AFTER LAST when you go to the next portal row, otherwise your script will never exit the loop.

Finally use the Send Mail() step to do your e-mail.

[LaRetta]

Hi droderick,

You are making assumptions here that you need to place all the related records into a calculation to email it. This isn't the case. There are many ways to accomplish what you wish. For the email, do you want an attachment as pdf, Excel, text file? Or do you want to insert the data directly into your email? And, as Lee asked, will it be only one field or several? If you insert this record-set into message of email (and you have several fields) then formatting will come into play. We simply don't have enough information here to help you properly. Here are a few more ideas ...

From parent record, perform a Go To Related [show only Related Records from this portal relationship; Match current record only). Go to a layout based upon this related 'portal' set. This will produce a record set matching your portal. I would much rather work with the set directly than loop through a portal. You can then send your email from your related table just as easily as from the main table.

The layout you specify in your Go To Related[] step can contain only the fields you wish to include in your email. Then perform a Save Records As Excel. Then perform your Send Mail step and specify this Excel file as an attachment. Same with Save Records As PDF. Or export your record-set to tab or mer and attach that file or export your record-set and specify 'Insert text from (that) file' as message.

Again ... we need to know the output you require, how many fields are involved and the anticipated record size. You may not want to place 22,000 related records into body of an email and, although the size-limits for FM8 are quite large, you might hit the limit attempting to place all that data into one field (not to mention the time it will take) nor do you want to waste resources by creating a calculation if the numbers are large.

If your record-set is small and you want to imbed into email message, you can loop/write to global (from your related table) and specify the global (safer in multi-user).

LaRetta :wink2: