How do I layer my Bill of Materials?

[beatryder]

Hi,

I've been building a db to hold information about our companies product. We are a research and devlopment company, and we need something to keep track of our product. It's been split up like this:

Component: smallest possible piece

Sub-Assembly: any combination of two or more components or other sub-assemblies

Parts: Largest assemblies, all parts will snap together to make product.

so,

Sub-Assembly has many components

Sub-Assembly has many sub-assemblies

Part has many components

Part has many sub-assemblies.

The product is not huge, with about 70 unique components.

Now my problem is I want to start layering my relationships to get a nested bill of materials in the end. But I'm not sure how I assign my new TO. Do I make a new everything, do I assign them to the orginal components table, or do I make a long chain?

I've attached my current relationship diagram. I have some table occurences that I think are how I'm supposed to have them. The blue tables work, and I'm not sure how to add in the grey tables.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

--Dawn

PS: If you need to see the whole db, let me know, I can strip the records and post a copy.

[beatryder]

I've attached a stripped version of my file in hopes that some one can help.

I'm really lost on how to add more layers to my database.

Does anyone have any ideas? Should I make new tables for Sub-Assemblies and Parts, or can I layer like I've set it up now?

I can't get my view buttons in my portals to go to the correct related records because of how my TO's are organized right now.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!

--Dawn

PS: Log in: Admin Password: Admin

StrippedDevelopmentRecordV3-5.zip

[beatryder]

Does any body have any ideas?

I've been searching the internet, and have found nothing beyond a one layer example.

Should I split the table into three? (Components, Assemblies, Parts) Or is it best to keep it in the one table structure?

I've attached an updated stripped version.

Thanks,

--Dawn

Edit: The Login is Admin, password: Admin

MAFC250DevelopmentRecordV4-6Stripped.zip

Edited September 7, 2006 by Guest

[The Shadow]

My website:

http://www.spf-15.com/fmExamples/

Has an example bill-of-materials setup that shows a possible general setup and the computation of total cost. This is just an example, but maybe it will give you some ideas.

[beatryder]

I believe I've already seen that example, and it's really too simple for what I need.

I need a way of assigning components to sub-assemblies and parts, and of assigning sub-assemblies to sub-assemblies and parts.

I need to create a multi-layered assigning scheme, and I'm not sure how to do that. I can create one layer, as I have in the attached examples, but then GTRR doesn't work because it's not set up properly.

I know the flow chart is not to any standard, it's something I did to help me plan, but it will give you a good idea of the structure I need.

Thanks,

--Dawn

[The Shadow]

I don't see the purpose of having multiple tables, it seems to me the distinction between assemblies, parts and components is artificial.

Why not just have a single table and store that information as a type. Then you can have a flat BOM structure, which is easier to deal with.

[beatryder]

I did end up deciding to keep all components/assemblies/parts in one table. I do a "find" to seperate them.

The problem I'm having is that in the portal that shows the parents and children, I am unable to put a button that will go to that record. It works if there is only one parent/child layer, but if there is a component that belongs to an assembly, and the assembly belongs to a part, I cannot use a button to go from the portal row that displays the assembly to the correct assembly record.

I'm trying to use the GTRR function, but it doesn't seem to work at all beyond a single layer of assigning.

So I thought perhaps my relationships where done wrong, and I had to do something else to go beyond one layer of assigning.

I'm very confused, because everything else works wonderfully.

--Dawn

[Ted S]

Hi Dawn,

I placed some buttons on this demo that you have seen before. It allows the user to walk up and down the BOM but technically speaking, it doesn't use GTRR.

BOM_Demo.zip

[beatryder]

Thanks,

I'm going to play with that today and see if I can get my buttons working! That looks like it might work for me.

I'll update at the end of the day, and hopefully I'll have it working the way I want.

--Dawn

[beatryder]

Well for some reason I can't get your method to work for me.

It will go to find mode but not complete the find. I tried the exact same code as your script and also doing Find[restore], but that didn't work either.

I've attached the file I'm working on, maybe I missed a small but crucial detail?

Thanks,

--Dawn

PDS-MAFC250-V4-9-Stripped.zip

[Ted S]

Hi Dawn,

I can only get in with Guest access. Can you post again with Full access or put it in a private message to me?

Thanks,

[beatryder]

Hi,

I keep forgetting to post the login info...Sorry.

Login: Admin

PassWord: Admin

Thanks,

--Dawn

[Ted S]

No problem. Give this a try.

PDS-MAFC250-V4-9-Stripped.zip

[bruceR]

Your GTRR script is using go to record erroneously.

You cannot go to a record by record ID.

You must perform a FIND for the record ID; or you must set a global to the recordID and GTRR from that global.

Your find scripts also are invalid.

You cannot store a find using a variable. You must:

Enter Find Mode [no restore]

Set Field [someField; $yourVariable]

Perform Find [no restore]

In fact it appears that the majority of your scripts contain fundamental scripting errors.

For instance you are creating new records; but none of the new record scripts specify the layout so in fact they can create records in the wrong table.

Edited September 27, 2006 by Guest

[beatryder]

Okay, so since this has turned into more of a scripting thread, I made a new thread in the ScriptMaker section: http://fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/180735/

Perhaps a mod could merge the two threads.

Thanks Ted S for making it work! Now I just have to get it working using the proper found sets and layouts, which some users in the other thread have made suggestions about.

BruceR: You have to remember that I've never used FileMaker before, this is the first db I've ever made. And in my create new record scripts, I designed them so they would work in multiple layouts, the new component script will work in 9 of my layouts. I don't want to have to create a new script for each layout, as I've got 28 layouts and still some to build. That would be way too many scripts, so instead I've built in If statements to find which layout I'm using and perform different actions depending on the layout. I guess I could move some stuff around a bit so that unless you are in the specified layouts it does nothing.

--Dawn

Edited September 27, 2006 by Guest