Thank you.

I am trying to write a database to organise computer rentals.

The problem i am having is storing the booking information so that I can view the availability of systems on a particular date.

I currently use a spreadsheet like so (1=available, 2=booked, 3=On hire 4=Workshop)

System Name march 1 march 2 march 3 etc...

Compu1 1 1 1

Compu2 2 1 1

Compu3 3 3 1

Compu4 4 4 4

So how do you store this information in a filemaker database, I have tried using repeating fields, but you can do very little with them in scripts, for example you can't select the repeating field number by another field value or calculation.

I just hope someone has an experience of this type of database programming, as it is clearly doing my head in.

Thanks again.

Get a whole heap of paper and work out how to do it "manually." Each page is a record, each piece of info is a field... etc.

This works well for me in tricky situations -- which is quite often! Sometimes I actually use paper, other times just thinking in terms of paper forms is enough.

You'll probably need to set up 2 databases (at least). One file ("Systems") would be a list of all your systems. The other file ("Status") would hold the date and status info.

Make a script in the Status file that creates a series of dates via a loop. Then in the Systems file, make a script that copies the System Name and then calls the date loop. I'm trying not to make this post too long, but basically, you end up with LOTS of records in the Status file, one for every day for every system.

If you've never set up a relational system, this isn't going to make a lot of sense... The reason to use this method is to be able to do some cool things with relations by using your System Name + status codes to create "concatenated key" fields, e.g.:

available = System & "-" & 1

booked = System & "-" & 2

etc. (make sure calc returns a text result)

Show your related Status records in a portal in your System file so you can enter in the status on a given day.

Show your related System records in a portal in your Status file so you can look at a given date and see what systems are out, available, etc.

I hope that gives you some ideas... the essence of this set-up is "few fields, many records."