3 Tables combined into 1 how?

[ronhj]

I have 3 tables and i need to combine certain fiels all into one table. Im fine with creating the fields i need in each of the 3 tables the problem is how in the world do i get all the information from each table combined into one single table?

and please im new to this so im not that familiar with the terminalogy though im very good in navigating my way around and figuring small things out here and there. Please help me ive been trying to figure this out for 3 months. and keep delaying it more and more and now im at a point where its killng me and i realy need this

[Søren Dyhr]

Do all these tables have the same fields, or is there any way you could merge them into one single b y adding a new fields telling from which table it originated? Can your solution live with this new distinction attribute control a calc'field making display issues be seen just in time??

You are probably aware of your generalized way of asking makes is utterly hard to get to the core of your problem, keeping the utilization to your self is pure gambling expecting someone have hit the exact combination ...we need the whole picture. Because 99% of questions here is caused by overlooking options along the path of development.

We could have told you right away that the tables should have been merged right from the start ...but we need to know what keept you from it. If say logical chunks of data in a real world scenario, such as organizing by year ...isn't it going to help us from a developent POV if the damand is to get the last 5 years of sale of a certain item...

This is a very common pitfall in relational approaches, "my boss says..." that he need a table for each year. Tell him that you can slice and dice the data in what ever way he can think of - but that enforcing such a laymans principle isn't going to make things easier!!!

--sd

[ronhj]

Each table is totaly differrent from the other, what i will be doing though, is creating other fields in each table that will be an exact match to all the fields in the single table i want all of them combined into.

Its basically three differrent suppliers databases each having a differrent layout and field names. So what i will do from the data they send me, is create fields in each of the 3 tables that are an exact match to the single table format that all of them to be combined into. of course without replicating any duplicates part numbers

[ronhj]

the extra feilds i will be creating in the 3 table will be calculation fields that will be sorting and slpiting the data in the table. for example,

Table 1 would have 15 fields.

Partnumber, Quantity, Price, Manufacture, Modelnumber, Title, as well as other misc feilds

From these fields i would creat other fields in this table to match the same exact fields in the final single table i want all the 3 table combined into

example: I would create a field in this table named "Name" which would be a concatenation of the 3 fields (Manufacture, Modelnumber, Title,).

In case your wondering the Partnumber is what distinguishes each item as a single record and should not be duplicated.

How did i do explaining this?

[Søren Dyhr]

Partnumber, Quantity, Price, Manufacture, Modelnumber, Title,

and

Its basically three differrent suppliers databases each having a differrent layout and field names

So the second and third supplier doesn't have fields remotely identical with what I have snipped in the first quote, so one of them at least must be providing services only, since services per defintion can't be stored or...

It still leaves out the third, which I can't imagine - does there exist suppliers which neither is suppliers or goods nor services ...the abstraction astonishes me slightly - are we talking about divine interference? Priests and shamanes belongs to services dept. usually?

Could I require 3 lists of fields one from each table?

--sd

[Søren Dyhr]

I might have sounded a little snotty, in my last reply, i apologize! - Over the phone did I last night get what seems to be the problem, if you make filemaker open your excel sheets from the various suppliers, do they have different fields and even worse some of them use concatenations of values which should have been split into separate fields but isn't.

I think that I wouldn't just let filemaker open the excel documents, but instead would I prefab 3 tables in an utility filemaker file, each with one to receive it's own sheets data.

Then comes an investigations in each of the tables, how via calc'fields to turn these concatenated fields into "one fact per field" then follows a naming process for each of the internal tables.

Now the goal is to merge all this data into one single table, so I would then create a new one, here with a autoenterID to prevent colliding supplier ID's to collapse, then is it time to make internal imports pointing at each of the reworked provider supplied bases, here using the newly made calc'fields as source for the import-mapping.

It should be said that all this should be done in a utility file, which could be trashed after the job is done ...but just before that have you imported the 4th internal table, now stuffed with the merged or united data ...into the solution where it's needed.

So all in all quite a getting to know the import mapping dialogs if aren't familiar with them yet. But my offer still stands open if you should wish me to make it for you, shouldn't you hesitate asking.

There is a point in replying here and not just via e-mail or over the phone! Somebody else might know of workarounds I haven't thought of ...even flaws in my reasoning, that needs attention. But similarly should other be abel to search for solutions that might be in the vicinity of an experienced problem ...as a common memory!

--sd