Simple Navigation for Many Layouts [Finished-FM7]

[Genx]

Solution / Simple Navigation for Many Layouts

Description: Hi Guys,

I've come to highly dislike scrolling through filemaker's pop-up layout navigation for 20 seconds to get to a layout in my gradually larger solutions.

To overcome this problem, i simply built a simple layout nav system for myself -- a table, and a drop down box -- see attached.

If you wanted to categorize your layouts as i do in my real solution, then it's just another field and a simple relationship filter (conditional value list).

Cheers guys, hope it's useful.

Alex

Working Under:

Solution Status: Finished

Pre-requisites: FileMaker Version 7

Author(s): Genx

Date: 11/07/06

Credits:

Instructions / Other Info:

Disclaimer:

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manylayoutnav.zip

[Genx]

Just curious. If you download could you put a vote in?

Edited November 10, 2006 by Guest

[Lee Smith]

I'm not sure this is performing as you want it to on my Mac.

When I select a layout using the pop up menu, and then hit the button next to it, and it takes me to the layout okay. [color:blue]I'm stranded there though?

If I select the layout on the list of layouts (2nd layout in the rolodex) it shows in the navigation window, but it takes me back to the list instead of the layout selected.

Is there a deeper reason for the List of layouts?

Lee

[Genx]

Okay, the list, are you referring to the layout listing all the layouts or the first layout that has a drop down?

The main purpose is only to allow quick navigation in 2 circumstances 1) Your Layouts aren't organised that well but use a standard naming technique 2) You have a whole lot of layouts, and it takes you forever to get to them.

I have no problems with the filemaker layout navigation... for the first 20 or so layouts.. thats fine, 2 clicks, but using a pop up menu to have to go through all of them in a solution greater than this is absolutley ridiculous.

The only point of this file to be honest is to be a quick point of call, you need to get to a layout? Choose the first layout in your solution (quickly locatable, and easily accessed using FM's nav system). And then either superscroll through an alphabetically ordered list of all your layouts, or use FM's autocomplete function to narrow it down.

All i can say is that it makes my life a heck of a lot easier -- i just counted and it takes me full 30 seconds to scroll through all of my layouts on a full 1280 x 1024 resolution -- as opposed to choosing the first layout, and immediatley selecting any layout i need.

Again though, it's just a general technique, if it does very little, then that's probably as much as it will do.

[Oldfogey]

Genx,

I've had a very quick look at your file and am most impressed. I am going to have a go at improving it - but don't hold your breath.

My 2 cents worth - my layouts are ordered alphabetically within group. The group names are all in the format "--- GROUPNAME ---". This is the only place I ever use all uppercase, so they stand out. The groups are organised, more or less, in order of importance. I do the same with Field names.

This is something I picked up ages ago from this forum.

[Genx]

Re General Layout Organising.. I using the following convention, and while it does work well, again the time factor is annoying as hell...

-

...MAIN SECT

-

MAINS_LAY_MyLayout_MainSection

MAINS_LAY_MyLayout_MainSection2

MAINS_LAY_MyLayout_MS_SubSection1

MAINS_LAY_MyLayout_MS_SubSection2

MAINS_LAY_MyLayout_MS2_SubSection1

MAINS_LAY_MyLayout2_MainSection

etc.

etc.

-

MAINS_REP_MyFirstReport_TO1

MAINS_REP_MySecondReport_TO2

MAINS_REP_MYSecondReport_TO3

MAINS_MER_MyOnlyMailMergeLayout

-

...MAIN SECTION HEADING 2

-

MAINS2_LAY

etc.

etc.

I usually truncate the names to some extent in order to make them shorter so they fit into the non expanding lists that FM uses (another thing i dislike) and then can quickly locate them at least in the scriptmaker dialog.

WHY WILL YOU PEOPLE NOT VOTE!!! I don't care if you think I'm tacky, but just vote!

[Oldfogey]

Your naming convention looks horribly complicated to me.

You didn't ask us to vote on whether you're tacky or not; that's a separate vote!

[Genx]

Nah lol, check out the 5th option... it's there alright

RE: The "complexity" issues, see the screen shot below, i may have overstated the complexity a bit..

[Genx]

Lol, figured someone might vote for the dud option, if the person actually got where the reference comes from, I like you even more :