Schedule Builder

November 12, 200619 yr

Hello,

I am trying to create a schedule builder that will display a schedule when given various college classes.

So far, I have the database structured as follows:

2 Databases: Schedule and Courses. The Courses database contains a record for each course offered. The Schedule database is where I would like to assemble the data in such a way as to build a weekly schedule.

Currently, I have eight fields to choose courses in the Schedule database - the idea being that six to eight courses represent a typical semester's load. I then created a relationship for each of these eight fields to the Courses datanase, matching records using a unique CRN (Course Request Number).

In the Courses database, the days and times each class meets are listed in fields labeled Day 1, Start 1, End 1 (for example, a class that meets on Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 AM to 10:50 AM would have Day 1 = "Tuesday", Start 1 = 9:30 AM, End 1 = 10:50 AM, Day 2 = "Thursday", Start 2 = 9:30 AM, End 2 = 10:50 AM)

What I want is to be able to take this data and display it in a schedule form. In essence, I want to have a weekly schedule that displays the hours of 8:00-5:00 of each day of the week, and as I change the courses I'm enrolled in, I want them to fill in the appropriate slots in the schedule.

A few notes: Classes may have multiple different starting and ending times. For instance, a class may meet from 9:00 to 9:50 on Monday, but 2:30-3:50 on Thursday. Thus, every day needs to have its own start and end time. Also, classes only start on the hour or half-hour.

My first attempt at this seems rather irrational and I'm sure there's a better way to do it. What I did is create a calculation field in the Schedule table for each time slot for each day of the week for each course selected. For instance, there would be 8 different fields for 8:00 AM on Monday. Each one would check its respective related record to see if one of the days was equal to Monday and the start time was 8:00 AM. If so, it would display the course name in that slot. Then, the same thing for 8:30 AM, 9:00 AM, and every half-hour from there on. It works, but there are two problems with this: first, it adds up to a lot of calculation fields in the Schedule table - 400 of them to be exact. The other thing is, this system will only work as long as classes start only on the hour or half-hour. Ideally, I would like to get this system down to a point where it becomes significantly less awkward and (if possible) gets rid of its dependency on classes starting on the hour or half-hour.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have attached a screenshot of what my first try looks like. I have also posted the databases here so you can take a look in case I lost you with my descriptions: http://download.repository1.com/public/fmp/Calendar.zip

A final note: I have both Filemaker 6 and 8.5 Advanced, so a solution for either version will work for me.

Thanks again!