bypassing list auto-sort

[gephry]

I'm in a bit of a tizzy because I'm trying to keep my list values in the order that they originally are (list from a field)---but FM is reorganizing them. How can I not have FM reorder my list?

I have a table of records with a TIME field and a RECORDSERIAL field. The records increment in time as the RECORDSERIAL goes up. Wrench-in-the-spokes #1) I have the records sorted by RECORDSERIAL because my "day" doesn't start at 12:01AM---I have the day (record RECORDSERIAL #1) starting at TIME = 6:00AM and RECORDSERIAL #(Last) being TIME = 5:45AM the next day. Wrench #2) The start time and end time of the day are variable (they can change to 7:00AM till 6:45AM if I so desired). So I can't just create a text list of all the times between 6:00AM and 5:45AM in my specified order.

I have already tried creating the list with 1) just TIME and it re-orders it; 2) two fields: RECORDSERIAL as Field1 and TIME as Field2. I can sort it by Field1 (RECORDSERIAL) which works....but I don't want to display Field1. If you choose "Show Only values from Field2" it automatically sorts by Field2 -- seems counter intuitive to me.

So, how can I derive a list of TIME in the order of the records?

[comment]

See if this helps.

[Raybaudi]

The start time and end time of the day are variable (they can change to 7:00AM till 6:45AM if I so desired)

How do you suppose to obtain this, even if FM isn't reording your list ?

If you get your list from a field, that list will always display the values of all the fields of the records !

So, may be, do you want to delete all records of that table at the beginning of your day ?

But, in that case, the list will be empty.

So, two tables only for the lists ?

IMHO, the better choise is two custom list.

[gephry]

Comment -- dude that rocks. Thanks.

raybaudi --

Well, what I'm doing would be a rather lengthy explanation so for the sake of simplicity and brevity, I'll explain it this way:

I have two tables, my MANAGEMENT and the TIMESLOTS table. On the MANAGEMENT table, you can enter Time_START and Time_END. You then click the "Save" button and a script deletes the records in TIMESLOTS and then creates a slew of records starting with the Time_START and ending with the Time_SLOT. There is also a TIMESLOTS:RecordSerial_Number field that increases incrementally as the Time increases.

Next, I also view TIMESLOTS through a portal. The portal is sorted by RecordSerial_Number which gives me the desired order. But! I also need to use the times in TIMESLOTS as a list appearing in the order they are in TIMESLOTS.

I really just want the times to appear to the user in the list as they originally specified. It's really just an aesthetic thing so they don't get confused.

I know that doesn't explain why I'm doing this for my given situation, but it at least covers how I'm doing it. I hope that answers your question. Yes?

[Raybaudi]

So, may be, do you want to delete all records of that table at the beginning of your day ?

Ahhh... so I was right !

And if start and end time are timestamps ?

Management.zip

[gephry]

Yep! That's exactly what I'm doing.

I'm actually not using timestamps because since the times for the day are variable, it depends on what my client wants to do. If they want to go 8AM to 6PM that SAME DAY, they can. In your example it must extend into the next day. Mine can end either today or tomorrow.

Also, in my example I had a little fun and made the RecordSerial_Number a calculation and the Time field a calculation field also. And I added a displayTime field. Completely unnecessary but fun! :)

Management2.zip