hello,

I am attempting to prioritize rows in a portal. I have tried having a field that is a drop down with the values 1-5, but the fields stay the same, regardless of what data i pull from related tables. has anyone else had experience in prioritizing related information in portals?

You seem like you're on the right track. You need a Sort field in the 'child' table that displays in the portal. You need to make sure the portal is set to sort based on that Sort field. That's all.

I have been able to sort the data using this method, however, as i switch between records, the data in the priority field stays the same.. Meaning that, if on Record 5 items 1,6,13,15, and 25 are priority 1, when i switch to Record 127 these same items are still listed as priority 1...

Here is it done with a cartesian relation portal.

--sd

priortize.zip

in the definitions, did making the files not equal keep them from duplicating when other data is inserted?

come again ...do you wish to strain the dropdown as well, so if 3 and 6 is used won't they occure in the next selection or??

--sd

basically, the portal loads PRODUCTION ITEMS that are still in need of being produced. sometimes, only a few parts of the job need to be produced first, while the others can wait. the portal now loads related records, sorted by the JOB ID. I would like to be able to have a single record for each JOB ID, and within this a portal that lists all parts ready to be produced. I need the priority button/field to move the needed items to the top of the list. does this sound possible?

Yes thats pretty simple, in the row have a button that enters .5 in the priority field, then GTRR(SO) ...sort the records and make a serialized scripted replace on the entire set:

http://www.filemaker.com/help/Script-Steps52.html

But beware, the method isn't multiuser safe, if thats the case must the serial number be pre- or postfixed with the username, in a pilcrowdelimited field that then is translated into the sortorder field.

--sd

I don't think you need to go as far as scripting a replace, since the internal order of records with the same priority doesn't matter (or so it seems).

A portal sorted by priority should be the answer. It looks like the real problem is with the implementation of this.

why is there a prioritize and prioritize 2 table? what is the significance of having 2 table occurences?

How would you portalize something without two TO's? - here is it a cartesian selfjoin.

--sd

This thread reminded me of a question I've intended to ask:

Does anyone know of a way (maybe a summarizing calculation of some sort) to cause the portal to spontaneously refresh following a selection from the value list?

In the past, I've used a plug-in to trigger a refresh script, but I've often wondered if there wasn't a better way.