How do you show most recent records in portal (?)

[Lemur]

Hello,

I have a database that handles a slew of "running totals" (for argument's sake, call it 'calories consumed').

Let's assume, in this database I have 8 people listed, and I have all their calories for each meal during a week (21 in total).

If I want to have a portal that shows each of the 8 people, with the total calories consumed (i.e., the total from the most recent record), *sorted* in descending order of total calories - how would I be able to do that? When I set up a typical portal, it seems to pull the data from the first record in the database; not the most recent (which contains the information I need).

I'm using FM 5.5 -- it seems like there SHOULD be a way to accomplish this, but I'm drawing a blank!

Chris

[AudioFreak]

Sort the portal using the Calories field. :

In your version you need to sort the relationship the portal is based on. It's under File>Define Relationships.

Michael

[Lemur]

Hi Michael,

I now know why it's not working, but I've no idea how to fix it. Let me go into more detail (and step away from the easier-to-understand "calorie" scenario, and discuss what it's really doing).

The database tracks scores in various games played. Each game has it's own id#, and then, each person has his own id# (and name). So, to see game1 / Bob, the id/name field would be 1Bob.

In addition, for the FIRST time someone has played a game, there's an X-Field (which denotes their first playing). So, someone playing game 1 for the first time would have X1 with their record. Someone playing game 2 for the first time would have X2, but someone who had played previously, would just have "2."

I did this because I wanted to isolate records to be pulled into the portal. Since the fields I want to display are all calculation/sum fields, it didn't matter which record was selected, and it was easiest to identify the 'first,' (otherwise, I'd get *all* records, which I didn't want - I wanted each person represented once in the portal).

The relationship I've set up is on the X/game id relation (so, in the file with the portal, there're different records which pull related records X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, etc. The relationship is the X/game id in the portal file to the X/game id in the related file, and then, it's sorted, descending, by the score.

The problem with that, is it's ONLY looking at the Xgameid, and only if there's an X - so, it's restricted to the first time people have played (which explains why my new scores are only being shown from the first record someone has).

If I change it to JUST GameID::GameID, I can sort it by sequence, descending, but, then, it displays ONLY from the last record (and not from each person), for some reason.

What I need, I think, is to figure out a way to denote the most *recent* record in the main file (maybe a reverse gameid/xfield) and then, relate on that field to the portal. Otherwise, I don't know how to get the information I'm looking to display to show up.

Chris

Edited September 13, 2007 by Guest

[Lemur]

I was able to solve this problem.

As I mentioned, I needed to denote the most *recent* record in the file. Once I did that, and changed the relationship to search by that field, instead, I was able to get the proper information to show up.

Thanks to all who helped!

Chris

[kschomme]

I am having a similar problem with pulling the most recent record.

Your logic makes sense to me, but I cannot seem to denote the most recent record. How did you do that?

[kschomme]

I figured it out. I created an identification number to denote the most current comment by. Then defined the relationship within the specify section.