Marking 'Found' records within the whole list view

[FM Tid]

Hi, I'm new so forgive me if I break any rules with my first post.

My question is this - my first-ever database was Mini-Office Pro on a PC. Compared to FM it was laughable, but it did have a nice little trick that FM doesn't seem to, and I was wondering if anyone has evolved a way of doing this in FM?

Briefly, in Mini-Office I could Search for a set of records, and one of the options was to 'Mark' the found records. Mini-Office would then display the entire list view of all records in the database, but a keystroke would jump to the next Marked record in the list in turn. I used this a lot - it enabled me to see found records in the context of the whole database, thereby also seeing the unmarked records around it in the list. What would have been even more useful was if the Marked records were displayed in bold, but even Mini-Office couldn't do that.

So, is there any way I can view the whole database in FM list view, 'jumping' to each next record in a found set within it, in turn? (If this sounds confusing, I apologise, but anyone who remembers Mini-Office will be familiar with the feature).

[Vaughan]

"So, is there any way I can view the whole database in FM list view, 'jumping' to each next record in a found set within it, in turn?"

Yes, but you're going to have to build it yourself.

However there is a reason why such a feature isn't available in FMP: multiuser.

Imagine that 2 people are using the database. The first user marks their found set. Then the second user sets theirs: the second user's marks will overwrite the first users.

There are ways around the problem which involve remembering the record ids of the found set and not actually marking the records themselves.

[FM Tid]

That sounds interesting Vaughan - can you give me a hint how I might do that? I can use script but I haven't used record IDs yet.

[Vaughan]

Search the forums for articles on "restore found set" because the technique is similar.

The method is to loop through the found set and add the record id to a global field or variable. An unstored calculation field in each record looks whether its record id is in the global field or variable to indicate whether the record has been selected or not.

Note: an alternative method to looping through the found set is to copy/paste the record ids into the global field or variable. Both techniques have their advantages and disadvantages.