Having problems getting started with portals.

[Doobeh]

Hi there,

I've finially figured out that I need a portal to do what I need to do, which is the following:

I want to create a notes section for each client in the database, the notes bit would have 3 columns, one would record the user who entered the note, the other the current date of the note, and the final one would have the note itself. Every client would have >1 note. so if you were browsing it (on a client with.. 3 notes it would look something like the following):

code:

---

Name Note Date

Fred client ran away 30/07/01

Susan contract signed 23/07/01

Bob delivered contract 19/07/01

---

and you would input the note in a field above it, it could work the rest of the information automatically, system date, currentuser and then add it to the top of the notes 'pile' so it was reverse cron. date order

I'm sorry I have to explain it like this, but I'm not at all proficient at filemaker, but am willing to learn. If you could give me any suggestions on how to get this done I would be more then grateful.

Thank you in advance,

Doobeh.

[Kurt Knippel]

First create your databases and fields so that they work as you would like them to. Obviously you want them to auto-enter the date and user, so make sure that all this is setup and working. Never mind about the portal right now.

Then setup your relationships, the one that relates to the Notes DB can be set to sort in descending Date order, make sure to allow creation of portal records.

Finally setup the portal on the screen, you will notice a blank line at the next available line in the portal, this is where you can enter data directly into the portal. Assuming that you have set the fields up correctly you can disable access to the name and date fields, as those will be filled in automatically once the note field get something entered into it.

[Doobeh]

Hi, thanks for the help, but I need a little bit more help, I suppose this will be a little off topic (for the forum), but I'll keep a copy here because of the previous posts.

I'm having problems with the relationships bit. I have created a new database with three fields, DBname, DBdate and DBnote the name and date are automatically filled in.

So I go back to my main databse, and start to define the relationships and then I hit the 80foot provebial brick wall.

The relationship lets me relate one field in my main DB to one in another (namely the notesDB) so I assume I need to create 3 fields in the main DB that relate to each of the fields in the notesDB

okay, so i link them up, allowing for creation of new records, and sorting the date on in reverse cron. order

then I insert three portals, one for each field. hit browse, and I cant enter or view data in the portals.

Now I know I've gone wrong somewhere, very early on I'm assuming or ive missed out a step entirely and I feel quite horrendously stupid, if you can give me a few more pointers I would be most grateful, I'm going to make myself a coffee and sit down with this for a few hours and see what I can turn up.

Thanks again.

Doobeh

[onno]

First of all, the relationship should not be based on the notes field. Create a relationship from the client name or client serial number field (this is preferable, if it exists) in the main file to an identical field that you create in the related file.

Then Draw just one portal and size it to match three fields.

Use the Field tool (in the Status area) to place a field in the portal

Select the related file in the Specify field pop-up.

Place fields DBname, DBdate and DBnote (in the dialog box, these field names are preceded by a double colon) in the portal.

I'm just a beginner at FileMaker so I may not have well understood your problem, but if I have, I think this should work just fine.

Good luck,

onno

[Doobeh]

Thats really great, thank you onno, and of course CaptKurt.

Its working! Looks a bit messy at the moment, so I'll make another coffee and see if I can make the notes field resize to show all the text [read: expect another posting soon] heh.. Thank you very much, thats a big hurdle passed. I'm sure theres lots of postings on making it more appealing to the eye, so im going to dig through the old posts first.

Thanks again,

Doobeh.