How to use Merge fields with repeating fields

[MattFM]

I can't figure this one out easily... I have a repeating field, say it's for people's names and has 5 repetitions.

I want to display them on a layout as a Merge Field... My question has to do with commas, and periods...

If I type: <>, <>, <>, <>, <>. This method will work, but if I only had two names entered in the original field, it would look like this: John Smith, Jane Doe,,,.

My question is how to I get it to display the correct grammar, so to speak. I don't know if there's an easy way or if some sort of calculations need to be devised. Any help or suggestions or demos?

Thanks!

[Lee Smith]

Not sure you can do what you are trying to do using Merge Fields, why not do a calculation and Concatenate the data.

Why are you using Repeating Fields?

non repeating fields.

Case (not IsEmpty ( Field1 ) ; Field1 & ", " ) &

Case (not IsEmpty ( Field2 ) ; Field2 & ", " ) &

Case (not IsEmpty ( Field3 ) ; Field3 & ", " ) &

Case (not IsEmpty ( Field4 ) ; Field4

)

for Repeats

Case (not IsEmpty ( GetRepetition ( Field1 ; 1 ) ) ; GetRepetition ( Field1 ; 1 ) & ", " ) &

Case (not IsEmpty ( GetRepetition ( Field1 ; 2 ) ) ; GetRepetition ( Field1 ; 2 ) & ", " ) &

Case (not IsEmpty ( GetRepetition ( Field1 ; 3 ) ) ; GetRepetition ( Field1 ; 3 ) & ", " ) &

Case (not IsEmpty ( GetRepetition ( Field1 ; 4 ) ) ; GetRepetition ( Field1 ; 4 )

)

HTH

Lee

Edited December 20, 2007 by Guest

[comment]

You cannot perform calculations in a layout, so you'll need to add a calculation field for this, e.g.:

Substitute ( List ( Names ) ; ¶ ; ", " )

BTW, a repeating field doesn't seem the proper choice here.

[MattFM]

I'm using repeating fields because the Field is "Author" but there are often more than one author. What else would I use?

There's a Song Title - that's one field...

There's the Author - that's a repeating field (jn case there's more than one)

There's a Percentage - a repeating field similar to author, the percentage represents the percent of each person's authorship.

Example:

Song: "My Great Song #1"

Author(s): John Smith, Jane Doe

Percent: 75%, 25%

Then this data may be presented on a layout like:

"My Great Song #1" written by John Smith (75%) and Jane Doe (25%).

I'm sure this kind of data could also be done with portals and related tables but for something so simple I didn't think it would be necessary to get into all that...

Is there a downside to using repeating fields?

[Søren Dyhr]

Is there a downside to using repeating fields?

You bet there is!

"Author" but there are often more than one author. What else would I use

Relationships comes to mind

--sd

[comment]

Is there a downside to using repeating fields?

Yes, there is - your options of going beyond "something so simple" are severely limited. For example, you cannot produce a report of titles by author. I would also assume that there is some further purpose to this, rather than just recording the authorship percentages. If there is revenue to be distributed, how will you calculate it?

[MattFM]

Thanks veteran and Lee. Your posts helped me achieve what I was trying to do...