Using a Portal to Select a Value in a New record

[AlaninYorkshire]

Hi. I'm sure the answer to this this is SO simple but as a newbie I'm struggling. In summary, it's about how I can select from a portal to enter a value in a new record.

I have a time/billing database. One table is 'Jobs' (ie projects) and another is Time (where I record time spent on the project). When I spend time on a job I create a new record in time, using the right job number. The tables are of course linked.

I have a drop down list that allows me to choose the job number when I make an entry in Time. At first, this worked fine but as the number of jobs increases I have to scroll thru an increasingly long list of jobs. It seems there is no way to sort the value list in descending order.

Looking for a solution in old posts in this forum (Value lists section) I read that one can use a portal to crack this problem. Sounds fine to me, I know I can sort the list of jobs in descending order, which will put the newest (highest) job numbers at the top. But how EXACTLY do I make this happen? I can create a portal but how do I make one that I can select from to enter a value in a new record?

Please be generous with your patience. I have spent ages reading the help files before posting to ask for help.

[Søren Dyhr]

Here is one idea, that actually does several things more:

http://fmforums.com/forum/attachment.php?attid/11646/

--sd