Tab Names and Scripts

[teknetia]

Hi Guys,

I have a filemaker DB that tracks a list of our vendors and have a second table that tracks each of their satellite offices in each region (predominately for accounting and so on). I want to display these office names (based on the name given in the regions settings) in the tab name for each switching between them and then display a final tab (that moves to the end at all times) that says something like "Add New Office"

Is this even possible or do I need to use some other way to display these? It is possible for a vendor to have unlimited satellite offices, so I was trying to use something that didn't involve loads of forms. If there are other ideas, I'm very open to them.

Cheers

Chris

[CobaltSky]

Hello teknetia,

Welcome to the forum.

It's unlikely that tab controls are the best way to accomplish what you are describing - primarily because there is no mechanism available to automatically create new tabs when the user clicks a button.

An alternative way to accomplish the effect you've described would be a portal side-bar navigation, where you have a button to add a value to the portal, and clicking a row in the portal sets a key to display data for one of the regions for the current vendor.

A button to add a new row to a portal (to include another region for one of the vendors...) - is something you can implement fairly easily. :wink2:

[teknetia]

Hi CobaltSky,

Thanks for that. Where can I dig up some information on creating portal navigation?

Incidentally, can I create a navigation menu in such a way that it would get arrows to scroll through it if it got long enough?

Cheers

Chris

[CobaltSky]

Where can I dig up some information on creating portal navigation?

Hi Chris,

I'm attaching an example of what I assume is the kind of thing (in general terms) you are trying to accomplish.

Incidentally, can I create a navigation menu in such a way that it would get arrows to scroll through it if it got long enough?

I've added a scroll bar to the Regions navigation portal in the attached example. See if you think that will do what you need. :wink2:

Vendors.zip

[teknetia]

Thanks very much, that is exactly what I have been looking for.

Incidently, with this calculation:

"VN" & Right("0000" & Serial#; Max(5; Length(Serial#)))

will the 0's be replaced by the serial as it's length grows? This is exactly what I wanted to do but wasn't sure how to do it.

Cheers!

[teknetia]

Hey again,

I can't get these portals to work at all. I can't work out how to get them to displays all the regions based on the current vendor and then I can't work out how to add the Add New Region button.

I have tried dissecting the file you send me but I just can't work it out >_<

Cheers.

[CobaltSky]

...with this calculation:

"VN" & Right("0000" & Serial#; Max(5; Length(Serial#)))

will the 0's be replaced by the serial as it's length grows?

Yes - until there are no more zeros, after which the length of the string will increase (ie if there are more than 99999 records created).

I can't get these portals to work at all. I can't work out how to get them to displays all the regions based on the current vendor

If you check the relationships Graph in the file I posted, you'll see that the relationship between Vendors and Regions is based on the VendorID field in both tables. The selection portal is based on the Regions table occurrence (TO) so it lists all regions for the current vendor.

...and then I can't work out how to add the Add New Region button.

If you open the Edit Relationship dialog for the relationship between the Vendors and Regions TOs, you'll see that the setting labeled "Allow creation of records in this table via this relationship" is enabled on the Regions side of the relationship. That's what enables you to add rows to the portal.

The "Portal Sidebar Control" script is used to give you access to the field to enter a new region name, if you click in the last row of the portal (otherwise it selects the row). :wink2:

[comment]

Yes - until there are no more zeros, after which the length of the string will increase (ie if there are more than 99999 records created).

A somewhat simpler way to achieve the same result would be:

SerialIncrement ( "VN00000" ; Serial# )

However, I am curious why relationships should be based upon this calculation instead of the original serial or why is this needed at all, other than for cosmetic purposes (in which case it should definitively NOT be used for relationships).