Portal filtering to List view

[igotit]

In my customer entry layout I have a portal with a filter so I can enter C and get all companies starting with a C. If I then go to the List layout all customers starting with a C are shown there as well. But if I perform a search in the list layout and return to the entry layout, the search performed in list view is not shown in the portal, the C customers are still shown.

Is this just how it is and all searches should be done in the entry layout or is there something I can do so that no matter where the search is done, that search is shown in the portal as well.

Thanks for your help,

Milo

[bcooney]

You don't have a typical setup. Usually, there's a list view and a form view. Find (in the form view or a dedicated form layout), and return to a list view if you've found more than 1 record. Navigate from the list view to the form view by putting a button on each row in the list view that goes to the form layout.

What is the purpose of the filtered portal on the form view? Are you using it as a navigation tool? If so, then why have a list view also?

[igotit]

Hi Bcooney,

My setup is the same as you mentioned. My Customer Entry Layout is a “Form View” and my Customer List View is of course a “List View”. What I’m saying is on my Customer Form view I have a portal that list’s all Customers A through Z. When I click on a customer name all of that customers information is shown on the same form view. I also have a filter field for the portal so I can enter a single letter like “E” and see all customers starting with an “E”. Or I can enter a partial word like “Ent” and pull up all customers starting with “Ent” like “Enterprise and Entimens”.

Bcooney said: What is the purpose of the filtered portal on the form view? Are you using it as a navigation tool? If so, then why have a list view also?

The list view is just so the user can see 20+ customers per screen where in form view they can only see one. This way the user can see more customers and scroll through them, as mentioned and/or click on the one they want and go right to that customer in form view.

The problem is as I mentioned in my first post. If I do a filtered search in form view and go to list view that same filtered search result is reflected juat as I want it to. But if I perform a search in list view and go back to form view that search is not shown in the customer portal. I want to know if there is a way to have that search in list view (currently done by standard FileMaker find routine) also show in the portal in form view.

Maybe I do not understand your quote. Are you saying if I use a filtered portal in form view that I should not have a list view at all?

I hope I’ve explained myself better and look forward to your response.

Milo

[comment]

Hey Milo,

it is very easy to get a found set from a related set - all you need to do is GTRR [show related only]. It is NOT AT ALL easy to get a related set from a found set. A portal will ALWAYS show only (and all) related records. So to show a found set in a portal, you need to make all found records (and only found records) related.

One way to do this is to "collect" the ID's of the found set (using either a looping script or a recursive calculation) into a field, and use the field in a relationship to the original ID's. See:

http://www.fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/183406/post/234951/#234951

However, if you can filter your relationship INSTEAD of performing a find, you can get your related set directly with no extra steps required.

[bcooney]

The list view and the portal are really two independent entities. Filtering the portal is not going to "filter" or more appropriately "Find" in the list view.

So, as comment suggests, you could use a script that gathers the ids of the records that are showing in the portal into a global field, and gtrr to the list using a relationship from the global to the customer table and landing on your list view. Jumping thru a relationship is another way of "finding" records.

Or...perhaps you can capture the value in the portal's filter field, and then script a button that uses that value to do a find and switch to the list view.

[igotit]

I Guys,

I'm not sure I understand all of that. But I think the main point is filtering a portal and having it work with a standard list view are not compatible.

Something else I didn't realize until yesterday is when I click on a customer from list view and it goes to the form view. Although the name and information for that customer is correctly shown. That is not the customer showing in the customer portal on the form view and that's not good.

So I'm not quite sure what to do or more importantly, how to do it. It just seems like there should be a scrollable/click-able list view. But I guess from what you're saying is "maybe not" because you have the portal list for that right?

Milo

[Fenton]

If you click a button in a portal row and use Go To Related Record [ portal's relationship (or a logical extension of the relational path); specify a layout which can show the result ], then you will be on the record of the row (or the record of the relational extension).

If you click a button in a record in list view that goes to a form view layout of the same table (occurrence), then you will be on that record.

These are both basic concepts in FileMaker. As is the fact that relationships and found sets are two different things. You can easily go from a relationship to a found set; just check the [x] Show only related records in the Go To Related Record step.

But going the other way, from a found set to a portal is not so easy, though it can be done; as a side effect it makes the portal used useless for anything else. In other words, the portal can be only for this purpose.

To keep the found set synchronized with a portal requires a tightly controlled interface,* a fair amount of work, and fairly obvious loss of speed when navigating. I've only done it once, for someone else's shareware recipe database. I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner, unless you have a compelling reason to do so.

*I used the Copy All Records step to capture IDs. There are other methods which require less scripting, but more calculation. In my experience they are all slower than Copy All Records, which is not all that fast with large found sets either. The "found set in a portal" is a bad idea with large found sets.

[igotit]

Hi Fenton,

It all sounds like a work around and something that can slow things down. You guys have solutions being used with some over the network. What do you do? Am I better off staying away from list view if I'm using a filtered portal? Or would I be smarter to forgo the filtered portal and use the standard form and list?

Milo

[bcooney]

I would forgo the nav portal. Just have a list view, and form data entry screen. You could have a separate layout just for find.