Fast "scrolling" between records

[sdutton]

I only have about 1000 contacts in my company's database, but am often having to move between records for information. Besides moving the little slider / button underneath the Records Icon—guessing where the Record I need is—are there more efficient, quicker ways to move quickly between records that are alphabetized?

[Søren Dyhr]

A carthesian selfjoin portal might be what you might wish for, or a filtered portal:

http://www.newcenturydata.com/downloads/filter.zip

--sd

[sdutton]

Thank you for your quick response. I downloaded the filter and it works quite well in moving to a specific record from the Table example. Sorry for my lack of depth with FileMaker, but I'm not sure how to bring such a filter into my current database.

Here's what I'm currently working with. I view each of my records in the Form View . . . the "form" of each record is filled with all the details of a particular person or company. I'd like to quickly move, say, from "Smith's Hardware" to "Beach Enterprises". Currently, I'm having to mouse my way up to the slider, move the slider, guessing about where I need to be in the Records stack, and then fine tune that guess by clicking on the left/right Record's Icon until I get to the exact record (in order to edit or gather info).

It would be helpful to have these filtered fields available in each record (with a view of a table of all my records so I can see the elimination of choices as I type). That way, when I want to move between records, I can just type part of the name until I get to the right company, then hit enter (or click) and be taken to the Form View of that record.

Is that possible?

Steve

[Søren Dyhr]

Is that possible?

Oh yes it is, when the choise have been narrowed down to just a few, attach a button to the portal line that:

http://www.filemaker.com/help/Script-Steps19.html

I've hacked New Century's template severly to facilitate what I'm guessing you're after, the small traingles in the portal row take you to the desired record....

--sd

filterHacked.zip

Edited February 5, 2008 by Guest
Thought a template would be in order??

[comment]

How about a simple one?

SimpleTypeAhead.fp7.zip

[Søren Dyhr]

Indeed I forgot about that feature!

--sd

[sdutton]

Yes, the SimpleTypeAhead is perfect. I need a little help, though.

I created a value list of the Companies, set up a new field "Go to record", created the drop down menu for that field . . . But I'm not sure how to set up the "Relationships" . . . and the button I created that is to "Go To Related Record" isn't going anywhere when I click it, so I obviously haven't "connected" it to the Companies that are being displayed in the drop down menu.

Sorry, this is all new to me.

Steve

[comment]

I don't see how I can help you with that from here.

[sdutton]

I found the problem . . . and it works great. Thank you for your help. Steve

Edited February 6, 2008 by Guest

[sdutton]

A follow up. I've been using the Simple Type Ahead solution for the past day, and it works fine. But would it be possible to have a field that appears on every record that just lists all my companies in alphabetical order (scroll bars to navigate the entire list) with the ability to double click on any company in the list and be taken directly to that record?

I realize this may be seen as introducing another topic, but it's so close to what I've asked that I didn't want to re-post things.

[Søren Dyhr]

be taken directly to that record

Do you mean dwindle here??

--sd

[sdutton]

I don't think it's dwindling (unless my understanding of dwindling is improper). What I want is an efficient, quick way to move between the records of my entire database. The Simple Type Ahead procedure works much better than clicking / scrolling on the Records icon. With that method, I'm guessing about where a company appears in the "roledex" of records.

But in using the Simple Type Ahead procedure, I realized that there's a drop down menu listing a small portion of my Companies (alphabetized) which changes with whatever I type in that field . . . then, after locating the company that I want, I must click on the "Go" button to go to the "Related Record".

That got me thinking . . . is it possible to have a complete list of all my companies (alphabetized), appearing on each record, so that I can "scroll" to the company that I want, click on it, and be immediately taken to that company's record.

[Søren Dyhr]

Yes a selfjoin carthesian realtion with a GTRR (go to related record) would do that...

--sd

quicknav.zip

[comment]

Filemaker doesn't recognize a double click, but it is easy to do with a single click.

SideBar.fp7.zip

[sdutton]

Thank you so much!! (I was away from my computer for a few days. I just got a chance to implement the Sidebar example.) It's exactly what I was thinking.