I have connected to an ESS source (MSSQL) from FMP9, and created a TO to one of the ESS tables. I have additionally created a native FMP table by importing the table definition. I then attempted to import all the records from the ESS table into the FMP table in two different ways:

1. Import from the file itself with the ESS table as the source and the FMP table as the target

2. Import from ODBC source with "SELECT * from TABLE_NAME"

Each of these methods skipped records due to errors (presumably validation errors, since the validation options from the ESS fields were copied to the FMP fields) The problem is, that in importing by each method from various tables in the ESS, I get a different number of skipped records depending on the method of import.

I tried to compare these two tables by setting up an equijoin between the PK fields and then creating a portal in the ESS layout to the FMP data. The problem here is that no related records show up in this portal. If I create a portal in the FMP layout to the ESS layout, then I do see all the related records.

Is this strange portal behavior due to the fact that the PK in the ESS table cannot be indexed by FM, and thus can't be used to display related records?

Can anyone comment on/confirm this?

Thanks,

Dana

Hi Dana,

You should be able to see the FM records in your portal that resides on the ESS layout.

Thanks for confirming that it should work. I now have figured out that it was not working because the PK in the imported table was not indexed (and was not set to turn on automatically if needed). I guess this default is different than the default when you create a field manually rather than importing from an ESS)

It probably makes sense, since ESS fields are not indexed by filemaker, so copies of them, would not be indexed....

Thanks again,

Dana