Having 2 lists in 1 database

[duncamunk]

I work in a lab and am creating a database where we can store all our information. I have two lists on completely separate layouts, but when I press the new or delete button on one list, an entry gets added or deleted on the other list as well. Is there a way to separate them so I can have them run independently? I've named all the parts of the list different names so they aren't calling the same information. However, both add/delete buttons on either page both run the new record/request script. Is there a way to make this script NOT universal so it only adds a new record on the page I'm viewing?

[mr_vodka]

Layouts reflect the table occurrence that is selected for it. If the underlying table is the same for the other layout then it will display it the same. IOW, you delete and add records to the table, not the layout.

[Fitch]

When you create a new record, you're adding a record to a table, not a layout. A table may have many Table Occurrences (TOs) in your relationship graph. Every layout is based on a TO.

Now, if your two layouts are based on the same TO, a change in the found set in one (e.g. a new record) will be reflected in the other (assuming they're in the same window).

If your layouts are based on different TOs, but the same base table, then the found set of one will not affect the other. However, a new record is a new record, and any TO with that base table will reflect the creation or deletion of records in that table.

It may be that you need to split your data into separate tables, or maybe you just need a way to label different types of records. No way to make a recommendation without more information.

What exactly do you mean, "named all the parts of the list different names?"

[duncamunk]

I've uploaded my database. You can see if you click the add/remove button on one (Plasmid page) it adds it/deletes it on the other one (Oligo page). I don't know how to separate them.

Suh_Lab.zip

[mr_vodka]

Again as we have stated it is because both your layouts (acutally all your layouts) are based off the 'Suh Lab' Table Occurrence.

[duncamunk]

I understand that much, so how do I split it up? Do I have to create two different databases and have them call each other by managing the database connection thing? I'm a little FM illiterate. Or can I split them up within the Suh Lab Table?

[mr_vodka]

I would start by looking at some of the tutorial files that FM has, the white paper that is linked in my signature, and reading up on data normalization.

Trust me. It is better to understand these things now rather than spending all this time creating your DB and then finding out later that you have to redo almost all of it.

[Fenton]

Short advice. Create the fields from one of them in a new table. Delete them from the original table. Assign the relevant layout to the correct table (Layouts, Layout Setup). Reassign the fields.

[duncamunk]

Mr. Vodka, I've read thru the whitepaper link on your sig, and I have a somewhat better understanding of what I'm looking at (as far as Table Occurances go), but I'm not sure as to how I need to accomplish what I'm trying to do. If I have two list layouts on the same database (but different layout pages), is the information I put into them stored in the same table? If so, is that why, when I click add new record, it adds a new line to both of the layout pages, since the button is a global script and there is only one table? Am I wrong if I say that I have two table occurances but just 1 table? Do I remedy this by adding another table, and if so, how do I add one?

[Fitch]

Start here:

http://filemaker.com/help/05-Create%20a%20database5.html

[Wickerman]

If I have two list layouts on the same database (but different layout pages), is the information I put into them stored in the same table? If so, is that why, when I click add new record, it adds a new line to both of the layout pages, since the button is a global script and there is only one table? Am I wrong if I say that I have two table occurances but just 1 table? Do I remedy this by adding another table, and if so, how do I add one?

duncamunk, it sounds like you're getting the idea now, but as a few others here have suggested, I think what you really need to do is step back and do some reading in a manual or how-to text that will really provide you with the conceptual and practical skills you'll need to get good mileage with minimum grief out of your database.

I've read a number of books along the way, and virtualy any book you can get will do you lots of good (I found the 'Missing Manual' on FMP quite good) but in particular I would recommend

the superb Filemaker Training Series, which I've just worked through.

But to provide you a *little* concrete help here, what you have at the moment is really two databases. Would anything (aside from a little convenience) be lost if you kept the two sets of files in separate databases? If not, you really have two separate, unrelated Tables. You can have two files for them, or make two tables in a single file and create layouts for each of them. If you explore the tabs and options in the 'Define Database' menu, you may be able to intuit how t odo this.

But if the data in the two is *related* somehow, you'll need to learn how to define and create Related Tables -- for instance if Table one lists Lab Experiments and defines each of the experiments currently underway, and another Table lists Results, providing a line of data for each trial of the experiemnet, you'd have a Parent-Child relationship between the two.

The Filemaker Training Series 9 text has an excellent chapter on 'Data Modeling' that is exactly what you need.

http://www.filemaker.com/support/training.html

good luck,

wickerman

[duncamunk]

Thank you! In the end, I was storing both the lists to the same table, and was just using 2 TO's. So I split the data into two different tables, and it worked fine. Thanks for the references, I'll make sure to check them out as I work thru the remainder of this database!