When users are creating a new record, they must pick from an exsisting company list of about 3,000. First tried using a custom value list, but of course ran into the size limit error. Then created one based on field, but it is very slow in creating the list for the users. Is there a way to filter by each character that is entered? For example, when first clicked on the field nothing would happen. Entry of the first character "T" would display all value enties that begin with the letter "T". then "Ti"...and so forth.

If thats not do-able, there has to be a beter way of providing a predifined list of choices for record enrty.

You can create a global field which links to the company name field in your list. What you would do is type the first couple of letters of the company name and then display the matching results in a portal. When the user clicks on the company name, you could execute a script which would update the necessary field with the company name.

However, you would have to tab out of the global field to update the company name portal. Currently, I don't think there is a way to dynamically update the portal every time you type a letter without the help of a plugin.

FusionPlugins.com has a plugin called Reactor v2 which they demonstrated at DevCon which adds a lot of dynamic functionality to FileMaker.

One of the demonstrated uses was to filter records as the user was typing using a variation on the method I described above--e.g. if you type 'T', then it would show all the records starting with the letter T without having to tab out of the search field. I have not used Reactor myself, but they made it look fairly simple.

More information about Reactor v2 can be found here:

http://www.fusionplugins.com/reactor/

Is there a way to filter by each character that is entered?

Yes, there is.

While in Layout Mode, select that field, go to

Format >> Field Control >> Setup...

and put a flag into the box "Autocomplete using a value list"