I have an invoicing database with a parts file,invoice file etc. I have kept the rates by which items in the invoice are calculated in another Admin file with the rates as global number fields. Admin is related to Invoice by the business name and all has been well until I realized that when rates need to be changed they should be of a lookup type so that only subsequent invoices are affected by the changes.

I've added new _rate fields in the invoice file that are set to lookup the global in Admin. All are of type Number and I've read all I can find in my docs, but no values appear in the new _rate fields. Are globals not allowed to play that game?

Thanks

Bill Jaynes

Swan River Software

Lookups only occur when you create a new record. For your old records, do a relookup.

Lookups only occur when you create a new record. For your old records, do a relookup.

Thanks but still no data in my lookups. There is something in the Filemaker doc that puzzles me. It is "what to do when values in the match fields do not match exactly". My sense is that the match fields always match; that's what links the files. In my case "Shop Name" in Invoice and "Shop Name" in the rate "Admin File". Then the Invoice "labor-rate" lookup field should copy the value from the "labor-rate" global field in the Admin file. Initially these rate fields don't match but the match fields for the relationship always do. If I make a calculation field in Invoice to get the rate, it does so the relationship is sound. But the lookup doesn't even when a new invoice is created. Any ideas?

Thanks

Bill

Why are you using global fields?

Seems to me that the file from which you are looking up the rates should contain a record for each part and its price. Then, when you enter the part in the invoice (which I would do with a popup list, so that you can't misspell the part name), it looks up that item's price.