autofill records from 'table a' in 'table b'

[greenfields]

Apologies for my lack of knowledge..

I have "table a" with fields A B C D E F that all contain records.

I also have "table b" with fields A B C D. A B C all contain records consistent with values in "table a".

How can I make field D in "table b" get records from "table a"?

Help much appreciated!

[aldipalo]

Welcome to the forum.

It is much easier and usually quicker to get advice if you are more specific.

E.G., Contacts Table and Company Table.

Fields:

Contact Name

Contact Address

Contact Phone

Company Name

Company Address

Company City

Tables contain records and records contain fields and fields contain data.

We'd be happy to help you if you can be more specific.

hth

[Fitch]

Welcome to the forums -- no apologies necessary.

I assume there's a relationship between the two tables.

Have you tried setting the auto-entry options for table b, field D, to table a: ?

I agree with Al that it's generally less confusing if we use real table and field names rather than abstract examples.

[greenfields]

thanks, ok.

I have a table called "progress"

Fields:

storeName

archivedate

searchterm

hits

records in these fields are all complete.

I have another table "to do"

fields:

storeName

archivedate

searchterm

hits

I have set up relationships between all matching fields in both tables.

The "progress" table has records in all fields, the "to do" table has no records in "hits" but records in all other fields.

there are many more records in the fields of the "to do" table, but every record in "progress" is definitely in "to do"

Hope this is a little clearer, appreciate the help....

[aldipalo]

It looks like you have 2 tables with identical fields. The object behind a relational database is not to duplicate efforts. You relate tables so that you can draw the data from one table into the other. Also, you want to relate the data by a unique ID field. i.e., StoreID. This way if you should move the Oak Street Store to Elm Street all the related data is still there because it is related to StoreID:101.

I would suggest a little reading material before you get to far in to your design and then things start to fall apart because of structure issues. It is better to invest a few hours now then 100's of hours later trying to fix or re design your database due to structural problems.

http://www.filemaker.com/help/MacTOC8.html

http://www.foundationdbs.com/ Read the White Papers for FM novices.

I've also attached a simple file for you to look at that shows a very basic relationship that allows you to get data from one table in to the other.

If you have any questions please let us know.

Client_Contacts_DB.zip

[greenfields]

ok, many thanks

[Lee Smith]

Hi Greenfields, and Welcome to the Forum

What version of FileMaker, Operating System, and Platform are you using.

You can enter this information in your Profile, and then you won't have to supply it each time you ask a question.

Go the the [color:red]Menu Bar, click on [color:blue]MY PROFILE >> Control Panel >> [color:orange]FileMaker Questions (bottom of the list)

Lee