List Help

[Booker]

Hi, I am a bit new at FM and have a question. I have a field in a related database containing the numbers 1-21. Say they are items they assigned to a customer. The customer can have any combination of 1-21. I have then created fields for each of 1-21 in the original database. How do I have the 1-21 fields insert yes if that number is contained within the original list. I have tried using a calculation but can figure it out.

[bcooney]

It certainly sounds like your structure (tables, fields, relationships btw) is not correct. Can you describe what your are trying to do using real descriptions.

I'd rather help you build the correct structure than simply show you the FilterValues function.

Also, it'll help to learn the correct nomenclature. You have related tables, I believe, rather than related databases, yes?

For example, items assigned to a customer usually involves three tables: Customers, Assignments (join table) and Items.

[Lee Smith]

Hi Booker, and welcome to the Forum,

Attach a copy of your files, and it will make it easier to understand what you are asking, and will help us tailor the response to your files.

HTH

Lee

[Booker]

Hi and thank you for the reply.

The reason I chose to not use actual descriptions is that this is a scientific database for genotype analysis... so its a bit hard to describe in a paragraph. Also I do need to learn the lingo. Anyway I have one file maker pro file that is to be a summary of the genotyping. It will have 21 separate tasks in it. The other fmp file has a list of which tasks were done and what we found. I need the summary table to tell me which of the 21 tasks are done and which ones are left. They are all based on one sample number which is entered in with each task and what was found. Does this help?

[bcooney]

Thanks. I see that you're in FM6, is that correct?

Can you confirm each sample has 21 tasks, and each task has 1 result? And that there are only and forever 21 tasks? I'm trying to understand what entities you work with and their relationships.

btw, I did an undergraduate program in a tissue culture lab, producing monoclonal antibodies. So, you never know who'll you'll meet here and what they'll understand. :o

[Booker]

Tissue culture!! wow small world. OK I am genotyping. This is a list of 21 exons within a gene. We check some of the exons for changes then record them in a table. We do not check the exons in any specific order. Therefore, we need a summary table to tell us which exons have been done and which have to be done. As this is the only gene for this database the 21 will never change... unless we are wrong about 21 exons ;-). So in one table we have sample #, then exon, then change. Then in another we want to give the sample # and generate something that tells us that we have done exons 2,5,7,9,12,14,18,20 and we still have to do 1,3,4,... Does this make more sense? Oh and yes we are using 6. It is what the lab has always used and the version the boss likes. We may upgrade but I don't know when.

thank you so much

Booker

[bcooney]

Why, if there are only 21 exons, can't you see easily from a list view which have been completed and which haven't. What am I missing?

I tried to put together a demo in FM6, but am having a hard time thinking "the old way." I'm trying for a conditional value list from Sample to Tests based on a field of "completed exons."

Anyone have any other approaches?

[Booker]

I guess its not so much which ones have been done - that you can just form a list for- its the ones that need to be done. I need filemaker to go through the list of completed exons and tell me which ones are missing. We can just list the ones that are done and figure it out ourselves but we have thousands of samples so it will take some time. Further, we want the database to keep track of this so we don't have to update the list every time we complete an exon.

[bcooney]

OK, so each Sample has 21 tests, and each test is for one of 21 exons.

How do you indicate a test for an exon is completed? A date? A checkbox?

I'm thinking a sub-summary report by Sample, by exon#, first finding all uncompleted tests.

[Booker]

For each exon completed we will fill out a table:

Sample #, Exon, No change

or

Sample #, Exon, Change seen...

So all the samples are in one table with their exons listed with the changes seen in them. Also some exons have multiple changes which may complicate things.

[Booker]

how would I go about making this sub-summary?

[bruceR]

how would I go about making this sub-summary?

Under Help, see FileMaker Learning Center, scroll down to Creating Reports, movie "Creating A List View/Report"