Create groups of records via portal?

[baytonemus]

Not a database guru which I will make obvious in a moment... Basic question: Can I create a group of records (8-10) through a portal that will have unique data auto-entered in each field (differing from one record to another)?

I'll try to keep this as short as I can but still give enough detail for clarity. The desired function is to keep records of the music that is used each week in the church services that I plan. I current have three primary separate files:

1) Services - individual records for each Sunday; includes fields for calendar date, liturgical day, and others;

2) Master Song List - one record for each song title with various fields for composer, etc;

3) Song Usage - individual records for each song used in every service; includes song title, date, liturgical day, and it's function in the service, (i.e., opening, Psalm, anthem, closing, etc.);

When I create a new record in file #1 above, I would like to be able to automatically create a group/set of 8-10 new records in file #3, visible through a portal. Each of those files would have the date and liturgical day from the file #1 record auto-entered, but I'd also like to have the unique song function auto-entered for each record. For example...

DATE LIT. DAY FUNCTION SONG TITLE

01/06/2009 Epiphany Opening (entered manually)

01/06/2009 Epiphany Psalm (entered manually)

01/06/2009 Epiphany Anthem (entered manually)

etc...

Is this possible? Obviously, I can do it one record at a time and fill in each field using look-up and auto-complete functions with value lists (and from file relationships, I think). However, every week I need the same basic "template" of about 9 new records.

Sorry to be so verbose. Thanks.

JAY

[RalphL]

Not a database guru which I will make obvious in a moment... Basic question: Can I create a group of records (8-10) through a portal that will have unique data auto-entered in each field (differing from one record to another)?

I'll try to keep this as short as I can but still give enough detail for clarity. The desired function is to keep records of the music that is used each week in the church services that I plan. I current have three primary separate files:

1) Services - individual records for each Sunday; includes fields for calendar date, liturgical day, and others;

2) Master Song List - one record for each song title with various fields for composer, etc;

3) Song Usage - individual records for each song used in every service; includes song title, date, liturgical day, and it's function in the service, (i.e., opening, Psalm, anthem, closing, etc.);

When I create a new record in file #1 above, I would like to be able to automatically create a group/set of 8-10 new records in file #3, visible through a portal. Each of those files would have the date and liturgical day from the file #1 record auto-entered, but I'd also like to have the unique song function auto-entered for each record. For example...

DATE LIT. DAY FUNCTION SONG TITLE

01/06/2009 Epiphany Opening (entered manually)

01/06/2009 Epiphany Psalm (entered manually)

01/06/2009 Epiphany Anthem (entered manually)

etc...

Is this possible? Obviously, I can do it one record at a time and fill in each field using look-up and auto-complete functions with value lists (and from file relationships, I think). However, every week I need the same basic "template" of about 9 new records.

Sorry to be so verbose. Thanks.

JAY

First I would change your fields in the 3 tables as follows.

1) Services - individual records for each Sunday; includes fields for ServiceID, calendar date, liturgical day, and others;

2) Master Song List - one record for each song title with various fields for SongID, title, composer, etc;

3) Song Usage - individual records for each song used in every service; includes ServiceID, SongID and it's function in the service, (i.e., opening, Psalm, anthem, closing, etc.);

Note that in Song Usage I left out most of the fields and replaced them with the ID's.

You can write a script to automatically create new records in Song Usage table. I would start in the Service table by creating a new record. Copy the ServiceID to a $variable then goto the layout for the SongUsage create a new record, Set the ServiceID to the $variable, set the usage field to "Opening", create a new record, Set the ServiceID to the $variable, set the usage field to "Psalm", etc. after all new records are created go to the layout for Service, fill in the data for the service and then in the portal add the SongID. You can show the song name in this portal.

[baytonemus]

Thanks for your reply, Ralph. I'm a little toasted tonight so I'll take a look at this in the morning and post again if I need further clarification.

Thanks!