I'm a beginner with FM, so please bear with me.

I am trying to set up a seemingly simple DB that tracks contractors and projects. What I would like to do is being able to assign Contractor A to multiple projects. But on a second layout, I want to be able to select a project from a dropdown list and then automatically see all the contractors that have been assigned to this project.

For some reason I am not able to structure this correctly. I always end up with some circular reference.

Could someone please point me into the right direction?

Thank you!

Hi there you should check out Core2 CRM by Productive Computing.

http://www.core2crm.com/

Are you saying the problem is more complicated than I think?

Not necessarily, just if it already exists, may be more effective not to have to reinvent the wheel.

you may also check this out...

http://www.excelisys.com/web/exfiles/ex-biz-tracker.php

Allows you to look under the hood as it is fully unlocked.

I think I figured it out.

I set up three tables. One for contractors, one for projects and one for contractor_project_relationship.

I set up a portal in each of the first two tables and get the results as expected.

Now I have to figure out how to avoid empty entries in a portal when quitting out of a dropdown list...

You are correct, (I had a post but i lost it when my browser crashed) - glad you figured it out.

Also, I would make the portal so that it doesn't create records, then setup a button and Script the creation of records into the join table.

Click the button grabs the ID of Contractor into a variable goes to the join table creates a new record sets the Contractor ID, returns to the original table. Then you can select the row to assign it a project to it.

You could get a bit more, creative, have a global field that is a drop down list of projects then using triggers perform the script taking with you the Contractor ID and the Project ID setting data in the join table then returning and clearing out your global project drop down menu.

Stephen

stephen,

thank you. That's a great tip. Very elegant solution!