is a portal best for what i need to do here?

[atlzbest]

hi guys

i've got a single table to which 40 layouts are associated. these are layouts for print ads in different sizes. each layout has 6-9 user editable text areas.

i need to display formatting rules for each text area the users can type into and need to display "x number of lines allowed, x characters allowed". the idea is that as user moves to the next text area, the formatting rules window updates and displays the rules for the text area the user is in at the moment.

putting in validation checks for fields wouldn't work as the same "Paragraph" field might have 80 characters allowed in one layout and 100 in the other. the rules needs to be associated with layouts, not fields.

if i do an onenter trigger for each field, i am looking at putting that in for approx 200 objects.

My idea is to use a portal. i was thinking of putting in a table called "rules" with layout name, object name, object rules as fields in it. i would put in calculated fields in the main table for layout and object (objects are not named). i would get the associated rule field contents and display it in the portal. the table idea is basically so that if rule contents need to be changed, there's a single repository to make those changes. the portal will automatically update and display the correct related record based on the main table association. is this the right direction or do i need something else?

if it is the right way which requires minimal coding, can anyone elaborate how do i accomplish this?

here's a sample of the main table & rule table i had in mind

main editor

editor_id

paragraph

paragraph_2

bullet

bullet_2

buller_3

address

layout (calc) get(layoutName)

textarea (calc) get (activefieldname)

rules

layout name ( = from main)

textarea ( = from main)

rules

thanks!

Edited July 14, 2009 by Guest

[atlzbest]

anyone?