THE EGO FACTOR

[kcep]

Certain songwriters want their name listed first in the "Copyright Notice" when they co-write a song. The "Copyright Notice" in my sample database (see attached database) is putting the songwriter names in alphabetical order. I would like the order of songwriter names listed in the "Copyright Notice" to follow the order (top to bottom) listed in the portal that is above the blue "Copyright Notice" area.

Also, in the "Copyright Notice" is the list of publishers (owners) of the song. This left to right list of publishers needs to be listed in corresponding order with the particular songwriter that the publisher represents.

TheEgoFactor.fp7.zip

[comment]

Can you confirm your version? This is rather complicated to do in version 8 - but very easy in 8.5 and higher. Even 8 Advanced would be helpful here, so you could use a custom function.

[kcep]

Hi Comment,

I'll plan to upgrade to FileMaker Pro 10 if you think it's best. So figure FileMaker Pro 10. My operating system is Mac OS X 10.4.11 ... if that means anything. I'll start downloading FileMaker Pro 10 as soon as I'm done typing this note. THANKS

[comment]

I'll plan to upgrade to FileMaker Pro 10 if you think it's best.

That's not for me to say. You CAN do this in version 8, it's just awkward - see attached.

In version 8.5 and higher, you'd simply use the List() function instead of ValueListItems(). This will always follow the sort order of the relationship.

TheEgoFactor.fp7.zip

[kcep]

THANKS comment,

A problem occurs with the latest solution when two different songwriters on the same song are both working with the same publisher ... A duplicate of the single publisher occurs in the "Copyright Notice" ... This would not be a proper "Copyright Notice".

I probably did something stupid ... my original sample database failed to show the "Other Recipient" column. "Other Recipient" is an heir to a dead songwriter's royalties, an ex-spouse that is receiving a portion of the royalties or a songwriter may decide to sell future royalties to a third party, etc. The possible "Other Recipient" does not show on the "Copyright Notice". See the attached current version of my sample database (TheEgoFactorVersion1.3). See record number one in the "Songs" Layout. Notice how the "Other Recipient" is making the "Copyright Notice" have extra "and signs" (&).

There is also the possibility of a single songwriter that is working with multiple publishers.

Also on another note, when there are three or more songwriters on a single song is there any way to separate the list of songwriters as follows (notice the placement of the comma and the "&"):

Craig M. Avent, Buddy Carter & Amy S. Fossett

I downloaded the 30 day free trial of FileMaker Pro 10. The status area on the top is really messing with my custom sized layouts. My layouts are designed to fit a certain size laptop screen. I can't seem to figure out how to put in on the left ... maybe that's not possible :

THANKS AGAIN

TheEgoFactorVersion1.3.fp7.zip

Edited August 2, 2009 by Guest

[comment]

A problem occurs with the latest solution when two different songwriters on the same song are both working with the same publisher

Hm. That complicates things, because on one hand, you cannot use the List() function (or the crummy GetNthRecord() equivalent that version 8 allows) since that would include duplicates; OTOH, a value list would remove the duplicates - but impose an alphabetical sort order.

I would probably use a custom function here to de-dupe the list, but without the Advanced version you can use the so-called Ugo method for the same purpose (albeit with more resources - see attached).

Notes:

1. I made a few cosmetic changes to your file - this was for my benefit only, so I could concentrate on the issue.

2. I'd suggest you add an "EgoFactor" field and use it for sorting, instead of depending on creation order. The field could initially auto-enter the percentage, and you could promote a writer by changing 0.25 to 0.251, for example.

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There is also the possibility of a single songwriter that is working with multiple publishers.

I haven't addressed this issue, but it would require doing the same thing for writers as I did for publishers.

TheEgoFactorVersion1.3.fp7.zip

Edited August 2, 2009 by Guest

[kcep]

Hi Comment,

Wow thanks for your work :-)

There seems to be an issue with the "Copyright Notice" merge fields occasionally not updating with changes in the portal. I've attached a screen shot ... compare the the portal info with the "Copyright Notice. Also, on occasion, a songwriter's name will show up in the publisher line of the "Copyright Notice" or a publisher's name will show up in the songwriter's line of the "Copyright Notice".

Any thoughts?:

Thanks

Ego_bug_1.0.zip

[comment]

Best provide a file showing these issues. Though if the names "cross over" it's bound to be a mistake in your implementation - and I am not really into debugging people's files.

Edited August 3, 2009 by Guest

[kcep]

Hi comment,

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP. :-)

Actually, the screen shot is from the last file you upload ... I didn't make any changes in the code. Just added and deleted line items in the portal for testing purposes. It's strange because it only fails occasionally. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

On another note, is there a limit to the amount of writers and/or publishers? We have one song in our system with six writers. It's possible for there to be a large amount of line items of information on the portal. Example: several writers on a song all pass away over time ... each writer could have several beneficiaries. Or, six writers each working with multiple publishers. There's no way to really know a limit.

Oh well, I'm wondering if I probably should just stay with the original alphabetized list. Although most of our office data and documentation shows the portal (top to bottom list) ... this isn't proper "Label Copy" but it does handle the "Ego Factor".

Edited August 4, 2009 by Guest

[comment]

I haven't noticed any refresh issues. Though it's always a possibility with any relationship that depends on the results of another relationship, it should be consistent, not intermittent. Note that the record must be committed for the publishers field to update.

is there a limit to the amount of writers and/or publishers?

Yes. The calculation is limited to the number of hard-coded iterations it contains (4 in my example file). You can add more iterations to the calc, following the same pattern - but without a custom function (or another recursive method, e.g. a looping script), there will always be a limit.