Related records from different tables within one portal?

[riotbrrd]

I'm an old-time FM user, but fairly new at this relational stuff. I think I understand basic relational setup. I'm banging my head against a problem which I'm not sure how to tackle.

I'm setting up a database for a non-profit nursery school. I have separate tables for students, classes, parents, families, teachers, email addresses, mailing lists, and a few other things. And lots of join tables as necessary.

I created separate tables for parents and teachers because they have some different attributes. But -- and here's where it gets complicated -- both parents and teachers have email addresses, and they may belong to the same mailing list. So, for example, the Friday morning class has a mailing list, which needs to include all the parents' email addresses PLUS the three teachers' email addresses.

What I need is a screen for each mailing list that shows, in one place, all the members of the list. I also need a version of this list that I can paste or, preferably, export as a text file, so that I can make updates to the list.

Any suggestions on how to approach this problem?

Thanks!

Kim

Campbell, CA

[comment]

You cannot have a portal - or a list layout - showing records from two or more tables.

You could either combine the parents and teachers tables into one (with some attributes left empty for each type), or create a third 'supertype' table containing the common attributes, with one-to-one relationships to the two subtype tables.