displaying related fields in a value list using a global

[wesser]

I have a layout that's shows a list of tasks:

Tasks are related to projects via the projectID in the Task Table, and the job is related to the customer via the customerID in Job Table.

I've created table instances of the customer, job and tasks, and the customer table has a global, gCustomerID. So I can add a new task, set the gCustomerID in a value list, tab and select the project from a value list, and enter the task description. Works like a champ.

The issue is that the user sees the globalID on every record (not the "Customer Name" field, and they see the projectID, not the "Project Name". Is there a tricky way to get this to work like it does now, but actually display the fields I want?

THanks for any pointers.

[bcooney]

Each field in the Task list must come from the context of the Task TO. I can't tell what you have from your description, especially since you do not seem to be using the Anchor-Buoy methodology for the relationship graph. Can you post a screen shot of the RG? The Project:projectID field seems wrong. Why isn't it the Task:_kF_ProjectID? Then the Project Name would be pulled from the relationship from Task to Project.

I don't understand the need for the gCustomerID. When you add a new task, why not just start at the Project Form? Each project has one customer, right? You don't need a CustomerID in Tasks,, do you?

[wesser]

I've attached a grab of the Table Layout and my interface in Browse mode.

I'm not familiar with Anchor-Bouy. I'm fairly green at FMP. I think I have the relations right, but I probably need to adopt the convention of using _kF_ for naming columns?

I use the gCustomer because I want the list of projects that show in the project list when I add a new task to only be those for that customer: customers have projects, and projects have tasks.

The layout is a handy way to see all tasks for all projects and customers and easily add new tasks in. I'd really like to be able to filter by project too.

Thanks for any pointers/suggestions.

[wesser]

and here's the layout.

[bcooney]

Sorry, the grabs don't tell me much. One thing to remember is that a global field has one value for all records. Having a global field in a list view is not very useful.

Why can't you add tasks on the Project Form? The project already knows its Customer, and the portal can have allow create on, so you could just type in the portal to create a task.

Adding a task directly into the task table requires that you populate the _kF_ProjectID (again, Tasks do not need a _kF_CustID). If you have many Projects, you can use a popup list selector rather than a popup menu.

Also, please say that you are not calculating the IDs. They should be auto-entered serial numbers. They should be meaningless.

Also, why do you have so many customer fields in the Project table?

Edited December 4, 2009 by Guest

[wesser]

I do understand about the global. I use it so that when I enter a new task, I can set the customer, then the next drop down shows the projects for that customer, then they fill in the task info.

Yes the customer and project ID's are auto generated.

Yes, I could enter the tasks on a project page, but I like doing everything from the one dashboard.

Maybe I'm pushing the needle too far, or there's a better way to lay this all out.

Thanks for the feedback and pointers.

[bcooney]

I'd put the gCustID in the Header, rather than the list.