Entering new records in Portal

[Heatherrd]

I'm very new to FMP and need help figuring out how to enter multiple new records in a portal without overwriting the first one.

This is for a fashion designer's production management process. There are 3 databases: Styles, Materials and Orders. Each garment style has between 2-8 fabrics/trims that she would like to enter in the database that she is using to cost all parts of each garment (style). She wants to add the fabrics (materials) to the style instead of going into the materials database. If the designer can enter the fabric info into a portal in the style database, so that it will create records in the materials database, this will follow her creative process in a more natural way.

I've made the relationship between Styles and Materials and allowed Adds to be made, but can't figure out how to save the fabrics so that they all show in portal. Fabric 1 is already in the Materials database and shows on the first line of my 8 line portal (linked by style ID #). How can I add 2 or 3 new fabrics into the portal? Right now, the only fields I can access are the top line of the portal and this contains my existing fabric that I want to keep. If I change it, it overwrites the fabric instead of adding a new fabric. Is there any way to add new records when there are existing records that match my criteria? I need them all to show in the portal.

Another post asked the same question, but didn't provide the answer. Please help.

Many thanks!

[dayzrespite]

Hello Heatherrd,

First off, you mentioned you have 3 databases, maybe you meant tables? I will write using the word database.

It sounds to me you like you need a join table. You have a direct relationship between Styles and Materials.

Your explanation confused me a bit. Are you trying to create new records based on the Materials Database from your Styles Database. Or Assign Materials to your Style. If it is the latter, that means that one material, can be assigned to many different Styles, and in this case you would need a join table.

Explain a bit more and maybe I can help you out.

[bruceR]

It is much easier to help if you post your file so we can look at it.

[Heatherrd]

how do I post a file? my files are .fp7 but that's not an acceptable file type. sorry for the dumb questions. It doesn't work to save the file as a .pdf.

Edited January 19, 2010 by Guest

[Heatherrd]

Hi Linndgberg,

I made three different databases (files) but maybe they should be tables in one file. Sorry that my vocabulary is not very accurate. I really like FMP and am considering getting some real training so that I can be a real pro. I just rebuilt them into 3 tables (may need more) in one file since I was blocked from editing or adding records to the files which I had emailed to me from job (working from home today).

Each style has 2-8 materials. The designer adds the materials to the style in order to figure out the cost for the style. For instance, a skirt, unique style #, in blue will have blue cotton print fabric and blue elastic trim. The designer wants to be able to enter the two materials and have them show up automatically in the Materials table. From there the production manager will know to order the materials. The designer will give each material a designation (location on the style's pattern: primary fabric, lining, trim, etc) and a yield (how much is needed for this each unit of this style. The blue cotton print fabric will also be used for a dress. The designer want to reference the blue cotton fabric and not have to enter all the data again. This should make a new record in the Materials table with a unique location (primary fabric on the skirt). The blue cotton print on the dress will be a different designation, with different yield. When 25 skirts and 45 dresses are ordered, the Material table should have a listing of all the locations (the style, the location each style and the yield) so that when the orders come in (Orders table) the production manager will know exactly how much blue cotton print to order. Does this make more sense? All the data will get used on several layouts/reports that will constitute the whole production process. I'm very confident that FMP can do all these things and just need to get up to speed on the tools so that I can make it happen. Your help is greatly appreciated. I've read the user guide and done the tutorials, but they are very limited. I'll look into joined tables and see what I can figure out.

[Lee Smith]

how do I post a file? my files are .fp7 but that's not an acceptable file type. sorry for the dumb questions. It doesn't work to save the file as a .pdf.

The File has to be Zipped.

Lee

[Heatherrd]

here is my file...zipped!

The more I read about FMP, the more embarrassed I am for even attempting to learn this in a week or two. I'm going back to the drawing board since I'm sure I jumped in with both feet before testing the water. Thanks again for everyone's help!

Fall_Winter_10_Production.zip

[bruceR]

In general fields like something1, something2, something3 are an indication of a design problem. They should be records in a related table. This allows you much greater reporting flexibility, among other things.

[Heatherrd]

One challenge I'm having is that I need to lock in the fabrics (not unique) to the location on the garment (unique). One fabric may be the primary fabric on one garment and the secondary fabric on another garment, but it will be a disaster if the fabrics get switched from primary to secondary by accident. I need to be confident that there is no way to sort the fabric records once 3 or 4 have been selected. Also, the yardage required for each fabric (on several garment types) will have to be listed on a Material's layout so that the designer can see that it is the primary fabric on Styles 1 and 3 and the secondary fabric on Style 4. The quantities required for each will be the yield for 1 times the quantity ordered (from the Orders records).

The other thing I'm trying to figure out (before testing live) is if I need to enter a new record for each size of each garment ordered or if I can have quantities on each garment style/colorway ordered? Do I need to do a new record for each style/color ordered by each customer or can I do an order like an invoice where I pull the data from Style and a new Sizes table? I need to be able to summarize the quantities ordered per size/style/colorway for the Production reports.

Thanks for helping!

[comment]

If the same material can be used in in more than one product, then you must have a join table in-between the two. In this table you'd record the quantity used and also the primary/secondary attribute - in fact, any detail that describes the specific join of a material to a product. See an example here:

http://fmforums.com/forum/showpost.php?post/288688/

The same thing applies to Orders and Products; if you ever want to break out the ordered items by size/color/etc., you must have a separate record for each ordered item in another join table.

Orders -< LineItems >- Products -< Quantities >- Materials