Labeling a field by portal used for data entry

[vegarduy]

Hi,

My first post, allready found many good answers in this forum, thanx!

Issue: I have a table of items in a budget. This table contains a field called "CategoryID" to categorize the items, let's say "A", "B" and so on.

In my budget overview, I display the items in portals, one portal per category.

My question is; can I make FM auto-enter "CategoryID" with a value corresponding to the portal used for data-entry?

Example: If I want to enter an item in the "A" category, I use the "A"-portal for data entry. I want the "CategoryID" to be labeled "A" automatically.

I guess there is an easy solution to this problem.

[Dr. Evil]

I'm not so sure I understand your issue. But I took a whack at it. Take a look at the attached demo file.

You need to build a "creation" relationship for each category A, B, and C. Each category creation relationship would populates its own match-field. A "master" calculation field would evaluate each of the creation match-fields to determine its proper label.

auto_category.fp7.zip

[vegarduy]

You know what? That was just perfect!! It was just what I wanted.

I have one question though; in my budget, the "Items" table contains 3 or 4 fields that are related to other tables. Do I have to recreate these relationships in every one of the duplicate tables (the ones you call "BUD-item'create_a", "..._b" and "..._c"). Seems that its gonna be a pretty messy relationship graph since I need 15+ categories...

[Dr. Evil]

you're right, it is not typical to make 15+ unique creation relationships. But for your solution, it may be ok. If a complex back end makes for a simple, easy to use user solution them mission accomplished.

Like I mentioned, I'm still unclear on what your solution is used for, and what it needs to do. At first thought it seems that a value list of your 15+ categories would be more ideal. Weather you use a custom value list or a value list from value_table field.

So my point is as you may have noticed via forums, is that there are many ways to skin a cat. You have to look at your situation and figure out the smoothest path from A to B.

So if you want to explain what your solution is, does and the goals or even better, provide us with a demo file of what you are working on. This might help us help you on how to build.

P.S. Don't for get to rate my post if it was helpful to you.

Thank you!

[vegarduy]

You'll find two files attached:

1) An .xls file containing a partially translated copy of the original budget my "customer" is presently using. Not an impressive file by any means, but illustrates my needs.

2) A partially translated copy of my FM-project. Beware that I just started implementing your solution into the file, still not working. If you have a chanse to have a look at it, I hope that I've managed to rename all crucial objects to english. Taking a wild guess, I assume your norwegian isn't up to date...

I would guess that the main layout would give the best indication of what kind of solution I'm looking for. Any suggestions, even off-topic, will be heavily appreciated!

I'm trying to rate your post, but I'm not shure what kind of feedback to expect. Nothing happens, only some indication on status bar that a javascript is supposed to run.

Budget.zip