Cant get portal setup to work

[projay]

I have setup tables for speakers and the speeches they give, can someone give me a hand and let me know what i am doing wrong. My I cant click on the portal to enter speech_id for each speech given. I am attaching a file, thanks in advance. Jay.

speaker_info_Copy.zip

[LaRetta]

Welcome to FM Forums, projay!

A few things:

1) your primary keys should be auto-enter serials (on the IDs fields, see Options, Auto-Enter tab and select 'serial number'. Let it serialize starting with 1 and never modify your primary keys (they are what will be used to hold your relationship together).

2) You cannot use portals in table view

3) You don't have a pop-up attached to the SpeakerID field in Speaker Talks

4) Drop the repetitions in Talk_LineItems

5) Eliminate the Talk Title in Talk LineItems; since it is related to Talk Outlines on a many-to-one, you can simply place the Title field from Talk Outlines directly on your Talk_LineItems layout.

6) You need to populate your Speaker Info with proper test data to start (it currently has two blank records).

7) If you wish to create related records by typing into a portal, you must have 'allow creation' on in your graph (double-click line between relationships and view bottom). To create a Talk Outlines record in the portal on your Speaker_Talks layout, go to the relationship between the two tables and check 'allow creation' on the Talk Outlines.

:smile2:

[projay]

Hi LaRetta thanks for the response just another question...when you make a portal, which table should that be based upon...the Lineitems or Talk Outlines?

Also i need it to basically copy the info into the lineitem table so that my source table stays intact. I guess thats done with the "lookup" feature.

So this is very similar to someone creating a database for invoicing but with no mathematical functions.

Thanks again. Jay.

[LaRetta]

OK. When I saw the portal of Talk Outlines on your Speaker Talks layout, I believe I misunderstood.

when you make a portal, which table should that be based upon...the Lineitems or Talk Outlines?

It depends upon what you want. You place a portal of the table with the 'many' items on the parent layout (which is the 'one' side). make sense? If not, check out this Invoicing demo by Comment: Invoicing

Your situation seems to mirror (as you've suggested). Your Talk Outlines is similar to products (think). So your Talk Outlines table would be used to select your TalkID (and title) to insert into your LineItems.

It would be helpful if you always name your primary key same as the table name. So, for instance, Speaker_Talks would have a SpeakerTalkID. I do not know if the Speaker_FormID is something else entirely or your primary key for that table. It can confuse when you can have different IDs from different tables within a table and that's why you should clearly name the ID same as table name so the primary key is obvious or use naming convention of pk_blabla_ID (for primary key) and fk_blabla_ID (for foreign key).

Also i need it to basically copy the info into the lineitem table so that my source table stays intact.

What source table? If you plant the Topic Outline ID into your LineItems then you don't need the Topic Title in LineItems unless the Topic Title can change over time (but using same Topic Outline ID and you need to 'maintain the original title for history purposes.' If so then yes, you would perform a lookup.

But why are you attempting to use repetitions here? It still isn't clear and I can assure you that reps are NOT the way to go for storing data.

If you want to enter lineitems, place a portal of lineitems on your Speaker Talks layout. Select your Speaker (using a value list created of your speakers) and select your Topic (using a value list created of your topics).

Anyway, check the invoicing demo. And let us know how it's going. ^)