I am new to FM and I have been reading tutorials and trying to learn how to build a database. I understand databases and the general workings of FileMaker, but I have a few questions.

Attached is an image of the very basic layout that I am trying to create. I want to be able to organize all my clients, and to be able to access the different groupings of clients from a navigation menu. What I do not understand is how to create this menu. As I understand it I will need to create a different layout for 'Active Clients', 'Potential New Clients', 'Archived Clients', 'Wholesale Clients', and 'Media Contacts'. These layouts will display only records that fit that client status. What I do not understand is how to create the menu to display the different layout. In short, when you click 'Active Clients' menu button, the active clients layout is displayed, showing only those records.

Am I going about this correct? I have created one table, with all the records, and the client status is an attribute. Is this how you would do this? Or create a table for each client type? How can I create that navigation menu like I have on my example image I have attached?

Finally, does anyone know how I can have a record's status be changed from 'Active' to 'Archived' from a checkbox? So if we finish working with a client, and they are no longer an active project we can click the checkbox, and their record now displays only in the 'Archived' display.

Thank you so much for your help, it is greatly appreciated!

As I understand it I will need to create a different layout for 'Active Clients', 'Potential New Clients', 'Archived Clients', 'Wholesale Clients', and 'Media Contacts'.

I am not entirely convinced of that. The same layout can display different found sets - all you need to do is find the records in the selected category. However, if the display needs to be significantly different for each type of client, dedicated layouts may be required.

What I do not understand is how to create the menu to display the different layout. In short, when you click 'Active Clients' menu button, the active clients layout is displayed, showing only those records.

In a nutshell:

Go to Layout [ "Active Clients" ]

Perform Find [ <<find active clients>> ]

The second step may be eliminated if you set each layout to find its own type clients by using a script triggered OnLayoutEnter.

how I can have a record's status be changed from 'Active' to 'Archived' from a checkbox?

I believe you should have a dedicated field for this. You can make it a Number field and use a checkbox to toggle the value between empty and 1.

That makes sense! Thank you for your time. I truly appreciate it.

Not related to your question, but your screenshot shows data that probably should not be in the Clients table - unless John Smith's dimensions are truly 33.4 x 37 x .75" and you are running a circus artists agency...

Haha, no we haven't got into that business, yet.

Each customer will have different specs as to the product that they will order. Where this has now caused a problem is that I used your script and made the buttons to switch layouts. Each customer status will have a different layout. I would like the 'Active' layout to be much different from the 'Wholesale' layout, but since I duplicated the layouts so the header and menu buttons would all be the same it seems that when I modify one layout they all modify in the same way.

If you look at the attached images you can see the 'Active' layout, and then the 'Wholesale' layout. The problem is I created that gray tab box on the 'Active' layout only, and it copied it into the 'Wholesale' layout as well. Is there a way to have them each be different? Was the duplication of the layer not the right way to do that?

Again, any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks again.

Oh wow, that was my mess up! I only thought the layouts were changing correcting. The buttons were not set up correctly.

Sorry for the blunder!

Each customer will have different specs as to the product that they will order.

Will a customer order only one product - ever?

It is a specialized service. The product is typically a one off design. The typical customer will order one product, and possibly order another (with different specs) in the future.

OK, but then the table is actually a table of Orders, not Customers. And if you have a repeating customer, you will have to enter their details again. This is not necessarily a flaw - many businesses operate that way. However, I see you also have potential clients - so perhaps you should consider separating Contacts and Orders into two related tables.