Sudden confusion over something I thought I understood

[Kevin_J]

I thought I understood that different table views are simply that - VIEWS into the same table, like when you establish a self-join on a key and FM creates a new view for that table.

I also thought that data in a field in a table is the same data, no matter which view I am using to display it.

Extending that, if I enter or change data in a field using one view, that field will reflect the change to that field in any other view.

Now, I understand the concepts of filtering and lookups that might change WHAT you're viewing or HOW you're viewing - but not the DATA itself.

But I have a very strange situation that sure looks like my understanding has been wrong all along. Once I saw strange behavior, I set up a test situation where the same field, viewed twice in a single layout, with one instance of the field pointing to the initial table and the other instance of the same field pointing to a different view of the same table is displaying different data! How can that be?

I know I've provided no specifics here and can certainly do so, but is my basic understanding wrong? What could account for what I'm seeing?

Thanks for any thoughts.

- KJ

(now stumped and stuck)

[Fitch]

What is the relationship between the two table occurrences? When you say "initial table" do you mean the table occurrence that the layout is based on?

[comment]

the same field, viewed twice in a single layout, with one instance of the field pointing to the initial table and the other instance of the same field pointing to a different view of the same table is displaying different data!

Assuming "different view" means another occurrence of the same table: the "local" field instance shows the value from the current record; the other shows the value from the first related record.

[Kevin_J]

Thank you both for replies. I have to find some time between projects to think on this a bit more, then do a better job of describing what I'm seeing. I think @comment is leading me toward an explanation.