Hiding Keyfield for Creation of related record

[Wickerman]

I run across this situation pretty frequently, and dang it, it's time to do it right!

I've got a Table for EVENTS and a table for CONTACTS and a join table in between for INVITATIONS.

On an EVENTS layout, I want to have a portal where the user can create INVITATION records by adding Contacts to the portal list. Let's say on the portal row I have Date, Name and Status, so you can enter a dozen names in there and see the list of when you invited each person and whether they've RSVP's or not.

To add individuals to the list, you need to get the Contact primary key into the Invitation foreign key field -- but of you want the User to be able to enter Names, not primary key ID #'s. So you set up a Value List based on a Field (kp_Contacts), where a secondary field (Name_Full) is displayed when you click into the field for easy selection (or auto-coimpleted typing). Great.

But once the entry is made, the field displays the ID code, not the name. So you put a name field next to it, and that's nice. Okay . . . but what if you don't want the useless kP ID code displayed? I guess it doesn't do any *harm* - - - but it's superfluous for the user, so I'd rather it not be there.

What's the best way to design the portal / layout so the name only is displayed?

I'm thinking of a trick LaRetta pointed me to in another context, where I could set conditional formatting on that Key field so that if it's got data in it, the font size goes to 500 pt, and the number is effectively invisible - - but then I wind up with the empty box, which I guess I could shrink down to something tiny -- maybe put a little "+" graphic on top of it . . . ?

Any simple or elegant approached to this common situation would be appreciated!

[dansmith65]

1) You can use a pop-up menu, which, if setup properly will display the Contact's name instead of their id. But pop-up menu's don't work well for many records (in my opinion).

2) You can put the Contact's Name field on top of the id field (make them the same size), but don't allow entry in browse mode. This way, when the user clicks on the name, a value list of names is shown. Although, if a name was already selected, it would show only a number when the pop-up list is open.

3) You can select related records to be added via a new window. This method takes much more work on the developers side though.

Personally, I would use option 3 for your scenario. The nice part about it is that the user can perform a find to select a record (the way I set mine up, at least).