Creating Related Records

[JHaughey]

 Hello all. Working on my first serious FM project for my current company. I've been looking around these forums and others to get some ideas. One thing I've noted is that most people prefer creating related records in another table through a script. Allowing them to be created through a portal row seems to be frowned upon as not a good practice.

 

 So, is that my impression correct that this is generally not considered good practice? Why not?

 

Appreciate any responses!

[comment]

It depends on who's doing the creating - the user or the developer. The developer should - as much as possible - work directly at the data level and not rely on the presence of any layout elements, such as a portal.

 

As for users, creating records via a portal may require some getting used to. This is why the method is more suitable for business applications in daily use, IMHO.

[JHaughey]

Thanks, comment!

 

In this case it would be the user creating the records, on more or less a daily basis. I'm inclined to allow creation via the portal to reduce navigation betwen tables.

 

So, for this purpose, it's really just a question of personal preference? There's nothing inherently inferior about creating records this way?  

[comment]

There's nothing inherently inferior about creating records this way? 

 

I am not aware of any reason to think so, other than what I said earlier. In purist's terms, it's not a standard interface. In practical terms, if it's someone's job to sit in front of a computer and work the solution, it can become quite convenient. OTOH, I wouldn't use it in a utility solution that gets used once or twice a year.

 

There is one more aspect to consider here, and that's record locking. Although that would apply more to editing records in a portal, rather than creating them.