Conditional Fields

[Ray8989]

Hi! I hope I'm posting this in the right place, and that it isn't TOO simple a question. I'm still a newbie, and am working on a pretty straightforward contact management database in FM Pro 11. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

I need to attach files to quite a few contacts, so I've made a Files tab and added six container fields (and can add more as needed). My problem: I don't know how to add a tiny field next to the tab that shows how many files exist for that contact. I imagine that I'd need to create a function that checks to see which container fields have files, and adds them up. How do I do that?

 

(Also, if there's a better way to attach files to a contact, do let me know. I'm just doing it this way because I thought it was the only way.)

 

 

[doughemi]

Make a separate table for Files.  Each record contains an ID number field (with auto-entered serial number) and the container field.

 

Create a join table between Contacts and Files named ContactFiles.  Each record contains a field for ContactID, FileID, and other information (such as date, etc) relating to that one contact and that one file.  Relate that table to Contacts by Contact::ID =  ContactFiles::ContactID and ContactFiles::FileID = Files::ID.

 

Now, if you want to display the files related to a contact, place a portal to Files on your Contacts Files tab.  To display a count, create a calculation field on a layout based on Contacts: RelatedFilesCount = Count(Files; ID)