If then lookup for a record field

[dmacman]

I have a set of records that contains a field for each user to order a standard item. I also have a relationship that ties each user to a person. What I am trying to do is a calculation that looks into that users record and check to see if the standard item is a yes or no.

Here's what I tried.

If(user 1="yes", 1, 0)

But what I need is (if user 1 "record" {field} = yes then 1 else 0).

What I ultimately want to do is get all users orders (either yes or no) then total them.

But I am not familiar enough with filemakers lingo to pull it off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Don

Dmacman

[LiveOak]

Sorry, I think most of that went right by me. Try it again in all English without any reference to FM function jargon or pseudo code. I have no idea what you mean by

if user 1 "record" {field} = yes then 1 else 0

It would also be useful to know:

1) What are the names of your two files (user and person?)

2) What comprises a record in each file (a person and a ...)

3) How are the files related?

4) What do you mean by "a field for each user to order a standard item". What does the field signify?

5) Where are the "user orders" stored? The "user" file?

6) Do you want to total the user orders for each user or for all users?

-bd

[dmacman]

Sorry, I'll try to explain in a better way. I have a file called "users." in that file there is a record for each person.

Example: I am the first person on the list. I have 2 friends that each buy tapes from me. They each have other people that buy tapes from them (on a weekly basis).

So what I am trying to do is to lookup if my 2 friends bought the weekly tape and if any of their friends bought it also.

I currently have a field called standard tape for each user with a popup list of either (yes or no).

Then I just want to lookup my friend and see his total # of orders.

----------------me-------------

--------------/----------------

------------joe-----tom--------

----------/--------/-----------

--------bob---jim--lee--lou-----

So if joe and bob order the tape, but not jim, joes total order is 2.

And if tom, lee, and lou all order the tape tom's order is 3.

Therefore I need to order 5 tapes total.

I have a relationship set up so I know whos up from whom and down from whom. (sort of multi level thing) but just need to "attach" the tape orders and have the total orders flow up to me.

I hope this makes more sense.

Thanks again,

Don

Dmacman

[LiveOak]

This looks like the follow on to a MLM question. This will get REALLY complex. Orders are simple, they are just attached to a person. The relationship between people is complex. This is definitely not an application for a beginner and I would caution the most experienced FM developers I know (including myself) to find other software to do this.

I have got close to making a solution work for a bigraph, a graph in which each node can connect to two nodes below it. I'm not sure it's possible to sort out all the potential problems with a MLM solution in FM. You've hit upon an complex application that few, if any, FM developers have tried to solve. Waaaaaaay beyond a forum question/answer.

If you want to give me a call and talk about this, I can be reached at:

Brent Dussia

Live Oak Systems

760-728-7046

-bd

[dmacman]

Hey, hey, hey. I am usually the one that comes up with, what seems simple, yet is like trying to prove that black holes truly exist!

Thanks for the word of warning. I appreciate the help and will try to call you on Friday and see what options I have, if any.

Again,

Thanks,

Don

Dmacman

[Rigsby]

Hey! I don’t want to sound arrogant here, but I have a solution to this problem…. if I understand it correctly. To tell the truth I (as a FM developer) did spend time on this problem and almost got it to work. Then, in a fit of frustration contacted Matt Petrowsky (Scriptology author) he didn’t solve it for me, but put me on the right track, after which I came up with a solution that served my purposes. Having said all of this…. We are talking very, very, very, complex and a lot of typing until it works. The question is “Do I really need this”. My answer (in the end) was no, and I ended up doing everything a different way, but I kept the idea. So! The problem is that this cannot be solved here. This is an hour upon hour of communication problem. If you really need it, I’ll give you all the help I can, but please, only if this is for a serious development. I don’t want to invest time on an “off-the-beat-solution” to help you keep track of your cassettes, if you understand what I mean. Please don’t take offence or misunderstand me.

Anyway! I’m going on holiday in about 2 hours, and will be away until the 18. September. If you really need this to work, and are willing to put in the hours of typing, then send me a mail after the 18 to remind me. But then I need absolute detailed information of what you have and what you want. Then we’ll see….

Rigsby

[Vaughan]

LiveOak

A few nights ago I had a crack at doing a family tree database with FMP. I agree with you: FMP is not the ideal tool. It's great for the data entry and storage but mighty unsuited to outputting anything like a family tree. I downloaded a shareware program from the internet and it was MUCH better: it created the org chart and auto-arranged the tree all by itself!

I believe that programs like VISO (sp?) are really suited to this sort of thing. I'm familiar with its use for process mapping. Of course, VISO is not cheap nor easy to learn like FMP, so it's horses for courses.

[dmacman]

In response to Rigsby's answer. Yes I am VERY driven to get this to work. It's not a project that I look upon as just a thing I'd like to do. I really want and need this to work in some capacity. So I REALLY appreciate yor response.

I seem to have made a considerable amount of progress, which is amazing, since I am a newbie in Filemaker. I have 4 databases, all with relations. The 1st is for user information. The second is a complete list of all users and what items they are receiving. The 3rd is a database of tapes (which is a popup value list in the other files) and the 4th is book database (again with popup in the other dbs).

I setup 2 portals in the main database. One which shows you and the person immediateley below you and their items ordered. The second portal shows the people immediately below that person and their items. I have it "almost" working, Yes I know almost only counts in horshoes and hand grenades, but the totals are within 1 or 2 of what they shoud be. Even if the "chain of command" is many people deep.

I believe this will work or with some modifications, will work.

Let me know when you get back and I would be more than happy to talk, email or send you my files to evaluate.

Thanks a bunch,

Don

Dmacman

[Rigsby]

I'm back - have a lot to do, but would love to help if I can. No promises, but mail me your files and I'll look at them.

Rigsby