Archive of records through portal

[CaelC]

I haven't worked in FileMaker much the last few years and I think I'm missing something very easy here.

I just need to archive records from a line items DB (associated with an invoicing system) to a single record in an archive DB. I have all the other info archived into the archive record (ship to, mailing address, etc.) That was easy because those were bits of info being archived out of single records in multiple DBs.

This involves the many records in the single line items DB and archiving them to a single record in the archive DB.

For efficiency sake I don't want to run a script and I don't want to create another DB (those solutions would be a piece of cake). Leaving the records in the line items DB and just relating that info to the archive DB is also not an option I'd like to use.

Any ideas? I must not be thinking of something obvious.

Thanks in advance!

[Vaughan]

quote:

---

Originally posted by CaelC:

For efficiency sake I don't want to run a script and I don't want to create another DB (those solutions would be a piece of cake). Leaving the records in the line items DB and just relating that info to the archive DB is also not an option I'd like to use.

---

Errr, how can you do something like this without a script?

As for converting multiple records down to one -- you could paste all the field data into a single field, but that'll be useless later on when you want to get any of it out again. Mutliple or repeating fields are not the way either.

If the data structure requires multiple records then it *needs* multiple records.

[ February 20, 2002, 06:11 PM: Message edited by: Vaughan ]

[LiveOak]

If you don't want to run a script, create another file, etc., you are pretty much out of luck. It's hard to make an omlet without breaking some eggs. You only other option is to export all the info from the transactions file and end up with one record per transaction, not one per invoice. How are you storing the transactions in your archive file (multiple fields?).

-bd

[Fitch]

No script? You mean... no AppleScript? I mean, you're going to have to click a button or something... I hear the direct brainwave interface won't be ready until version 7.

Maybe the Copy All Records command is what you had in mind?

[CaelC]

It's for an online shopping cart system that my co-worker and I wrote, it's 99% done but I just need to get this final little bit of DB done for him.

Because it's online, I want to keep the number of DBs to a minimum since in shared hosting situations, you have to pay per database.

I also want to avoid using a script because if the invoices are long and the site has heavy traffic, I think I might run into trouble given the additional overhead and the possiblities for FMP having trouble running too many scripts at once and having data dropped.

To archive everything else to the one record (take ship address for example), I'm just doing a simple concatenation in the invoice file that pulls the data from the shipping address file. Inside the concatenation calculation, I format the basics of the HTML output including a series of IF-THEN statements that only show items and include chunks of HTML whenever needed.

This way is lightning fast and super simple because it only requires one calc field in the invoice DB and then I only have to pass 1 variable (invoice number) through the VeriSign credit card processing system which when pasted into the archive DB record, it looks up the calc concatenation from the invoice file. Voila, shipping address is archived. A couple of other similar fields based on look-ups from the invoice number Key Field accomplishes everything I need except for the last bit.

I want it all in an archive so that it's easier for my co-worker (the Lasso guy) to pull the data out for people when they view their purchase history. This also makes it more difficult for someone to accidentally delete records and mess up the historical archived data since all I have to button down security-wise in order to protect the historic data is the archive database.

Does that make sense? It sounds complex to me when I try to type it out but it's really quite simple.

[BobWeaver]

quote:

---

I hear the direct brainwave interface won't be ready until version 7

---

Cool! I can hardly wait. I thought this whole brainwave interface issue was dead. BTW, I have had some success (about 75% accuracy) by making a script that dials that 1-900-PSYCHIC number with a modem. But it was pretty slow and my monthly phone bill ended up in the six figure range.

Luckily, a freak accident provided me with an even better workaround. It all began with an adverse reaction between my new anti-psychotic medication and some questionable oysters I'd had for lunch. When I regained consciousness, I was on the floor. I went to stand up, not realizing that the dog had run off with my artificial leg. I quickly put out my arm for support and sent the computer crashing to the floor. When I hooked it up again, the only noticable damage was that one of the blades had broken off the cooling fan, making the whole thing vibrate. This was exacerbated by the wobbly three-legged computer desk (the dog again). This shaking was making my mouse wander aimlessly around the mouse pad like the pointer on a OUIJA board. "Hmm," I thought. Maybe this isn't so aimless. With a bit of practice, I was able to thought control the mouse and hence my computer, and get answers to age old mysteries of the universe to boot.

Yeah, I know you don't believe me. But then how do you explain how I found where the dog buried my leg?

Results may vary depending on your particular circumstances.