Dynamic Value Lists

[wdiaz102]

Totally new to FM.  Using FM12 Advanced.  I'm trying to create three drop down lists based on 1. Equipment Type, 2. Equipment Model and 3. Document Name.  I would like the Document name list to be dependent on the Model Chosen,  The model would be dependent on the type chosen.  The overall goal for this part of the project would be as follows: (again, I'm new and may not know how to best implement the logic)

 

This part of the project would be to create documents with merged data by using layouts.  So each document (contract) would have a separate layout.  The layout would be triggered by the selected document name from the third list mentioned above.

 

I've read around about using conditional value lists and I've tried to tackle that by putting all data on a separate table and creating self joins, but that is not quite working for me.  Somehow, if I'm understanding correctly, the Value List table would somehow have to be related to the main table where I'm actually putting the fields. 

 

Any help would be appreciated. 

 

Thanks

[comment]

I've tried to tackle that by putting all data on a separate table and creating self joins

 

How is your original data organized?

 

 

This part of the project would be to create documents with merged data by using layouts.  So each document (contract) would have a separate layout.  The layout would be triggered by the selected document name from the third list mentioned above.

 

That's not quite clear. You described a process of selecting a document, not creating one. In addition, layouts are part of the schema - I don't think you want to have a dedicated layout for each record in a table. That's not how it's supposed to work; you should design the solution to handle any future data.

[wdiaz102]

Thanks for the reply.  This is all still in the thought process, don't really have anything built.  No data.  The merge fields are gathered from an ODBC connection to our CRM application.  The end goal is to be able to create merge documents.  I'm not 100% married to the idea of doing them via layouts, just don't know if there are other ways to create these documents in FM.

[comment]

I'm not 100% married to the idea of doing them via layouts, just don't know if there are other ways to create these documents in FM.

 

There probably is, but at this point the problem is not "well-defined".  I suggest you organize your thought process in the conventional way, which means start by producing an ERD. The next step would be to flesh this out by listing the fields required in each table. Then comes the implementation of the ERD as a Relationship Graph in Filemaker. Conditional value lists are part of the user interface - and that's way down the road from here.