First four of every record

[Charity]

So I want to make a value list which is the first four letters of a customer's last name.  Why?  because I want the guys to type those four letters to find a customer code.  The customer table will have a customerID but this will be used to type first character and match then type second character and match for filtering the list of customers to choose from in portal.  

 

If I have a value list of the four characters for all the customers then I can put a portal filter on the Dashboard portal to customers which could be like this I think

 

PatternCount( characters typed ; four character value list )  or similar, right?  Thank you.

[eos]

If I have a value list of the four characters for all the customers then I can put a portal filter on the Dashboard portal to customers which could be like this I think

PatternCount( characters typed ; four character value list )  or similar, right?  Thank you.

 

If you want to have a portal filter, you can simply use

Left ( PortalTO::nameLast ; 4 ) = charactersTyped

To make this work for any length of charactersTyped, use

Left ( PortalTO::nameLast ; Length ( charactersTyped ) ) = charactersTyped

No need for any value lists (because each record is matched individually against the input field), or – since you know you're examining the first four/n letters – PatternCount().

[mikedr]

FileMaker text functions are very powerful, and eos has the right solution. Do a google search for "filemaker text functions" and you'll get the list of everything that's available.

[eos]

Do a google search for "filemaker text functions" and you'll get the list of everything that's available.

 

Why not use the documentation instead?

 

http://fmhelp.filemaker.com/fmphelp_13/en/html/func_ref3.33.48.html#1029735

[mikedr]

Why not use the documentation instead?

 

http://fmhelp.filemaker.com/fmphelp_13/en/html/func_ref3.33.48.html#1029735

 

Google's easier.  Seriously.  I can do a search for "filemaker (something something something)."  Top hit 99% of the top is the relevant documentation.  And the rest of the hints are good information, typically including posts in this forum.

[Charity]

I will play with these ideas.  Thank you.

[eos]

FileMaker text functions are very powerful, and eos has the right solution

 

Then why did you vote down the post with that very solution?

[mikedr]

Then why did you vote down the post with that very solution?

 

My bad.  Clicked the wrong button.