Import text from field into a portal

[michael25]

I have a portal with X number of fields and a default eight lines within the portal. Based on the text entered into the second (or third, etc) field, I need the program to auto-populate several other fields with info from a previous record (within the same table) based on the entered text. 

In the above example, if I enter "Atlanta" into the "location 1" field, I want the text for "location 1 rep" and "location 1 phone" to auto enter based on the last record created that had a value of "Atlanta" (the text in the first field). Same thing with the "location 2" field which should enter the data into the contact and phone fields for location 2.

Can this be done via importing the field contents from a field within the same table or would require importing from a different table. 

 

?????

[comment]

A better approach would be to have a table of Locations, where each location would be a unique record, and the name of the rep, the phone number, etc. would be entered once. Then, when you select a location for a job, the data can be fetched from there directly, without needless duplication.

The other issue is that instead of numbered fields, you should use a join table - or, in a pinch, a checkbox field. But that would also require you to rethink your use interface, since you cannot have a portal in a portal.

[michael25]

A better approach would be to have a table of Locations, where each location would be a unique record, and the name of the rep, the phone number, etc. would be entered once. Then, when you select a location for a job, the data can be fetched from there directly, without needless duplication.

The other issue is that instead of numbered fields, you should use a join table - or, in a pinch, a checkbox field. But that would also require you to rethink your use interface, since you cannot have a portal in a portal.

My apologies for not being more accurate in describing what I want to do.  Your first solution is what I am doing now...when text is inserted into "Location 1" then a separate related table contains the data which is populated into other fields. Works good.

However, this requires separate entries into the related table in order to have the data available to import.  i.e., if I put in a location of St. Louis and there is no record in the related table then no data is imported.  In that case the relevant fields remain blank and the user can enter the desired info manually.  Is it possible for that manually entered data (which would be all fields since they are empty) to be saved as a new record in the related table?