I fought the portals -- and the portals won

[findlay]

My FM experience is someplace between beginner and intermediate. I've hit a stone wall with portals in developing a genealogy database. I'm using FM 4.1 on an iMac.

I have 4 files: PEOPLE (serial#, name, birth and death dates for each individual); PEOPLE DETAIL (with fields for info on details of each individual); MARRIAGE (details of each marriage of each individual; and FAMILY (displaying how each individual is related to others). I use serial# of PEOPLE as match field to the 3 other files.

In FAMILY, I want to display the individual's parents, each spouse, and the children of each marriage. In each of the three portals I have the same problem. Using the Spouse portal as an example:

Individual #16 has 4 spouses: #17, #48, #49, #50

I created a field called SPOUSE ID# in the FAMILY file, with a relationship back to PEOPLE: SpouseID =:: serial#. I used SPOUSE ID# as the relationship for the portal (4 rows) and for the relationship of fields within the portal (person's serial #, name and DoB).

When I enter #17 on the 1st line of the portal, FM correctly displays the individual's name and DoB. BUT it also displays "17" on the next 2 portal rows (the name/DoB fields remain blank). If I replace "17" on the 2nd row with "48" and tab to a name field, the name fields of that row remains blank. If I click to another record and then return to person 16's record, the good info remains on the first line of the portal, but the #48 on the second line has disappeared. If I don't delete the "17" on the 2nd row, it remains displayed on rows 2 and 3.

HELP. I know it has to be some simple mistake I'm making, but the reference books/manuals don't seem to cover this. Thank you all for your time.

[goostree]

Check to make sure your portals are using the correct relationship, as well as the fields in the portals. I vaguely remember getting duplicate portal rows because my fields were coming from one relationship and my portal from another. They should be using the same relationship.

Hope this helps.

[findlay]

Thanks for responding. I've been pounding my head against the wall on this problem!

I just double checked the relationships and portal. Yes, the portal and the fields all have the same relationship -- SpouseID, which goes back to serial number in the PEOPLE control DB.

I have this problem consistently, with other portals and other relationships. All work (or don't work) the same.

Any other ideas? Anyone? Please?

Thanks

[Vaughan]

I think your data design is less than perfect. Most geneology databses use self-joins with all people-data in the same file. I don't understand why you have people's details in a separate file.

[findlay]

I know you're right, Vaughn, about poor design. I got tired of working in a file with 83 fields, so split it out into separate files for separate subject areas. Guess I'll give up and throw it all back into the same pot.

Thanks to all.

[danjacoby]

83 fields?!? That's all??? One database I'm creating for a client has a Main file with (currently) 232 fields, 19 relationships, and 114 scripts -- and that's not including the 27 other files in the solution!

Not bragging -- I'm sure there are plenty of other people on this forum who have created more complex solutions; the point is that 83 fields ain't that bad.