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Need help getting portals fixed

Question asked by Tonyv on Nov 20, 2014
Latest reply on Nov 27, 2014 by Tonyv

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I am having some difficulty making the Portals appear. I believe something is wrong in the relationships but cannot really figure it out. Everytime I create a portal it comes blank, I must not be figuring out the right relationships to go across. From the Starters Solution, I basically need to figure out how in the Invoice Tables I am able to click the popover button, and then have that list of Customers show up below. More so, how they also able to add a New Customer from there. (Instead of customers i need it for vendors, manufacturers). Thats the only difference. I will also eventually do the customer side, but I am trying to fix my purchases first. And then it autofilling the rest of the fields. Would appreciate some help as I am really stuck on creating the Purchases/Sales side of the FileMaker. I am not using the starter solution but I am creating something similar to a concept like that. I can send a pic + file if needed. Have reviewed a lot of vids and followed what I think is correct..... But I am still stuck. Using FM13Pro

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philmodjunk Nov 20, 2014 3:47 PM
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You might compare what you are trying to set up to the examples found in: "Adventures in FileMaking #2 - enhanced value selection". Unlike the starter solutions, these examples come with detailed explanations of how they work and how they were designed. The calculations and scripts include comments--something else that the developers of the starter solutions mysteriously forgot to use.
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Tonyv Nov 20, 2014 5:47 PM
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Thanks for your feedback. I've gone through it, I still think I am missing something. I will try to explain what I need as below, as I know it is being done but for some reason I just cannot do it myself I want to be able to add portals, I manage to get fields in there every 20 times I try, but it disappears again. Using FM13Pro .....

1. Purchase Order table : Click Select + Popover, then Have a list of Vendors listed in the portal, and able to select a Vendor - and then have the rest of the fields fill automatically. (As opposed to how I have it now, as a dropdown list and then the other fields are being looked up to match).

2. Add a new vendor button, in the purchase order table in case my vendor is not on the list. (like how they have in Invoices Starter Solutions)

3. Create a Add New Item button on the bottom of the page (like the Invoices Starter Solutions) & have a list of all the items that are from the Product Details to be listed over there for me to add.

4. Able to create a Portal to write up my purchase orders.

It is very possible the relationships I've set are not correct. I've even edit the layout of the Starter Solutions to find if I am missing any scripts, or what. I dont seem to gather much from there.

You can see my database on link if that helps. I've removed all the relationships from Purchase Order to Product Details but Purchase Order to Vendor is still there. I figured it may be better to start it from scratch.

I've really seen a lot of tutorials and pages, forums. I am just wondering where I am going wrong. I would love to send you or someone the file so you can help me fix it in 15 minutes as opposed to be spending 2 days wondering. Let me know if you could help.
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philmodjunk Nov 21, 2014 7:00 AM
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Purchase Order table : Click Select + Popover, then Have a list of Vendors listed in the portal

And what is the relationship you set up for that portal? To what table? with what match fields? There are a lot of details that have to be exactly correct in order for this type of set up to work. One of the reasons that I recommended that file is that it is much easier to work with than a starter solution and you can compare each of the design details in the Adventures in FileMaking file with your file to see which are different and might explain why your attempt is not working. As a suggestion, I'd set that portal up to list all related records as an initial step and then try adding a "Search" or "filter" capability only after I can get the list of vendors to appear in the portal and set them up so that picking a vendor performs the needed script to correctly update my Purchase Order record.

It is very possible the relationships I've set are not correct.

It IS very possible, but since you have not described your relationships, I cannot confirm or correct that possibility for you.

I've even edit the layout of the Starter Solutions to find if I am missing any scripts, or what. I dont seem to gather much from there.

The starter solutions are very impressive examples of what is possible in FileMaker but very poor examples to use to learn more about how to do it if you are new to FileMaker and/or relational database design mostly due to a deplorable lack of documentation describing their design and function. That lack of documentation makes them very irritating to work with even when, like me, you are a developer with over 10 years experience working with FileMaker.

This is one of the reasons why I launched the Adventures in FileMaking series which are designed to function as tutorials from the ground up with both instructional content listed on each layout as well as documentation for each field and script built right in.

I would love to send you or someone the file so you can help me fix it in 15 minutes as opposed to be spending 2 days wondering. Let me know if you could help.

This is called database consulting work and is what I do for a living. I do sometimes help someone out in this fashion through the forum, but it's an act of giving my services away for free. There may, however, be other forum members here willing to take a look at your file so you can always upload a cloned copy (no records) of your file to a file sharing site such as drop box and ask forum members to take a look at it.
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Tonyv Nov 23, 2014 5:33 PM
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Thanks Phil. For the most part I have figured out the portals now, I think. It was something with the relationships. There is more I am trying to do. Ive tried to explain what I want to do below....

I have a Balance table in the middle of my relationships that relates to the following:

1. Sales

2. Customers

3. Purchases

4. Vendors

5. Products

So far, I have managed to integrate the Products to show up to select on the Purchase Orders & Sales Orders. I've also managed to integrate the Vendors to show up to select in Purchases & Customers to show up in Sales orders. So that's all set there.

What I am having trouble implementing is,

1. In the vendor layout - have products that are associated with this vendor show up in a portal when in that particular vendor record.

2. In the customers layout - have sales orders & products that are associated with this customer to show up in a portal when in that particular customer record.

3. In the products layout - have sales orders & purchase orders that are associated with the products to show up in a portal when in that particular product record.

In that portal for all 3 options, I don't want to be able to edit / modify the portal at all. Simply show up "like a list" in a portal so that whenever I add (for example)

a. if i add a sales order into the sales layout - i want it to show up in the customer layout in a portal

b. if i add a purchase order into the purchase layout - i want it to show up in the vendor layout in a portal

c. if i add a purchase order & sales order into the relevant layouts - i want it to show up in the products layout in a portal
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philmodjunk Nov 25, 2014 7:15 AM
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You'll need to break that down and tackle one of these at a time. You may even want to start new threads on some of them.

But listing the tables does not document your relationships. Knowing how each table links to another and by what match field is crucial to anyone understanding your current design and suggesting any needed changes.

You can upload a screen shot of your relationships using the Upload an Image controls below Post a New Answer or you can use text notation such as:

Parent----<Child

Parent::__pkParentID = Child::_fkParentID

For an explanation of the notation that I am using in the lines above, see the first post of: Common Forum Relationship and Field Notations Explained
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Tonyv Nov 25, 2014 9:10 AM
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Thanks for the reply. Ive attached a screen shot. Let me know if I could give you more info ...
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philmodjunk Nov 26, 2014 6:51 AM
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We seem to be discussing the same thing in two threads. I asked a key question in the other thread that I need an answer for before proceeding with any of these issues.
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Tonyv Nov 27, 2014 1:02 PM
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Hi Phil,

I am in the process of fixing my file, as it appears i made too many preliminary mistakes while initially setting up the database. I am relatively new at this. It appears my new file does whatever i need seamlessly now so for now, i don't have any issues.

Thank you for your help in any case.
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Need help getting portals fixed

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