Title
New FileMaker User: Help/Advice Needed For A Project
Post
Hello all,
First of all I should say that I am a new user of FileMaker and database systems as a whole. Basically, I have a project that I am taking on for a small business we are setting up. The management of the business needs to be done using computers as none of us are very good at handling paper.
The business is a small consultancy and I need to design and build a system that can help us manage the following information:
- Clients (as a list with common filters and then as individual client profiles once they are selected from the list or created)
- Products and services list (with the ability to click an individual product/service and add details such as price etc)
- Projects (as a list and then as individual project ‘profiles’ with the ability to assign tasks and a member of staff from our business to it)
- Calendar (deadlines and staff meetings must feed into a calendar)
- Staff area (facility to leave notices to other staff)
- Resource Centre (ability to share files)
I have been messing around for a couple of days with FileManager Pro Advanced 12 and have got the hang of the basics. I’ve managed to create tables and fields etc with some special functions that I can use later on, I have managed to create certain database relationships too. I have also 'started off' creating the main dashboard and tried creating some of the main layouts.
One thing I am having issues with is the ability to have a layout that shows a list of the records created for a specific table. I want to make it look nice instead of it looking dull. I want it to look like the example provided called ‘Contacts’. I have attached this file and a screenshot. What is this feature even called?
How would I go about setting up the Desktop Contacts page (like in the screenshot)? I have tried replicating this but I cannot set it up to allow you to click on a row and view that individual record.
The examples provided with FileMaker Pro 12 are similar to what I want, but instead of them being separate files- I want them to be in one FileMaker Pro file- but to access the parts from a dashboard which I have already built.
Please go easy on me and if you can advise me on how I should go about this I will be over the moon! I can’t wait to get started and will keep scouring the example files to see how it was built.
Cheers,
Ravi
The blue rectangles are sub summary layout parts. If you are interested in those, enter layout mode and double click the part label for it to see its settings. This is also something you can look up in help.
On this layout, the developer placed a mostly transparent button over the entire body layout part. It is set up to change layouts, changing from this list view layout to a form view layout that displays just one reocrd, the record you just clicked. You can double click the graphic on far left while in layout mode to see what button setup options were specified for it.