HI,

I am the admin person for a small community historical society. I have been
given the task of cataloguing our collection of artefacts and nick-knacks
using FileMaker Pro 8.5. I expect I can get away with one main table and one
or two smaller tables.

I was wondering if some kind soul might help me get started. My stumbling
block are those relationships I think. I have got down to basics but still
can't manage to get where I want to go.

Two tables, one called (for the sake of this exercise) "Bill" and the other
"Ben".

Bill has three fields:

"AutoID" (A number field which increments by 1 each time a record is added)

"ObjectName" (A text field)

"Category" (A text field)



Ben has two fields:

"AutoID" (A number field which increments by 1 each time a record is added)

"Category" (A text field)

What I want to happen is this: When I am in form or browse view on "Bill",
as soon as I get to the "Category" field, I wish to be able to click on a
drop down button and select an appropriate category from the list, if an
appropriate category is not available, I would like to be able to enter it
in this field and that it be available for selection if need be on the same
drop down list on the next record.

I have tried all sorts of relationships between these two tables, but to no
avail. I can create the drop down list but even after entering data
manually, nothing is displayed in the list.

If someone could take the trouble of whipping up a quick database
illustrating what I am trying to do I would be most grateful. I can be
emailed at **sueh**@**netconnect.com.au** (remove astericks).

Thanks for any assistance in advance,

Sue.

In article <45f4f51a$1 (AT) quokka (DOT) wn.com.au>,
"Sue Henderson" <sueh (AT) netconnect (DOT) com.au> wrote:

Sounds like the only reason you have the second table is to store the
list of categories. An easier way is to simply make the list of
categories a value list. The ability to define value lists without
defining a separte data table to hold them is a feature of FileMaker.

You can define the value list several ways.

One is as a fixed list, with an Edit feature, so the the person doing
data entry can edit the list.

ANother is as a dynamic list, that gets its values from the contents of
Category field in the main table. That way, the list will pup up when
called for, but a new entry in that field will automatically make a new
item in the value list.

For more on value lists, see Help in FileMaker.

--
For email, change <fake> to <earthlink>
Bill Collins

Many thanks for your suggestion bill, I shall give it a try. I have created
a few databases in the past with Access and while there are similarities,
there are also many differences between the two programs.

Thanks again,

Sue

"Bill" <bbcollins (AT) fake (DOT) net> wrote