Marking Sub-summary Ranges
Working with subsets of data is an extremely common activity within a database. Automating the selection of subsets is also a common objective. In this video tutorial, the various ways to select, identify and mark a range of records is what's covered. If you've found yourself wondering what the best method for marking a range of records is, then look no further. The technique file provided and the associated video will both educate and inspire you when working on your own solutions within FileMaker Pro.
Using the common task of marking a record, the technique file provides a variety of ways to extract the identifying key values for each of the records within a sub-group. Once the key values have been acquired, you have the option of what to use them for. This can be as simple as marking the subset or adding or removing the values from a larger subset.
With the primary objective of not changing the state of the user interface, learning how to deal with similar automated processes will help you become a better FileMaker Pro developer.
Comments
Finding locally marked records.
Matt, I really like the technique you use to allow users two different ways to mark records; one being a 'local-only' type of tag using a value list in a global field. What technique could be used to allow users to perform a find for all the records that they had marked in that way?
I had the idea of scripting a multi-request find that basically just created a new request for each value in the global list, however I can see that getting really slow once you start searching for even a couple hundred records. It would also limit users to performing a find for just that one criteria; records that they had marked. They would not be able to search for multiple criteria the same way they can in a normal find. Any suggestions.
Locally tagged records
When a user is tagging records using a global field you need to save this value to a record which is specific to the user. This means you would either create a Tags table where tagged records are saved per the user who created them or you would store the return delimited list of key values for tagged records within a Users table where each user has their own record.
You would create a dedicated field called something like 'taggedRecords' within the Users table. Of course, this would limit you to just one set of tagged records. If you want to support more then going the dedicated Tags table route is better.
You then only need to use the simple Go To Related script step to load any set of tagged records.
I hope this makes sense. Ultimately, it's certainly doable.
-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor