Difficult: Flagging to know if a record is in another file

[Stephen Wallace]

I am trying to do the following.

I have a database which contains a list of address part of a mailing
list. I have a second database where I have all my contacts those part
of the mailing list and those note. I want to have a field in the main
database that tells me whether or not this address is the mailing list
databse. I have a unique ID given to each record associated with the
address. I thought I could do a relationship using ID::ID and a
if(Count(Mailing List::ID) 1, "Yes on list", "No, not on list".
However in order for this to work the field which contains the ID
needs to be indexed and I need it to be a calculation.

Any thoughts????

Stephen Wallace

[Stephen M. Wallace]

Hello all,

I am trying to do the following.

I have a database which contains a list of address part of a mailing
list. I have a second database where I have all my contacts those part
of the mailing list and those note. I want to have a field in the main
database that tells me whether or not this address is the mailing list
databse. I have a unique ID given to each record associated with the
address. I thought I could do a relationship using ID::ID and a
if(Count(Mailing List::ID) 1, "Yes on list", "No, not on list".
However in order for this to work the field which contains the ID
needs to be indexed and I need it to be a calculation.

Any thoughts???? Thanks

Stephen Wallace

[Bridget Eley]

Hi Stephen

A calculation field can be indexed, as long as it doesn't contain a
reference to a global field, a related field, a summary field, to another
field that contains a reference to these types of fields, and so on.

The default storage option lets filemaker decide whether indexing is needed
or not (it leaves the field unstored until the first time indexing is
needed, then it turns storage on and leaves it on). If the indexing for a
field is actually (or accidentally) turned off and you try to set up a
relationship using that field, you will get a message saying the field
cannot be indexed so the relationship won't work, even though it could be
indexed if you turned indexing back on again.

Bridget Eley



in article [email]8f6eb723.0307221237.311752cc@posting.google.com[/email], Stephen Wallace
at [email]stephenmw@mindspring.com[/email] wrote on 23/7/03 6:37 AM:

> I am trying to do the following.
>
> I have a database which contains a list of address part of a mailing
> list. I have a second database where I have all my contacts those part
> of the mailing list and those note. I want to have a field in the main
> database that tells me whether or not this address is the mailing list
> databse. I have a unique ID given to each record associated with the
> address. I thought I could do a relationship using ID::ID and a
> if(Count(Mailing List::ID) 1, "Yes on list", "No, not on list".
> However in order for this to work the field which contains the ID
> needs to be indexed and I need it to be a calculation.
>
> Any thoughts????
>
> Stephen Wallace

[Glenn Schwandt]

My thoughts are that you are likely making a mistake with your unique ID
field. It should be an auto-entered serial number that is not modifiable
and not visible to the user. It should have absolutely no meaning
whatsoever, used only to identify that record as unique. If you want
another "unique ID" field that has meaning, go ahead and create one. First
four letters of last name & last four digits of phone number & Zip Code (or
whatever)...just don't use it as the basis of your relationships.

"Stephen Wallace" <stephenmw@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:8f6eb723.0307221237.311752cc@posting.google.c om...

> I am trying to do the following.
>
> I have a database which contains a list of address part of a mailing
> list. I have a second database where I have all my contacts those part
> of the mailing list and those note. I want to have a field in the main
> database that tells me whether or not this address is the mailing list
> databse. I have a unique ID given to each record associated with the
> address. I thought I could do a relationship using ID::ID and a
> if(Count(Mailing List::ID) 1, "Yes on list", "No, not on list".
> However in order for this to work the field which contains the ID
> needs to be indexed and I need it to be a calculation.
>
> Any thoughts????
>
> Stephen Wallace

[Bridget Eley]

My assumption was that the contacts file was the parent and that the mailing
list file was the child, in which case the ID field in the mailing list
would be a foreign key and therefore not necessarily unique (although in
practice it may be unique in the case of a one to one relationship). I
suppose it could have been set up the opposite way, with the mailing list as
the parent (some mailing lists only send one item per household, so it is
conceivable that there could be one address to several contacts). It would
help if we knew more about how Stephen is establishing the link between a
contact record and a mailing list address in the first place, including the
exact calc used.

Bridget Eley

in article [email]vhrbjm3pa2f375@corp.supernews.com[/email], Glenn Schwandt at
[email]schwandtgat@aoldot.com[/email] wrote on 23/7/03 7:36 AM:

> My thoughts are that you are likely making a mistake with your unique ID
> field. It should be an auto-entered serial number that is not modifiable
> and not visible to the user. It should have absolutely no meaning
> whatsoever, used only to identify that record as unique. If you want
> another "unique ID" field that has meaning, go ahead and create one. First
> four letters of last name & last four digits of phone number & Zip Code (or
> whatever)...just don't use it as the basis of your relationships.
>
> "Stephen Wallace" <stephenmw@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:8f6eb723.0307221237.311752cc@posting.google.c om...

>> I am trying to do the following.
>>
>> I have a database which contains a list of address part of a mailing
>> list. I have a second database where I have all my contacts those part
>> of the mailing list and those note. I want to have a field in the main
>> database that tells me whether or not this address is the mailing list
>> databse. I have a unique ID given to each record associated with the
>> address. I thought I could do a relationship using ID::ID and a
>> if(Count(Mailing List::ID) 1, "Yes on list", "No, not on list".
>> However in order for this to work the field which contains the ID
>> needs to be indexed and I need it to be a calculation.
>>
>> Any thoughts????
>>
>> Stephen Wallace

>
>

[Stephen M. Wallace]

in article BB43F212.21C9%bridgeteley@ihug.com.au, Bridget Eley at
[email]bridgeteley@ihug.com.au[/email] wrote on 7/22/03 6:04 PM:

> My assumption was that the contacts file was the parent and that the mailing
> list file was the child, in which case the ID field in the mailing list
> would be a foreign key and therefore not necessarily unique (although in
> practice it may be unique in the case of a one to one relationship). I
> suppose it could have been set up the opposite way, with the mailing list as
> the parent (some mailing lists only send one item per household, so it is
> conceivable that there could be one address to several contacts). It would
> help if we knew more about how Stephen is establishing the link between a
> contact record and a mailing list address in the first place, including the
> exact calc used.
>
> Bridget Eley
>
> in article [email]vhrbjm3pa2f375@corp.supernews.com[/email], Glenn Schwandt at
> [email]schwandtgat@aoldot.com[/email] wrote on 23/7/03 7:36 AM:
>

>> My thoughts are that you are likely making a mistake with your unique ID
>> field. It should be an auto-entered serial number that is not modifiable
>> and not visible to the user. It should have absolutely no meaning
>> whatsoever, used only to identify that record as unique. If you want
>> another "unique ID" field that has meaning, go ahead and create one. First
>> four letters of last name & last four digits of phone number & Zip Code (or
>> whatever)...just don't use it as the basis of your relationships.
>>
>> "Stephen Wallace" <stephenmw@mindspring.com> wrote in message
>> news:8f6eb723.0307221237.311752cc@posting.google.c om...

>>> I am trying to do the following.
>>>
>>> I have a database which contains a list of address part of a mailing
>>> list. I have a second database where I have all my contacts those part
>>> of the mailing list and those note. I want to have a field in the main
>>> database that tells me whether or not this address is the mailing list
>>> databse. I have a unique ID given to each record associated with the
>>> address. I thought I could do a relationship using ID::ID and a
>>> if(Count(Mailing List::ID) 1, "Yes on list", "No, not on list".
>>> However in order for this to work the field which contains the ID
>>> needs to be indexed and I need it to be a calculation.
>>>
>>> Any thoughts????
>>>
>>> Stephen Wallace

>>
>>

>

Thank you for your input, it is greatly appreciated. I usual have a key that
doesn't change but for this solution I've done it a little differently. If I
had to do over again, I probably would have organized it a little better.
Thanks for the input again.

Stephen