Database Reference
In-Depth Information
UP TO SPEED: POWER TO THE PORTAL
On Adding a Portal to a Layout , you learned about how the Portal Setup dialog box works. Now it's
time to dig a little deeper. To see the settings for your portal, in Layout mode, select it and then
choose Format→Portal Setup. (You can double-click the portal to get there, too.) Here's how some
of the options break down:
Portals can be sorted by any field in the related table . Click “Sort portal records,” and you'll
see the Sort Records window for the related table. You can sort the portal's records by any field
in the related table—as long as it can be sorted; container fields can't be used to sort. Sorting
portal rows has no effect on the underlying table itself, so your Payment layout can have a com-
pletely different sort order than the Payment portal has.
Portals can be filtered . You can write a calculation that decides which records show up in a
portal. For example, you may want two portals on your Lease Agreement layout: one to show
rental payments and another to show a deposit or repair payment. You could add a Type field to
the payment table and then use the field to filter your portals. Details on Portal Filtering .
Portals can have scroll bars . Got 326 items on that invoice? No problem, just add a scroll bar.
Portal scroll bars work like the ones in FileMaker's main window. The bar is visible no matter
what, but it isn't active unless there are more related records than will fit in the number of rows
you specify.
You can assign an “Alternate row state” to a portal . When you turn this option on, every
even-numbered portal row has a different background color and pattern. You can make every
other row green, for example. The odd -numbered rows have whatever background color you as-
sign to the portal itself on the layout. Assign custom colors using the Inspector's Appearance
tab.
You can use “Active row state” on a portal . Active row state highlights the background of a
portal row when any field in the row is active. It's the default choice when you create a new
portal, and you'll almost always want to leave it turned on because it gives great visual feed-
back about which related record you're dealing with.
If you change the “Initial row” value, the portal skips some rows . For example, if you put 5
in the box on a nine-row portal, the portal shows records 5 through 13 instead of records 1
through 9. If it suits your needs, you can even put the same portal on your layout more than
once and give it different initial rows. Your layout could show the first six payments in one
portal, and payments 7 through 12 in a second portal so they look like columns, for instance.
In addition to the options in the Portal Setup dialog box, portals have other features you may find
useful:
Each row in a portal can hold multiple fields , and it's no problem to add an extra field after
you've walked through the initial setup. First widen the portal and then copy and paste a field
that's already in the portal and then change it to the field you want. Double-click the new field
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