Database Reference
In-Depth Information
▪ The
Distribute
tool makes the space between three or more selected table occurrences
uniform. You can choose horizontal or vertical distribution.
▪ The
Resize
tool makes short work of getting those manually resized table occurrences
back in parade order. Select some table occurrences and then click the Resize tool to tell
FileMaker whether you want all the highlighted table occurrences resized to the smallest
width, height or both, or the largest width, height, or both.
Selection Tools
The Relationship graph has a few selection tricks that make life easier. To help with selecting
an entire group of connected objects, you can select just one. Click the Select Tables button
and then choose “Select related tables 1-away.” FileMaker automatically adds every table
that's directly connected to your current selection. You can choose this same command again
to extend the selection one more notch on the graph.
If you have multiple table occurrences that have the same underlying base table (you'll learn
why on
Understanding Table Occurrences
), then click the Select Tables button and then
choose “Select tables with same source table” instead. FileMaker highlights all the table oc-
currences that match those you've selected.
These tools are most useful on a large and complicated graph when you know you need a
specific TO but just can't find it. Highlight one TO from the source table you're concerned
with and then click the Select Tables button. Now you only have to look at the highlighted
TOs to find the one you need.
Color Your Table Occurrences
You can change the color of any selected table occurrence(s) by using a standard color pop-
up menu. It looks just like the one you saw on
Adding a Gradient
when you learned about
coloring layout objects. Adding color to table occurrences doesn't affect the database's beha-
vior at all. It's just there to help you organize your graph. Some people like to color all TOs
in a TOG the same color, and others like to color TOs from the same source table the same
color, thus reducing the need to use the selection tools above.
Adding Notes
You can add comments about the graph with the Notes tool. Just select the tool and then drag
out a rectangle on the graph to create the note. In the Edit Note dialog box that appears (
Fig-
ure 5-15
), type the text of the note and set its font, size, and text and background colors. If
you want to revise an existing note, double-click it and the dialog box reappears, ready to do
your bidding.
