Easy Dynamic Portal Filtering
Little by little, newer versions of FileMaker have been making it easier to accomplish tasks which typically required "workarounds" to provide certain features.
When it comes to filtering portals, the previous method was to use a dedicated relationship in order to filter out related data - which is still valid in a variety of situations. However, with the release of FileMaker 11, the new filter portal option, presented as a check box on the portal settings dialog, offers a much easier method for filtering portals.
Initially, there were some harsh critics, as the filter was a "display only" feature and did not adjust calculations which used the same relationship. Enter a few pieces of critical know-how and you get the exact feature you were expecting with all the bells and whistles.
This video showcases how to fully leverage the new filtered portal option within FileMaker 11. The example shown is one of the most common, where filtering is done on both a first and last name where either part contains a sequence of characters. If you're seeking that ultimate degree of filtered portal polish, then look no further than this video!
Comments
Terrific!
Very useful and easy to follow instructions. TY VM.
Stupid Question
Matt,
I am looking at the technique file, and all of the instructions make sense to me. The only thing that isn't making any since is what is actually in the portals. I see the box with the conditional formatting that is used to display the names, but all I see in the box is <__ <__. What gives? I'm assuming you're using merge fields, but I don't see the names. Thanks in advance.
So I knew it was a stupid question
I found where you shrunk the size down, and I can see the technique where the font size of the first character is the one that is used for the display. Nevermind! lol
Users see others' searches
I integrated this into my solution and whoops - shared user nightmare! One user's search results override the other person's search if they happen to be clicking on the same products. I'm thinking of expanding it to associate the search with a particular user to avoid these conflicts.... really wish I could just use a global. Matt you don't really go into detail why globals can't work in this instance - any tips on how to make this work cleaner for multiple users? Other than that it does exactly what I want it to, thank you so much.
How did you get the combined field in the portal
Hi all, i am stumped with this. I am relatively new to FM. I can get my portal filtering but i am not sure how you set up the first name and last name combined field in the portal.