In file maker I'm trying to relate a record to another record. It has to have an ID associated it.
You can display the ID and name in the drop down but the field actually has to be an ID. Is there a way display the name and ID in the field, or will I have to have another text box showing the name next to it? Thanks.
Use a Pop-up Menu instead of a Dropdown List, and only display values from the right side in your value list definition. This will hide the IDs for display purposes, but will still set the field value to an ID instead of the name.
The field itself will only display an ID, so you need to add another field next to it. Another idea is to cover this field with a non-editable calculation or a text with merged fields that shows both the ID and name. This way the field will still be editable but once you exit it, you'll see the name next to the ID.
I'll admit, using a popup menu instead of a drop down menu is the easiest solution. I'll also admit that there have been times when drop down is more appropriate to the UI.
In those cases I've shown a menu with the name and used an ExecuteSQL statement to find the appropriate ID and fill it in where appropriate. This does assume that the values are unique, however, which is usually a pretty good assumption.
What I do in this instance is have the two fields; one a drop down and the other to store the second column data as is the usual practice. Most tutorials stack one on top of the other with entry not allowed in browse mode of the top field (which is the non drop down field) thus allowing a user to click on the drop down make a selection and the resultant second column info is stored in the visible field and the drop box id is stored behind.
However with the advent of Web Direct etc this method fails as web direct is unable to handle stacked entities so a very simple solution I employ is to have the two fields side by side, the drop down on the right, and the edit box (or second field info) on the left. The drop down has a drop down arrow enabled and then the drop down has a width that only shows the drop arrow. This is then aligned next to (butted up) against the right hand edge of the edit box. The result is the user clicks on the drop arrow the drop box opens and all functionality of the drop box is enabled and the user selects what they want and the drop box closes back down to the arrow and the information is stored in the secondnd box.
(The beauty of this method is that the whole layout looks just like a standard drop down yet it is two fields. Sorry cant post an image as it would make it clearer)
