Displaying Lists Horizontally (Like in Excel)

[stublito]

So I have a list of people and dates they attended meetings. The list normally displays vertically. I need it to display horizontally. My boss says, why can't the report look like Excel?

I could do this by using a repeating field, but that's so pre-relational, plus I'd have to work out how to import the dates into said repeating feild. A self lookup I tried only gets the date of a person's first record.

Help please. The solution is probably trivial, but so far elusive.

Mahalo (Thanks in Hawaiian)

Stublito

 

[TStriker]

It sounds like you are saying that you want each column to be a record and each row to be a field instead of the conventional format where columns are fields and rows are records. If this is the case and you had 1000 records in your database would you expect to scroll 1000 columns to the right to see then entire data set?

Have I misunderstood your question? If not, there really isn't any way I know of to "flip the list on its side" so to speak. If the number of records were limited you *MAY* be able to find a workaround but it seems to me that the world generally doesn't look favorably on horizontal scrolling.

-Striker

 

[stublito]

Yes that's exactly it, turning the list "on its side". We wouldn't have 1000 records perhaps 20.

Another clue - the contacts file and the meetings file are related (by SSN). Any way to turn a portal on its side?

Stublito

 

[TStriker]

stublito,

Try creating whole bunch of portals in a row. In FM7 and above you have the option of specifying the initial row to display in the portal. Have the first portal start at 1 and show 1, the next start at 2 and show 1, the next start at 3 and show 1, etc until you have everything showing.

You don't sound like an FM novice so I won't explain any more. This is the only way I can think of to accomplish the task.

Good luck!

-Striker

 

[JeanW]

Apart from the excellent suggestion from Striker:

>> My boss says, why can't the report look like Excel?

Excel is a spreadsheet application, FileMaker Pro is a database application.

If he wants an ‘Excel’ look a like report, export the foundset to Excel, fiddle a little there with the data and print the report.

...well...that's what I did...

 

[stublito]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I don't have FMP7 (and the boss ain't going to spring for 30 licenses), but I'll see if I can find a trick to force Portals in FMP6 to display specific rows.

Stublito

 

[philhege]

You could export your data to a text file, have some other crosstab-aware database engine do the query, and re-import the results.

Cross-tabbing is more a data manipulation exercise than a spreadsheet function. Most DB packages have some form of pivot function available, or have such a robust query language that you can roll your own.

Phil Hegedusich
Senior Programmer/Analyst
IIMAK

http://www.iimak.com

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I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa.