I am a business. I have a contact database. My contacts order goods
from me, therefor I have an Orders database. In reviewing my contacts
and following up on sales possibilities, is there a way to link my
contact database field "Company" so that when looking at my Orders I
can find that "Company" 's Orders. Or can you suggest how best to link
the Order records to my contact file?
Thanks

Well, sure there's a way (that's what makes FileMaker relational).
Unless you're using something older than Version 3.

The basic is that you need a field in one file that relates to the other
file. Both fields must contain the same value, the same information. In
your case, a customer "number" would do the trick, perhaps to create
such when a contact becomes a customer, and that is carried to any order
placed by the customer.

As for how to do it, what version of FileMaker are you using?

M

on 10/23/07 8:28 PM buck.matthew74 [at] yahoo.com said:
> I am a business. I have a contact database. My contacts order goods
> from me, therefor I have an Orders database. In reviewing my contacts
> and following up on sales possibilities, is there a way to link my
> contact database field "Company" so that when looking at my Orders I
> can find that "Company" 's Orders. Or can you suggest how best to link
> the Order records to my contact file?
> Thanks
>

Hi Matt Willis
I am using Filemaker Pro 8.5.
M

On Oct 24, 6:03 am, Matt Wills <I... [at] witz.end> wrote:
> Well, sure there's a way (that's what makes FileMaker relational).
> Unless you're using something older than Version 3.
>
> The basic is that you need a field in one file that relates to the other
> file. Both fields must contain the same value, the same information. In
> your case, a customer "number" would do the trick, perhaps to create
> such when a contact becomes a customer, and that is carried to any order
> placed by the customer.
>
> As for how to do it, what version of FileMaker are you using?
>
> M
>
> on 10/23/07 8:28 PM buck.matthe... [at] yahoo.com said:
>
> > I am a business. I have a contact database. My contacts order goods
> > from me, therefor I have an Orders database. In reviewing my contacts
> > and following up on sales possibilities, is there a way to link my
> > contact database field "Company" so that when looking at my Orders I
> > can find that "Company" 's Orders. Or can you suggest how best to link
> > the Order records to my contact file?
> > Thanks

Any particular reason why you don't have all of this information in one
file?

This is not to say that separate files are wrong, but it is all closely
related information. Since FM7 we have been able to dispense with the
old multiple file structure in favor of different tables in a single file.

Matt WILLS

on 10/24/07 9:38 PM buck.matthew74 [at] yahoo.com said:
> Hi Matt Willis
> I am using Filemaker Pro 8.5.
> M
>
> On Oct 24, 6:03 am, Matt Wills <I... [at] witz.end> wrote:
>> Well, sure there's a way (that's what makes FileMaker relational).
>> Unless you're using something older than Version 3.
>>
>> The basic is that you need a field in one file that relates to the other
>> file. Both fields must contain the same value, the same information. In
>> your case, a customer "number" would do the trick, perhaps to create
>> such when a contact becomes a customer, and that is carried to any order
>> placed by the customer.
>>
>> As for how to do it, what version of FileMaker are you using?
>>
>> M
>>
>> on 10/23/07 8:28 PM buck.matthe... [at] yahoo.com said:
>>
>>> I am a business. I have a contact database. My contacts order goods
>>> from me, therefor I have an Orders database. In reviewing my contacts
>>> and following up on sales possibilities, is there a way to link my
>>> contact database field "Company" so that when looking at my Orders I
>>> can find that "Company" 's Orders. Or can you suggest how best to link
>>> the Order records to my contact file?
>>> Thanks
>
>

buck.matthew74 [at] yahoo.com wrote:
> I am a business. I have a contact database. My contacts order goods
> from me, therefor I have an Orders database. In reviewing my contacts
> and following up on sales possibilities, is there a way to link my
> contact database field "Company" so that when looking at my Orders I
> can find that "Company" 's Orders. Or can you suggest how best to link
> the Order records to my contact file?
> Thanks
>


Use Company_ID in Contacts. In case you are not using a Company_ID,
Contact_ID, Order_ID, you should be.

either a self rel in Orders
Order::Company_ID to Order::Company_ID

or a selectable ComapnayID using a global, to to Order::Company_ID in Orders


Chris