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FILEMAKER PRO HELP 1269
relationship, the most recent date displays in the related field when it's placed directly on the
layout (not in a portal).
• Place related fields on the invoice that display data about each ordered item, such as
Product ID, Product Name, Unit Price, and so on. (The match field is Order ID.) Since in
most cases there is more than one product on the invoice (you're displaying more than one
related record), you create a portal to hold the related fields. Each row of the portal displays
one related record with the related fields you select from the Line Item database.
How FileMaker Pro evaluates references to related fields in portals
When you place a related field in a portal, FileMaker Pro uses one of two starting points to evaluate
the related data to display: the record in the portal’s table, or the record in the layout’s table. The
starting point is significant because it affects the related data that the field displays.
FileMaker Pro determines which starting point to use based on the path of relationships between
two tables in the
relationships graph:
• the layout’s table
• the field’s table (the table that contains the placed field)
If the path of relationships from the layout’s table to the field’s table includes the portal’s table, the
record in the portal’s table is the starting point. Otherwise, the record in the layout’s table is the
starting point.
For example, the following relationships graph shows a school enrollment database. It contains
tables for teachers, classes, and students, and an enrollment table to indicate which students are in
each class. There is also an advisors table (another occurrence of the teachers table) which assigns
a faculty advisor to each student.
Consider the following layout, which displays the enrolled students in a class. The layout’s table is
Classes, and the portal’s table is Students.
The table below describes how FileMaker Pro determines the starting points for four fields placed in
this portal from different tables.
Classes
Students