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Working with related tables and files
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 376
• You can add pairs of match fields to a relationship as necessary until you are able to
establish the relational criteria you want.
• Because a sort order can be assigned to a portal, you can display data from a single
relationship in multiple portals on the same page, and use a different sort order for each
portal.
• Before you begin building a relational database, it’s a good idea to plan it on paper first. See
About planning a database.
Related topics
About the types of relationships
Creating relationships
About the relationships graph
When you work with tables in the relationships graph, you are using them to organize your view into
your data. Each table occurrence in the relationships graph represents a separate view into your
data. When you join two tables, you are leveraging the two existing views to create a third way of
viewing your data. For example, if you have an Invoices table with invoice ID and customer
information, and a LineItems table storing product orders for each line of each invoice, you must
create a relationship between the two tables before you can display data from the LineItems table on
the Invoices layout.
You can create a relationship between any two tables in the relationships graph, but the relationship
must not create a cycle, or closed loop between tables. That is, each series of relationships must
have a starting table and an ending table, and those tables must be different tables.
Because each relationship represents an additional set of criteria, you must be aware of your
context within the relationships graph. Context is the point in the graph from which a relationship is
evaluated. Because the graph is never a cycle, each point along the graph offers a different
perspective into your data.
Notes
• Because FileMaker Pro does not permit you to create cycles within the relationships graph,
any attempt to create a cycle causes FileMaker
Pro to generate a new, uniquely named
table occurrence. This new occurrence functions like any other occurrence in the graph, and
allows you to continue with your new relationship. See
Adding tables to the relationships
graph.
• You can add tables from other FileMaker Pro files and from ODBC data sources to the
relationships graph. See Accessing external data sources.
Related topics
About relationships
About planning a database
About match fields for relationships
Creating relationships
About match fields for relationships
When you create a relationship between tables, you choose one or more fields in each table as
match fields. Match fields usually have common values. In a typical relationship, a record in one
table will be related to records in another table that share a common match field value.
For example, a Customers table and an Invoice table can each use the field Customer ID to
uniquely identify each customer and purchase. If the two tables are related using Customer ID as