Finally, the search return table contains only text fields, whose contents are only ever the result of importing data from the Friends and Contacts tables to narrow the user's search; thus for my own purposes, I prefix these with 'i' (an abbreviation of 'imported').
Execution: Setting up the Relationships
In the relationship graph, gC within the Globals table must be related to C in each of the other tables, as shown.
Execution: Setting up the LayoutsNow set up the following layouts for each table.
- For Globals, from the Layout menu, select Standard form and create a layout with two fields, Search and gSearch. Call this layout, 'Entry'.
- For Friends, from the Layout menu, select Columnar list/report and follow the instructions to create a layout display in the fields: IDfriend, cIfMatchComposite, cIfMatchgIDcatcher, NameFirst, NameLast, Location and cCompFriend. By dragging from the 'Part' menu at (1) as shown beneath, create a footer for this layout and then drag into it from the field menu at (2) a field as shown by the greyed-out field with the handles at (3), defining this in the Field/Control Setup menu by selecting the Globals table and then selecting gIDCatcher under (4).
- Do for Contacts as for Friends, but include Organisation and cCompContact in place of cCompFriend.
- Finally, for SearchReturn, do as for Contacts and Friends, but this time your list structure will contain only iID, iComp and iTable. And just as in the instruction for friends, follow the same routine to add gSearch from the Globals table to the 'Header' of your layout, as shown beneath.
Do you need help with Mac? 
1
Emile - 13/07/06
OOoooo, this is a great technique. Is there any way you can provide a sample file download to better illustrate how it works? Thanks
» Report offensive content
2
ianj - 03/10/06
One quick comment about the table names. Using a "." character in a table name or a field name has the potential to cause untold grief if you need to web-enable the system or connect via ODBC/JDBC. It's generally a really bad idea.
ian
» Report offensive content
3
Ender - 25/11/06
I'm afraid I don't see the need for techniques like this that search across multiple tables. Tables should really be about different things. If you have two tables with similar types of things, then the tables should probably be combined (especially if they may need to be shown together in a common listing or report).
In this example, "Friends" and "Contacts" should really reside in the same table, with a Contact Type field used to distinguish between them. This structure would make this search and listing quite simple, with no additional tables or import scripts required.
» Report offensive content
4
yusuf alam - 24/01/07
I want to search the record from the existing table from the oracle database using visualbasic programe and it will display the result in to the text box
select * from student where st_roll =" ' text1.text ' "
» Report offensive content