HOW DOES ONE ADD THE TABBED (I WILL CALL THEM SUB-FORMS ALTHOUGH I BELIEVE THERE IS ANOTHER NAME WHICH IS WHY I CANT FIND HELP TOPICS ON THEM) ALONG THE BOTTOM OF THE FORM. I NEED TO ADD AT LEAST TWO SECTIONS WITH CONTAINERS IN THEM TO STORE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PHOTOS.

AS ALWAYS...THANKS

Hi. I can't visualize what you're describing... can you email me a screen shot of an example? ([email protected])

FOR SOME REASON MY REPLY DID NOT POST YESTERDAY:
HI JOHN,
IN EXAMPLE OF THIS WOULD BE IF YOU CREATE A CONTACTS DATABASE USING THE PROGRAM WIZARD--ON YOUR FORM, YOU WOULD HAVE THREE TABS ALONG THE BOTTOM SECTION OF THE FORM THAT LOOK LIKE THE TOPS OF FILE FOLDERS.

I BELIEVE THERE ARE THREE 1 BEING PRIMARY CONTACT, SECONDARY CONTACT AND I DONT RECALL WHAT THE THIRD IS. IF YOU CLICK ON A PARTICULAR ONE IT BRINGS UP FIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH IT.

I WANT TO CREATE SIMILAR SECTIONS OF THE FORM IN ONE OF MY EXISTING DATABASES BUT DONT KNOW HOW AS I DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE CALLED.

HOPE THIS HELPS

Ahh! Thanks.

I may have just what you're looking for. CC Tabs is a free, unlocked utility that shows how we make the tabs in our products. It includes a layered photoshop file for the tab images, but you could certainly your your own images, or even native FileMaker graphics.

You can check out CC Tabs here:
http://www.seedcode.com/cp-app/prod/cctabsfree

Another cool tabs tutorial can be found on Mikhail Edoshin's site:
http://www.onegasoft.com/tools/smarttabs/index.shtml

His smart tabs engine helps build tab content for you making the tabs more dynamic.

Finally, Dawn Heady was recognized for her excellent (also dynamic) tab system at DevCon: http://www.filemaker.com/devcon/finalis ... cerad.html

Hope that helps.

John

JOHN YOUR CONCEPT I SPERFECT ALTHOUGH AS A NOVICE I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO TAKE FROM YOURS AND PUT INTO MY DATABASE. HOW DO I SET UP THESE TABS AND THEN PLACE THE SPECIFIC FIELDS INTO EACH TABBED SECTION?

Ok so how does one integrate CCtabs into an existing database as there does not appear to be any step by step instructions or notes.

TJ

upandcomingdev wrote:Ok so how does one integrate CCtabs into an existing database as there does not appear to be any step by step instructions or notes.

Well it is pretty much just a matter of copying and pasting layout elements, but I can make a few suggestions that should help get it done with as little repetitive work as possible.

First, the tab objects and interface are stored in global fields in CCTabs. If you already have an interface table that holds such things in your system, you'll want to create additional fields there, using the names from the Interface Elements layout in CC Tabs. If you don't have an interface table, you can create a relationship from some constant in your solution to the constant field (COMMONOne) in CC Tabs. That way, when you copy layout elements from CC Tabs to your solution, you'll be able to pick the right fields in the now related CC Tabs file.

On top of each of the tabs you'll find an invisible button shaped to match the rounded edge of the tab. These buttons call simple Go To Layout steps, so there is no magic there. Since the buttons are invisible, however, they can be hard to select. I recommend drag-selecting them, but everyone has their own style.

Finally, you don't really need the Photoshop file that comes with CC Tabs, unless you want to change the colors of the tabs or add additional tabs.

Hope that helps.

Hello sir and thank you
So you are saying that I should create a table in my existing database called "global fields" then create all of the fields you have created in your database within that table?

Is there a way to just merge your table into my database?

once those fields are created within mine, do I then have to create a form with a layout like yours?

TJ

Hi. Can you let me know if you're working in FM6 or FM7; then I can use the right terminology. - Thanks.

Filemaker 7 is what I am using and unfortuantely my programming skills are weak as I am learning the ropes here.

If you would indulge me for a moment, perhaps you can describe how to do this step by step as I am sure there are others like me who are in the same boat and are learning along the way.

TJ

I WAS ACTUALLY UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT FILEMAKER HAD A BUILT IN FUNCTION TO AUTO CREATE THESE TABS OR SUB-FORMS OR WHATEVER BUT I CANT SEEM TO FIND ANY DOCUMENTATION ON IT ANYWHERE.

STEP BY STEP WALK THROUGH WOULD BE GREAT FOR ME TOO

FIRECOP1 wrote:I WAS ACTUALLY UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT FILEMAKER HAD A BUILT IN FUNCTION TO AUTO CREATE THESE TABS OR SUB-FORMS OR WHATEVER BUT I CANT SEEM TO FIND ANY DOCUMENTATION ON IT ANYWHERE.

STEP BY STEP WALK THROUGH WOULD BE GREAT FOR ME TOO

OK, here we go.

Integrating CC Tabs into Another FM7 File

1. Download. The first thing you'll want to do is download a fresh copy of CC Tabs. We converted this file to FM7 and adjusted all the graphics so they are now aligned with the way 7.0v3 renders containers. (Your download will include both FM6 and FM7 versions of CC Tabs.)

2. Your FM7 File. For the sake of this explanation, we'll assume that you wish to use CC Tabs in a new FileMaker 7 file called "Thing" and that this file has 4 layouts, each of which you'd like to associate with a tab. We've named these layouts "Tab1" through "Tab4". You can change these names later, but for now, it is important that they are names this way... you'll see why below. To make things easier, we've also remove the header and footer from each of these 4 layouts.

3. Create a File Reference. Place Thing and CC Tabs next to each other, in the same filder, or in the same location on your machine or server. You'll begin by creating a new file reference in Thing. Select File / Define / File Reference from the menu bar. On the Define File References screen click "New" and then "Add File"; you'll then go locate your copy of CC Tabs. Remember, CC Tabs and Thing should already be placed "next to each other", in the same relative position to each other as they will have when you serve or use your files.

4. Add a Table Occurrence. Next, we'll add a table occurrence for CCtabs in the Relationship Graph for Thing. In Thing, open Define / Database and move to the relationships tab. In the lower left, click the green plus sign to begin creating a new Table Occurrence. When you're asked which table to use, you'll change the "file:" selection from "current file" to CCtabs and then click OK. You don't have to make any relationship lines between CCtabs and Thing. You do, however, have to rename the table occurrence "Tabs" (you can change this later). FileMaker associates items by name, so if your table occurrence is named Tabs, you can paste whole layouts from CC Tabs without any trouble, as the layout objects will be using the same table occurrence names in the two files. Again, after you've completed all these steps, you can return to Thing and change the name of that table occurrence.

5. Copy and Paste. Having done all this prep work, you can now go to the Tab1 layout in CCtabs.fp7 and enter layout mode, select the whole layout, and copy it. You can then paste it in to the Tab1 layout of Thing. If you enter browse mode in Thing at this point, the layout should look exactly like it does in CCtabs, with all the graphics, and tab names having "found" themselves based on the table occurrence names. If any objects appear missing you've likely mis-named the table occurrence in Thing. If everything looks good, test Tab 4 by clicking on it. It should take you to the Tab4 layout in Thing (that layout will be blank, but we want to make sure the tabs are finding their layout names). If that works, manually return to the Tab1 layout in Thing and test each of the other tabs. If they all work you know that you can confidently paste each of the other 3 layouts from CCtabs into Thing. If one of them doesn't work, it is likely that one of your layout names in Thing does not match a layout name in CCtabs.

6. Copy and Paste the Remaining Layouts. Once everything is working above, you can copy and paste the remaining tab layouts from CCtabs to Thing. Once you've done that, you're done, and you can now navigate around Thing using your new tabs.

Next Steps. Now that you have this working, you can create additional sets of 4 tabs which do other things (you may need 4 tabs for your contacts section, and another 4 tabs for your invoicing section). Simply create 4 additional tab name fields in CCtabs and, when you duplicate your layouts in Thing, reassign the tab name fields to use the second set of 4 names. You can also do this with the icons if you want. As this point you can also rename the layouts and table occurrences in thing; now that the layout elements are "in" Thing, they'll respect changes to these names.

Alternate Approaches. The method described above leaves you with two files in your solution, CCtabs.fp7 and Thing.fp7 If you want to have only 1 file, you'll take a slightly different tack for steps 3 and 4. At the end of step 4, you'll still want a table occurrence called Tabs, but it can be from a table in Thing instead of a table in CCtabs.fp7. To do this, you'll create a new table in Thing called Tabs and add to it all the field definitions from CCtabs, copying the field names exactly as they are in CCtabs. You'll then paste in all the data from CC tabs (or import it from CCtabs to Thing if you think that is easier). You can then perform the copy and paste steps in 5 knowing that the field and layout names will resolve properly.

Enjoy!

>>You do, however, have to rename the table occurrence "Tabs" (you >>can change this later).

I am a bit confused I guess but how does one do this?

newbie wrote:>>You do, however, have to rename the table occurrence "Tabs" (you >>can change this later).

I am a bit confused I guess but how does one do this?

Open Define Database and select the Relationships tab. Double click on any box (table occurrence) in the graph and it's name appears in the lower section of the resulting dialog; that is where you rename them.

HTH, John