One of the more common – and useful – interfaces is a so-called “List – Detail” view. This typically takes the form of a list of possible records on one side of the screen, and the detail of one selected item on the other. In FileMaker, such a view can be a little tricky to implement in a single window, since a list of items would be done in List view, but that type of layout doesn’t allow you to have a pane showing a single record to one side. On the other hand, Form view doesn’t give you the option to have a list of items – at least not directly.
You can implement a List – Detail view by using two separate windows. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t work well on mobile devices or using WebDirect, since these delivery vehicles are single-window only. Instead, you can use a portal for the list in Form view, and the rest of the window can display the detail. That’s what we’ve done for this demo.
We’ve also included methods for filtering the list of items shown in the portal. Since there are different ways of accomplishing this task, there are 5 different views in the demo, ranging from simple to more complex to implement. You’ll also notice we’ve made notes regarding the performance impact of the various methods – some work better with large data sets than others. Have fun, and let us know if you have any questions!