FileMaker Pro 4.1 Mac User's Guide

Chapter 10: Using data from related files
There are times when one database file doesn’t suit all your data
management needs. Perhaps you have data in one file that you want to
use in another file. Or you’ve tried to expand a file by adding several
fields to it, and now the file’s subject has become unclear. Or you have
the same values in several files, and you’re constantly updating them to
keep them all the same. With FileMaker Pro, you can access data from
other files to use in the current file, by either defining lookups or
creating a relational database. This chapter explains how.
Important Before you read this chapter, be sure you understand how to
create a FileMaker Pro file (see chapter 2, “Creating a database file”). You
should also know how to create a layout and work with data (see chapter 3,
“Laying out and arranging information,” and chapter 4, “Working with
information in records”). In addition, be sure you know how to use
FileMaker Pro Help, as explained in the preface, “Getting help.”
Looking up and displaying data from other files
When you have data in one file that you want to use in the current file,
you can access, display, and work with that data in two ways:
1 A lookup copies data from another file into a field in the current file.
After data is copied, it becomes part of the current file (as well as
existing in the file it was copied from). Data copied to the current file
doesn’t automatically change when the values in the other file change.
1 A relational database allows data from another file to be displayed,
edited, and used in the current file, without having it copied to the
current file. The data is always part of the other file only. Data
displayed in the current file changes whenever the values in the other
file change.