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Many to Many Browse

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    Many to Many Browse

    I have a 'Many to Many' set which I would ideally like to display in a single browse. I have searched the forum for help but to no avail so I am presenting my design here in the hope that somebody could point me in the right direction.
    The set looks like this:

    HR Table linked to Cards Table as a one to many link
    Cards Table linked to Classes Table on a one to one link
    Classes Table linked to Register Table on a one to many link

    Only the first record in the Cards Table generates the Browse content but the browse should show all linked to records from the Register table.

    If anyone has experience using 'Many to Many' browse your help would be most appreciated.

    #2
    Re: Many to Many Browse

    From the documentation for Creating Many-to-Many Sets.

    Alpha Five does not support forms or browses that will display data from this type of set. However, you can use Xbasic routines to read from and write to the set.
    There can be only one.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Many to Many Browse

      Quite correctly a browse view of a many to many relation creates a general dilemma as one view.
      I'm not sure that your example is in fact many to many straight off. It is always an interesting discussion.

      SIMPLE EXAMPLE: Pupil Teacher
      Every pupil will have multiple teachers
      and every teacher multiple pupils
      How would you propose to view all of the combinations in linked browses? its all to all ? cant help if you expect to make some sense of it..
      One suggested method is to create a common table. I have read about that but on its own, the same dilemma exists.
      what that method DOES do however allow you to do the practical application of that...

      The closest practical way to get that is when you click on the list of teachers on one side, you will see the list of pupils FOR THAT TEACHER
      That is hard to do in pupil=teacher linked browses but by using the common table as the master linking many to many to each of pupils and teachers, searching either by teacher or by pupil, view in one table teacher and all pupils and if selecting a teacher, or by a pupil view all their teachers.

      In real terms though for example recent situation with stock items sharing one of multiple duty categories and vice-versa.
      However at any given moment a user would ever only be interested in whichever one relating to the many of the other. We simply cant do both to both.


      If anywhere, this is the platform that could challenge that POV. Bring it.
      Last edited by Ray in Capetown; 07-10-2014, 01:56 PM.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Many to Many Browse

        You can simulate a many-to-many with a third table with a common link
        add a field called link,c,1 to any three tables. Be sure the link is blank.
        create a 4th table called link, with one field - link,c,1 - be sure it is blank
        then create a set where the link table is the parent and the other three tables linked on the link field, and put the other three tables in embedded browses
        then, when you click on some record in one of the browses you can write code to do stuff in one or both of the other two browses

        there is a learning curve for handling this setup, but it definitely works.
        Cole Custom Programming - Terrell, Texas
        972 524 8714
        [email protected]

        ____________________
        "A young man who is not liberal has no heart, but an old man who is not conservative has no mind." GB Shaw

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Many to Many Browse

          Here is another example of a simulated many-to-many but with a different configuation
          Attached Files
          Cole Custom Programming - Terrell, Texas
          972 524 8714
          [email protected]

          ____________________
          "A young man who is not liberal has no heart, but an old man who is not conservative has no mind." GB Shaw

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Many to Many Browse

            Thanks for your help. I decided in the end to generate an intermediate table in my OnInit event and include this temp table in the set. On generating the browse it is noticeable that it takes a couple of seconds longer but is acceptable.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Many to Many Browse

              The M:M relationship is very interesting.
              In actuality, the users point of interest is usually 1:M and not M:M which is confusing.
              Taking the classic library book example with 3 books and 3 potential readers, only one reader can read a particular book even though the book names are the same. They are not the same item.
              You might need to know who has which book, and the traditional way is to use an intermediary table with both values in it - book and reader.

              In real life, how do your users actually use the data?
              See our Hybrid Option here;
              https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


              Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
              You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

              Comment

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