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Making Buttons Disappear
Wouldn't it be nice if you could make buttons conditionally appear and dissapear
from the layout? There are plenty of workarounds that use multiple layouts,
conditional scripts or calculations. However, all these techniques have limitations.
For instance, the calculation method results in a graphic representing your button under
one condition and no graphic under another condition. This works fine except that the button
still highlights even when the graphic is not displaying.
The following technique shows you how to completely remove a button from the layout with a
single relationship and a simple calculation. Let's say you want the button to appear when
all of the fields on the layout are filled. If you have three fields on your current layout,
your calculation field formula would be:
Case(IsEmpty(Field 1) or IsEmpty(Field 2) or IsEmpty(Field 3), "", 1)
Once you have the calculation completed, you can define the relationship. This relationship
will be a same file relationship. Instead of relating to a second file, the relationship will
look at itself. In other words, FileMaker will ask you to locate a file when creating a relationship.
Just locate the file where you are creating the relationship.
Notice that the Conditional Calculation you just created is on the left side of the relationship
and a field called Constant is on the right side. The Constant Calculation is a simple formula,
resulting in the number one (1). Any time the Conditional Calculation results in a one, the
relationship will become valid. Otherwise, it results in blank ("") and the relationship is invalid.
Now all you need is a single row portal with your button inside the portal.
Once you have created the portal, set the fill and pen color to the same as your background color.
This will make the portal invisible.
That's all there is to it. The relationship that the portal is linked to will not be valid
until the Conditional Calculation match field contains a one (1). This will only happen if all
three fields are filled. When the relationship is valid, the button will appear on the layout.
When the relationship is invalid, the button will disappear from the layout.
The possibilities for this technique are endless. You can require users to enter all of the
fields before they can continue. You could make different buttons appear depending on user selection.
It's up to you!
Download an example FileMaker file
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DONE
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