Hi, usually use Approach for almost all my database needs.
Now, for a particular personal project, I want to use a spreadsheet. Essentially, I am de-normalizing/de-constraining a database table and probably making 1-2-3 act like Symphony (Symphony of the OLD DAYS, back when people considered 3D data and "spreadbases".
I want to label colums a-z. Within each of the a-z columns in 1-2-3, i want to be able to select from the normalized .dbf information that later on I will have side and bottom totals or averages or other formula information. This will be because there will be columns between a-z having other names.
In a-z, each of a-z will have access to the same information. This will allow me to add to a-z a given instance of equipment that will be in one or more instances, but in different a-z units.
I could do this in Approach, but I think I would have to create as many joins as I have letters a-z, and it probably won't be elegant.
However, in 1-2-3, when I use Create, Database, I get a clipped/framed view of the contents, but I cannot use the rows' contents as selectable items they way I can in Approach.
I've looked at Russ' response in:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/ssforum.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/8164580cbe776f91852578cd0075209c?OpenDocument
But, I don't (yet) visualize this fitting my scenario.
Ultimately, I mayadjust it such that based on values in Approach/.dbf, the spreadsheet will allow only one instance of an item to populate a row under a given a-z column.
In some respects, I want the cell to be clickable like in ms excell, but not quite a filter as in Excel. I want to click-populate the cell, then have adjacent cells auto-populate with say a price or weight or such so I can vertically sum them and do other formulas at the end of a group of relevant rows before selecting items for the b column, the c column, etc.
So, what I want is the 1-2-3 worksheet (without forms) to behave like Approache's worksheet, that is, without 1-2-3 having clutter from camera-lke views of Approaches' view of the underlying .dbf. (I know I can constrain the viewport's height, but 1-2-3 warns that not all the list may be visible.)
The dropdown list will have probaby 200 to 500 items. As the whole envisage sheet is populated, I will have mini charts helping me keep track of things.
Is this feasible in 1-2-3, WITHOUT Lotus Script or complicated code? I'm okay with macros to an extent, having written some brute-force ones of my own in Approach to cope with my inability to deal with Lotus Script fluently.
Thanks!