Relationships and Find Mode Scope

Intermediate

Understand how find requests interact with relationships -- which table is searched, how related field finds work, and how to perform finds across multiple tables.

What you'll learn

How find mode determines which table is searched
How related field criteria constrain the found set
How to perform a find that effectively filters by related field values
What happens when you search a portal field in Find mode

Find mode in FileMaker operates on the context table of the current layout -- the anchor TO. Related fields (with :: notation) can be searched, but there are important subtleties: the found set is always records from the anchor table that satisfy the criteria, not records from the related table. Understanding this prevents wrong assumptions about what a find actually returns.

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Found set always belongs to the anchor table

When you perform a find on a layout based on the Contacts TO, the found set is always Contacts records. Even if you enter criteria in a related field like Accounts::Region, you get Contacts records -- the ones whose related Account matches the region criteria.

TEXT

// Layout based on: Contacts TO (anchor)
// Find request:
//   Accounts::Region = "West"  (related field on layout)

// Result: a found set of CONTACTS whose related Account has Region = "West"
// NOT: a found set of Accounts in the West
// NOT: a list of the Accounts matching "West"

// The found set is always Contacts records.

Portal Filtering with Relationship Keys Aggregate Calculations Across Relationships