column headers in table view

Is there a way to display *friendly* field names as column headers in
table view? In form view the field named "t_title_c" has a label
"Title" which is much more friendly. But my user wants to work almost
exclusively in table view. I'd rather the user sees "Title" as the
header instead of "t_title_c". But I can't find a way to make FMP
display a text object as a header in table view. Can that be done?

thanks in advance

--
FW

FileMaker Pro 8.5 Advanced on Windows XP SP2
FileMaker Server 8.0 on Windows 2003 Server

Re: column headers in table view

On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:09:47 -0700, FastWolf
wrote:

>Is there a way to display *friendly* field names as column headers in
>table view? In form view the field named "t_title_c" has a label
>"Title" which is much more friendly. But my user wants to work almost
>exclusively in table view. I'd rather the user sees "Title" as the
>header instead of "t_title_c". But I can't find a way to make FMP
>display a text object as a header in table view. Can that be done?
>
>thanks in advance

Yeeeesh! Of course it can be done. All I have to do is use my head
-- create the text objects on the form header and line them up with
the table columns below, then set table view to show the form header
and NOT to show the column headers. Simple!

--
FW

Re: column headers in table view

On Apr 4, 6:20 pm, FastWolf wrote:
> On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:09:47 -0700, FastWolf
>
> wrote:
> >Is there a way to display *friendly* field names as column headers in
> >table view? In form view the field named "t_title_c" has a label
> >"Title" which is much more friendly. But my user wants to work almost
> >exclusively in table view. I'd rather the user sees "Title" as the
> >header instead of "t_title_c". But I can't find a way to make FMP
> >display a text object as a header in table view. Can that be done?
>
> >thanks in advance
>
> Yeeeesh! Of course it can be done. All I have to do is use my head
> -- create the text objects on the form header and line them up with
> the table columns below, then set table view to show the form header
> and NOT to show the column headers. Simple!
>
> --
> FW

You lose the ability to sort, reorder, and resize your columns by the
header though, one of the primary benefits of table view. You could
rename "t_title_c" to "Title". I use "natural" naming for almost all
my fields right now.

Re: column headers in table view

In article
<9cd29fef-f713-44e6-a792-1028c277cd84@u36g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
Grip wrote:

> On Apr 4, 6:20 pm, FastWolf wrote:
> > On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:09:47 -0700, FastWolf
> >
> > wrote:
> > >Is there a way to display *friendly* field names as column headers in
> > >table view? In form view the field named "t_title_c" has a label
> > >"Title" which is much more friendly. But my user wants to work almost
> > >exclusively in table view. I'd rather the user sees "Title" as the
> > >header instead of "t_title_c". But I can't find a way to make FMP
> > >display a text object as a header in table view. Can that be done?
> >
> > >thanks in advance
> >
> > Yeeeesh! Of course it can be done. All I have to do is use my head
> > -- create the text objects on the form header and line them up with
> > the table columns below, then set table view to show the form header
> > and NOT to show the column headers. Simple!
> >
> > --
> > FW
>
> You lose the ability to sort, reorder, and resize your columns by the
> header though, one of the primary benefits of table view. You could
> rename "t_title_c" to "Title". I use "natural" naming for almost all
> my fields right now.

As in another post just today, for sorting, make the title texts buttons
that call sort scripts. I'd just as soon users *didn't* resize and
reorder.

Re: Re: column headers in table view

On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:33:50 -0400, Bill Steele
wrote:

>In article
><9cd29fef-f713-44e6-a792-1028c277cd84@u36g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
> Grip wrote:
>
>> On Apr 4, 6:20 pm, FastWolf wrote:
>> > On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:09:47 -0700, FastWolf
>> >
>> > wrote:
>> > >Is there a way to display *friendly* field names as column headers in
>> > >table view? In form view the field named "t_title_c" has a label
>> > >"Title" which is much more friendly. But my user wants to work almost
>> > >exclusively in table view. I'd rather the user sees "Title" as the
>> > >header instead of "t_title_c". But I can't find a way to make FMP
>> > >display a text object as a header in table view. Can that be done?
>> >
>> > >thanks in advance
>> >
>> > Yeeeesh! Of course it can be done. All I have to do is use my head
>> > -- create the text objects on the form header and line them up with
>> > the table columns below, then set table view to show the form header
>> > and NOT to show the column headers. Simple!
>> >
>> > --
>> > FW
>>
>> You lose the ability to sort, reorder, and resize your columns by the
>> header though, one of the primary benefits of table view. You could
>> rename "t_title_c" to "Title". I use "natural" naming for almost all
>> my fields right now.

I knew I'd lose the resize/reorder ability doing it this way but so
far user doesn't seem to mind.

>As in another post just today, for sorting, make the title texts buttons
>that call sort scripts. I'd just as soon users *didn't* resize and
>reorder.

The layout has buttons for resorting, your idea to make the text
labels themselves buttons is an elegant one which I have tried using
elsewhere. Often, however, users don't realize they're buttons and
keep bugging me for functionality they already have. Getting people
to read (and FOLLOW) the simplest instructions is about as easy and
teaching a corpse to tapdance. As for resizing I agree with not
giving the users that capability. It only makes them dizzy.

thanks, Grip and Bill

--
FW

FileMaker Pro 8.5 Advanced on Windows XP Pro SP2
FileMaker Server 8.0 on Windows 2003 Server R2

Re: column headers in table view

In article ,
FastWolf wrote:

> The layout has buttons for resorting, your idea to make the text
> labels themselves buttons is an elegant one which I have tried using
> elsewhere. Often, however, users don't realize they're buttons and
> keep bugging me for functionality they already have. Getting people
> to read (and FOLLOW) the simplest instructions is about as easy and
> teaching a corpse to tapdance.

Good point. I have a small group of users and can lean on them.

If you have room, you could put "Click column headings to sort"
somewhere on the top of the page. I also have an "Unsort" button.

Re: Re: column headers in table view

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:00:59 -0400, Bill Steele
wrote:

>In article ,
> FastWolf wrote:
>
>> The layout has buttons for resorting, your idea to make the text
>> labels themselves buttons is an elegant one which I have tried using
>> elsewhere. Often, however, users don't realize they're buttons and
>> keep bugging me for functionality they already have. Getting people
>> to read (and FOLLOW) the simplest instructions is about as easy and
>> teaching a corpse to tapdance.
>
>Good point. I have a small group of users and can lean on them.
>
>If you have room, you could put "Click column headings to sort"
>somewhere on the top of the page. I also have an "Unsort" button.

What I did was pre-sort certain columns that were obvious (numeric and
alphanumeric identifiers), then created buttons to sort the rest as
described above. I put "Click to sort" in a tooltip, mouse over the
button to see it, cleaner that way. The deadline for this beastie
isn't until next week so I won't get any feedback till then. He's
already okayed the alpha version so I'm just doing a few
bells-and-whistles. Users love little tooltips and crap like that. It
never ceases to amaze me how important that stuff is, not only to
selling a solution, but also getting people to use it.

--
FW

FileMaker Pro Advanced 8.5 on Windows XP Pro SP2
FileMaker Server 8.0 on Windows 2003 Server

Re: column headers in table view

In article ,
FastWolf wrote:

> It
> never ceases to amaze me how important that stuff is, not only to
> selling a solution, but also getting people to use it.

Reminds me of the sign on the handicap-accessible door at the mall:

"Activate switch to operate."

My first thought was that it could just as well have said "Operate
switch to activate."

But of course I would have written "Push button to open door."