Method Community

So I am trying to figure this one out...

I am using Method to manage our students who attend educational classes (we run about 30 a week).  Each student can attend up to 3 classes a week of different types.  I need to be able to run a filtered list which shows me who and how many students are in each class.

I was thinking that I needed to create a table of those classes and to run my Customer and Contacts list with filters in place which should give me what I need. But I'm not sure how this will work.  In order to select multiple classes, I thougth I would have 3 drop down lists... each with the full list of classes.  Then, I could select a class for the first one and then leave the others blank unless they attended 2 or 3 classes.  This brings up some questions:

1. Is there a way to make multiple Drop Down Lists refer to the same table of classes?
2. If I can do #1, will the List with Filters bring up everyone in the class selected even if the class is selected in the first Drop Down List and another student has is selected in the second (or even third) Drop Down List?

I am wondering if I should use check boxes because I think that's easier for dealing with more than one class.

I would prefer to use Tags, but it seems that if I do not type in the exact class (which include class name, day, and time) then I won't get any results.

Any ideas on how I can do this?

Thank you for your help!

Meghan

Hello Meghan,
    This certainly is a logic question because it involves database and table design which is an art all onto itself.

    For #1, I was thinking you could create a relationship table.  I will assume you have a table storing all the Education Classes info (eg. class #, class name, etc) and you have a table with Students (eg. student name, student number).  You can create a relationship table between your Education Classes and Students table.  The table would consist of two fields, each being the unique identifier for each table respectively (The unique identifier is usually the RecordID).  This way you have one relationship instead of three with the drop downs.  You are in essence creating a many-to-many relationship.

   For #2, in the Education Classes screen, you can have the relationship table in a grid and a filter to show only Students assigned to the course.  You can do the same for the Students screen, but filter by the students name, rather than the course.  You can have a pop-up to the relationship table to add records -> ie.  linking a student to a course.

    You've touched on why tags is not the best idea.  You have to deal with spelling mistakes/clerical errors.  With drop downs, you can run into issues.  What if the first drop down is blank but the second isn't?  It can create problems if you try other things with your work later.

   You may want to consider using a Method Consultant for this job.  You can find information here. [ http://www.methodintegration.com/training-customization.aspx ].  They would be able to help you build the relationships and screens.

Thank you very much for this detailed response.  I will give it a shot!

Meghan