Using global fields as relationship match fields

Intermediate

Leverage global (storage: global) fields as relationship match fields to create session-scoped relationships that change based on user input without modifying any record.

What you'll learn

How a global field differs from a regular field for relationship purposes
How to build a user-driven relationship using a global match field
Common use cases: search panels, filtered portals, cross-record lookups

A global field holds one value per session, which makes it ideal as a relationship match field when you need a relationship that changes interactively based on what the user selects.

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Create a global match field

Add a field with storage type set to Global. This field holds the same value for all records in the table and changes only when you set it in a script or directly in the UI.

FileMaker Script

# In the Globals table (a single-record utility table):
gSelectedDepartment   — Text, storage: Global

# Or in any table:
Department::gFilter   — Text, storage: Global

Self-join relationships for hierarchical data Multi-key relationships with return-delimited match fields