We currently have a flat file record for each member, and a one to many for events, invoices etc. A member can attend many events. We are a not-for-profit car club, and we run around 75 events (competition events on racetracks and social events) per year.

Our members have a one (member) to many (cars) set of information. They may bring one car to a competition event and onother to a social event. So, I created 6 fields: Vehicle 1, Vehicle 2 up to Vehcile5, and then a Field “Which Vehicle are you bringing?”. Some members have 1, most have 2 or 3, some have 6 to 8 (too bad). This is the same data format that another Australian car club uses as well.

It would be useful to have the ability to have a field type of Drop Down Box, where the user populates the contents. Currently we have a drop down list which I could populate with generic car types. However, even within our club this list is over 200 entries long and would be difficult for a member to use the drop down. Most of the discriminating data is on the end of some very long descriptive strings so prone to error. If the user did their own data they simply need to manage 2 or 3 or 4 lines of data.

In the first instance I would allow 4 or 5 text fields in the box, and asses for later if other data types are needed.

This would be named by the admin (“Vehicles” in our case) and then the user adds or deletes entries. I suspect it would be a Tab, (Contact, Membership, “Vehicles”, Events etc…) looking like the events list with the lines corresponding to the data. Easier to program via a tab/page than trying to configure the member profile main page.

In an event, the user gets access to their data via a drop down box in the registration form.

I have been told the equestrian clubs have the same issue - the member needs to tell the organiser which horse they are bringing to the event, Dobbin for a social event and Black Caviare to a race.

Regards

Andrew