[FX.php List] Showing last related record - sort in FM or just PHP?

[Joel Shapiro]

Hi all

I need to pull the last (most recent) related record for each of a  
set of found records.  I'm wondering about the best / most efficient  
way to do this.

(a)
   - create a relationship in FM that sorts in reverse order,
   - place related fields on web layout -- No portal

(b)
    - create a relationship in FM w/ no sort order,
    - place portal (w/ fields) on web layout,
    - in php, don't use foreach, so display only last returned (or  
use sort() in php)

It seems like a choice between needing FM to sort each found record's  
related records (before sending to the web), VS. pulling in  
potentially a lot of related records per each found record, only to  
need just the last of each.

I'm guessing it's better to sort in FM (option a) and just pull one  
related record for each parent found, but does anyone have experience  
w/ this (or an opinion ;) ?

Notes:
- I can't just find the related child records because some of the  
found parent records may not have child records, and I need to show  
them anyway.
- Most queries will pull fewer than 10 parent records, though a few  
may find around 40.

TIA,
-Joel


Joel Shapiro - FileMaker Pro Database Design
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
joelshapiro at jsfmp dot com
http://www.jsfmp.com
415-269-5055