Hi Richard,

It sounds like you need a list of your key field to create the 
relationship you want. In you 'Context Socket' calculation try

GetnthRecord(myKeyField, Get ( RecordNumber ) - 9) & "¶" &
GetnthRecord(myKeyField, Get ( RecordNumber ) - 8) & "¶" &
  . . .(you get the idea) . . . & "¶" &
GetnthRecord(myKeyField, Get ( RecordNumber ) + 9)

Where myKeyField is an indexed field that you can use for a 
relationship. Your relationship will be Context Socket = myKeyField.

getnthrecord idea for choosing your highlight criteria, and you should 
get what you want. Try ContextualPortal::ID = 
GetNthRecord(MainFile::__ID;Get ( RecordNumber )) assuming you are on 
the the main record, or put the ID value in a global field or global 
variable and compare to that.

I'm sure someone will give you an elegant solution, but this should do.

Mike

On 21/01/11 6:13 PM, Richard S. Russell wrote:
> *Problem Part the 1st:*
>
> I would like to present a user with a context portal which contains 19 
> lines. The center line (#10) will be occupied by the current record, 
> the 1st 9 lines would be occupied by the 9 records which *precede* the 
> current record in the current found set, and the last 9 lines would be 
> occupied by the 9 records which *follow* the current record in the 
> current found set.
>
> It seems to me that this could best be accomplished by having a 
> calculation called "Context Plug"  (= "Get ( RecordNumber )") and 
> pointing it at another calculation called "Context Socket", calculated 
> thus:
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 9 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 8 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 7 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 6 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 5 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 4 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 3 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 2 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 1 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) - 0 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 1 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 2 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 3 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 4 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 5 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 6 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 7 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 8 & "¶" &
> Get ( RecordNumber ) + 9
>
> The problem is that I can't require either of these calculation fields 
> to be stored (or they freeze at some point in time, rather than 
> shifting dynamically based on Find conditions and sort order), but I 
> can't establish a relationship between them if they're not. Am I 
> missing anything obvious here?
>
> *Problem Part the 2nd:*
>
> Assuming I'm looking at a record which contains a portal showing 
> similar records, I would like the portal line featuring the record I'm 
> currently looking at (known to FMP documentation as the "current 
> record") to be highlighted. Unfortunately, it appears that every 
> record thinks of ITSELF as the current record, whether it is or not at 
> any particular time, and I'm unable to make the actual current record 
> stand out in a crowd. (This points up the ambiguity in FMI's use of 
> the term "current record".)
>
> Once again, does anyone have any tricks to make this happen?