FMPRO Session 5 Scripting
Tips, Tricks & Shortcuts
The more time you spend planning
your script, the more likely you are to accomplish what you want. Ask yourself
these questions
- Can you separate the task into smaller tasks? You can
define sub-scripts for each small task, and then define a script that performs
the sub-scripts. It's easier to design and test several small scripts than
one complex one. Reuse sub-scripts in other areas. (Use Perform Script to
perform a sub-script inside other scripts.)
- Is all the data you need in one database file, or will
the script operate on more than one file? If you're using multiple files,
which ones should the script open? In which file should the script(s) be defined?
- Which record should the script start with? For example,
when using the Loop script step, decide whether the loop starts at the first
or last record, a specific record, or the current record in the found set.
(Use Go to Record/Request/Page, Go to Related Record, or Go to Portal/Row
to set a starting record. If you don't include a navigation script step to
determine the current record, the loop begins with the current record when
the script is begun.)
- Should the script switch among modes? A script can be
run from Browse, Find, Layout, or Preview modes. Make sure your script is
in the proper mode before it acts upon something. For example, use Enter Browse
Mode to modify data in fields and records, and use Enter Find Mode to set
up or perform a find request.
- Which fields and layouts will the script need? Some steps
require a field to be on the current layout (like Go to Field, Paste Literal,
Paste Result, and Replace) while others don't (Set Field). Use Go to Layout
to switch to a layout that has the fields your script requires.
- Should the script work on all records in the database,
the current found set, or a specific set of records? (Use Perform Find, Find
All, Find Omitted, Omit, Omit Multiple, and Modify Last Find to include only
the records that you want to work with in the found set.)
- Should the records be processed in a certain order? Decide
among the current sort order, a specified sort order, or unsorted (the order
the records were created in). Use the Sort and Unsort script steps before
entering a loop to order your records properly before processing them.
- How should the script advance through multiple fields
or records? (Use Go to Record/Request/Page, Loop, Exit Loop If and End Loop
to control multiple field or record processing).
- When should the script finish? After all records have
been processed? After a specified condition has been met? (Use If and Exit
Loop If to perform a task when the script reaches a specified condition.)
- How will you test your script? Use Pause/Resume to pause
at predefined points in your script. Save a clone of your database, and then
define and test your script in it to preserve the original data. After testing
the script, import data from the original file into the clone.
- How will you handle error conditions (such as an empty
found set)? You can turn on error capturing (using Set Error Capture), capture
the error (using the Status (CurrentError) function), then specify what should
happen when that situation happens (with If and Else).
- How will users perform the script? You either need to
create a button to perform the script or specify that the script be added
to the Script menu. Scripts can also be run from the Define Scripts dialog
box or when a database is opened or closed.
Once you've considered these questions,
you're ready to set up the database for your script.
- Trick Since FileMaker Pro lets
you create scripts, you don’t have to remember how to sort, search,
or print your report. But how do you remember what a particular script was
for? In FileMaker Pro 3, there is a way to do this. You can use the new
Comment script step to write a short description and document the script.
Using Buttons
- A button consists of the object you click on the layout
and a button definition that tells FileMaker Pro which step or script to perform.
For example, you could define a button that performs a script that finds,
sorts, and prints records, or one that transfers information from one FileMaker
Pro file to another.
- You can use any object or group of objects, including
a field, as a button. Copy an existing button, or use text and graphics to
design your own button. If you select multiple objects, FileMaker Pro groups
them together when you convert them to a button.
Note To use a button to perform
several steps, define a script that includes the steps. Then define a button
to perform the script.Working with Pauses
- When a pause is built into a script, FileMaker Pro performs
the script up to the pause and then waits indefinitely or for the specified
pause duration. While the script is paused, you can do unscripted tasks. If
you have not specified a pause duration, click Continue in the status area
or press Enter to continue the script.
- If you change layouts while a script is paused and then
continue the script, the remaining script steps occur in the new layout. You
can not stop a paused script using Command-Period if the script writer has
set Allow User Abort (off).
- To stop a paused script, you can:
- click Cancel in the status area
- switch to another mode
- close the active window
- quit FileMaker Pro
- You can also perform another script from a button or
the Script menu when a script is paused. FileMaker Pro exits the paused script
and returns to the script that called the paused script.
|
