baytonemus

Thanks for your interest, Tony. I have been able to add a sort command using the FMStudio API that will accomplish what I need. This could still come back to bite me later on, but for now everything is working as needed. Thanks again - JAY

Thanks, Tony. The answer appears to be 'yes' on both counts.

I'm using the FMStudio API for PHP and have posted this in that forum (not on this site), too. I have downloaded my hosted database, cloned it, sorted records in the original, imported them all into the clone, renamed the clone to match the original, then uploaded the file and opened it. My PHP search page cannot access records in the cloned file. I get 401 errors. Is this normal? What is being changed when the file is cloned? I did find numerous differences in the file header of the clone and edited those to match the original, but that did no good, as far as I can tell. Same errors. I know that my host does something with the file's permissions before it is first opened. They claim this has nothing to do with what's going on now... I'm stumped. Any input appreciated. Thanks. JAY

Thanks for your reply, Ralph. I'm a little toasted tonight so I'll take a look at this in the morning and post again if I need further clarification. Thanks!

Not a database guru which I will make obvious in a moment... Basic question: Can I create a group of records (8-10) through a portal that will have unique data auto-entered in each field (differing from one record to another)? I'll try to keep this as short as I can but still give enough detail for clarity. The desired function is to keep records of the music that is used each week in the church services that I plan. I current have three primary separate files: 1) Services - individual records for each Sunday; includes fields for calendar date, liturgical day, and others; 2) Master Song List - one record for each song title with various fields for composer, etc; 3) Song Usage - individual records for each song used in every service; includes song title, date, liturgical day, and it's function in the service, (i.e., opening, Psalm, anthem, closing, etc.); When I create a new record in file #1 above, I would like to be able to automatically create a group/set of 8-10 new records in file #3, visible through a portal. Each of those files would have the date and liturgical day from the file #1 record auto-entered, but I'd also like to have the unique song function auto-entered for each record. For example... DATE LIT. DAY FUNCTION SONG TITLE 01/06/2009 Epiphany Opening (entered manually) 01/06/2009 Epiphany Psalm (entered manually) 01/06/2009 Epiphany Anthem (entered manually) etc... Is this possible? Obviously, I can do it one record at a time and fill in each field using look-up and auto-complete functions with value lists (and from file relationships, I think). However, every week I need the same basic "template" of about 9 new records. Sorry to be so verbose. Thanks. JAY

Thanks, Ralph. That certainly would make the record creation task less tendious on the reference side. JAY

I found the Import.log file and looked it over. Also very helpful. Thanks again. JAY

That's it! Man, I looked at that thing 100 times and I don't know why I couldn't see it. Thanks so much. I also appreciate the heads-up in the FM /*x*/ warning mechanism. I'm sure that will be helpful in the future. JAY

I've had a very productive week working in FMP9. Thanks for the nudge to upgrade. I am hung up right now with one aspect of my find script, however. I've attached two files. The first is a renamed and slightly adapted version of the example file Stephen created for me (Songs_FMForum_exReplace). I've added the substitute calculation to his script to allow users to search verse range using "-" instead of "..." and have also added a few records. The other file is my full database (SongRef for FMForum) which I've tried to adapt to match Stephen's design. There seems to be some slight difference in the search functionality because I'm getting false returns in my database find script but not in Stephen's. I've compared the scripts and the database/fields and I can't find any significant difference. Anyone willing to take a look at this please try the following: Open SongRef for FMForum Run the Search by ScriptureRef script Search for Book:John Chapter:10 Verses 4-5 (or 4...5) It will return all of the songs John 20 although it should only return one. Next Open Songs_FMForum_exReplace Run Find Songs script Search for Book:Mark Chapter:14 Verses 4-5 (or 4...5) It will return only the song with those specific verses and NOT the other records from Mark 14. See anything I'm missing? Two items that could be issues... When I created the records in the Scripture References table of my database, I mistakenly made the Chapter field a text field. I think I was remembering this suggestion from an early response to this thread and didn't double check Stephen's fields. In any case, I eventually caught it and changed the field to a number field. Maybe this is the problem. The other thing that has occurred to me is that this database was originally created in an earlier version of FMP, perhaps as early as v.4. Could that be causing problems? Just looking for ideas. Thanks again - JAY

I just installed the FMP9 demo. The web viewer feature now works correctly. Pretty cool. I'll be buying that today. Also, it appears I was able to permit the use of a hyphen in the verse search field by adding an Insert Calculated Result/Substitute script step. Thanks, David J. I'm still a long ways from having this ready so I may be back. But, for now, let me just say "thanks" to those who have helped - especially Stephen for creating the example file. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Peace - JAY

Seems like I screwed up this last reply so I'm attempting to fix it now. Alright, I'll give that a try. Stephen made some reference to auto formatting perhaps not working in find mode. I'll let him weigh in if this is what he was referring to. So maybe this should be working for me right now? Or, is it a FMP8 or later feature?

OK, that makes sense.

OK, I've spent a little time analyzing the example file you created for me, (thanks again), and can now ask the (somewhat) more informed questions that follow. What is the advantage to creating a "Song Number" field as over and against simply using the "Song Title" which will also be unique? I know this may seem fussy but is there any way to allow the user to enter "-" to indicate a range and have FM substitute "..."? I went ahead and added a couple more songs in the Songs table that reference the same range of verses in Mark and added titles. However, when I run the script searching for any or all of those verses, I get only a single record returned. Any idea why? I've attached my modified file. That's cool. Will this only be active when actually using Instant Web Publishing? I haven't used that yet. My web hosting company supports FMStudio from FMWebSchool and I'm planning to use that product to integrate the database and search functionality into my website. Thanks again -JAY Songs_FMForum_exmpl.fp7.zip

Wow, this is REALLY generous of you, Stephen. Thanks so much! I'll dig into it tomorrow and study the file. (No football for me.) JAY

OK, I'll dig into this first with a few records and see if I can get it happening. Thanks again. My users will not know FM at all. Although I have limited experience with scripted searching, I was assuming that this would be the case. I guess I'll fall off of that bridge when I get to it. Happy Thanksgiving to you all! JAY

Is your thought that this table would have a separate record for each reference/range of verses (or each individual verse) with a song name field that could have multiple entries? JAY

Sorry, but I don't know how to do this either. Several of you mentioned separate fields for book, chapter, and verse. However, when I tried that, I got false returns. Consider my original example of Matthew 26:26-29 and Mark 14:22-25. If I have both Matthew and Mark entered in the book field and the numbers 26 and 14 entered in the chapter field, a search for Matthew 14 will incorrectly bring up this record. Is there of way of contraining a search to the same repetition across multiple fields? JAY

Having spent some time reading the FM help files last night in an attempt to understand the recommendations of each of you who replied so graciously, I'm thinking this may be a bit out of my league. Although I'm sure I could learn what would be necessary, I'm not sure I have the time...or if it would be worth it for this one search feature. I'm sure I could hire someone to write the necessary scripts/formulas for me or just do it more simply. In any case, I'm going to ask a few questions and if any of you are willing to hang in there with me a little further, great! I don't know how to "trap." I thought global fields contained identical data in every record. How would that help me in this case? Yeah, you lost me there. Sorry. JAY

Thanks to all who have responded. I am out of the office all day today so I'll have to dig back into this tomorrow. I can see that I've got some reading to do in order to fully understand your various recommendations. I'm sure I'll have a few more specific questions at that point. Thanks again! JAY

Thanks for your reply, Fenton. You are correct, I do not have Developer although I am planning to upgrade to FMP9 shortly. A few more details about the way I'm hoping this can work. This needs to function as a "search engine" for customers on my website. Because of that, it will need to be pretty simple/intuitive, meaning that I don't think I can expect them to employ special characters for searching. (I realize that "Mark 14" (with quotation marks) or similar would isolate that text string and eliminate most or all erroneous returns, but I doubt most people would go to the trouble to read the instructions I'd have to provide.) Ideally, I'd like for them to be able to include verse citations in their search. However, if that proves too complicated, book and chapter will probably suffice. As for the structure of the references about which you asked, there is currently no specific structure at all. The lyrics of each song may either quote directly or simply borrow a metaphor from numerous different passages in the Bible. I currently have those references lumped as text in a single field. Here's one of the longer lists from one of the records: Exodus 16:1-36; Numbers 11:1-9; Deuteronomy 8:1-20; Matthew 14:13-33; Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 6:32-52; Mark 8:1-10; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 9:10-17; Luke 22:17-20; John 6:1-51; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 My customers may be looking for music that connects to one of those passages, (or searching in other fields such as title, topic, song text, or liturgical day). In the end, I'll want it to return results in a list (different layout) with links that will take customers to individual song pages, (not FileMaker pages). So that's my vision for the thing in a nutshell. Thanks again for your interest. JAY

I'm developing a database of songs that needs to be searchable by multiple criteria/fields. One of those criteria is Bible reference. The trouble is that such a reference consists of 3 distinct parts: book (Matthew), chapter, and verse(s). A record (song) also needs to be able to contain numerous individual references, (i.e., Matthew 26:26-29 and Mark 14:22-25), perhaps more than a dozen. I'm having trouble determining a way of isolating individual references. For example, if I include both of the above references with some kind of separator in a single field then search for 'Matthew 14', it will return this record even though I don't want it. I've also experimented with creating separate repeating fields for book, chapter, and verse but the results are the same. Although I've used FM for a long time, I guess I've never needed to perform a find quite like this. Any help - suggestions for resources or tutorials, etc - will be much appreciated. Thanks - JAY

Thanks for your reply, Lee. I guess I didn't make that very clear. What I meant to say is that, IF I disabled a font(s) that FM needs, I don't have any idea which one(s) it might be. What do you mean by, "Fonts have to be installed in FM in order to be used"? - that the FM installer checks for and adds fonts if necessary? If this is the case, I'd like to find out which ones are included. JAY

In the process of trying to resolve a font-related issue for another app, it appears that I may have disabled a font that FM needs. I'm not certain about this but am trying to eliminate possibilities in a methodical fashion. Does anyone know of technical documents detailing FileMaker's requirement in this regard or have any experience with this type of problem? Thanks - JAY

Thanks anyway - JAY

I called both the toll-free non-technical (10 licenses or less) number and the 408 tech support numbers. In both cases, as I attempted to prompt through the system responding accurately to the options that were offered, I was put into the paid support system and asked for a credit card number and never spoke with a live person. I'm not saying that there's no way to get direct free customer service. However, I made two sincere attempts to do so - one today and one last Wednesday - and I got skunked both times. Don't you believe me, Lee?