CamMac2

Sigh...So much I don't know yet... Your answer reminds me of the old joke showing 2 scientists viewing a huge math formula on a chalkboard, and one points to the middle of the formula, and says: "and Here, a miracle happens" ;-) What I DO know: The database is running on OSX; Where the miracle happens: "Form there with some PHP and maybe some Applescript to update FM". Where can I look to find more info about PHP, Forms, etc. Are you still referring to a cgi form? or is there something special about PHP and FM7? I've heard people mention PHP and OSX, and have tried to see how I can write PHP on my mac with OSX, but haven't found any answers... Thank you for your help! Cheri

I have tried to figure this out, but now have more questions than answers. Our Main database is a simple contact database for mailing lists. Will be shared by 5-7 users. We have a cgi form on our website for people to apply to our college, but it is clunky to import info into filemaker (must open a .csv file in excel, than import to filemaker). Also, administrator must wait weeks for IT to update the form. (Info on the college app changes every semester). I would like to have the college app be in filemaker, and automatically be part of the database when the applicant submits it. Also would like the administrator to change the info whenever she wants. I thought FXForge might be the answer, but is that overkill for this one page? (overkill in that we would need Filemaker Server 7 Advanced, and I would have to check the server specs for compatibility) We have not bought any Filemaker Server software yet. We are updating from 6 to 7. This seems very simple, but I don't know the answer. Simple contact database shared by 5-7 users; One form that is easily imported to filemaker, and easily updated by someone with no experience. (Maybe I make the form in dreamweaver and use Contribute to allow easy updating, and forget about it being in filemaker?) Thanks for any suggestions... Cheri

Thank You - I was going to drop in the calculations for leading zeroes and the 2-digit year AFTER I solved the problem of turning a date into text - I didn't realize that the calculations themselves would solve the problem!! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer! Cheri

I have 2 date fields and a notes field that I have to combine with no slashes or dashes or othe marks (for export into another program) This is the format I need to export: mmddyy mmddyy note This is my calculation field Action Date & " " & FollowUp Date & " " & Action Notes This is how the field should look: 020904 021004 client seems to think there is no budget but this is the result I get 731620 731720 client seems to think there is no budget -------- I'm guessing that a date format uses some underlying numerical calculation, because I get a similar result in Excel if I change a "date" format to a Text format. I've tried DateToText, but I still have slashes (and no leading zeroes). If I import into Excel to "find and replace" the slashes, the "dates" changes to that underlying number code. Any ideas? It seemed like an easy problem, and would be, I guess, if the "date" format wasn't just a mask over other numbers. Thanks in advance Cheri

I have 2 date fields and a notes field that I have to combine with no slashes or dashes or othe marks (for export into another program) This is the format I need to export: mmddyy mmddyy note This is my calculation field Action Date & " " & FollowUp Date & " " & Action Notes This is how the field should look: 020904 021004 client seems to think there is no budget but this is the result I get 731620 731720 client seems to think there is no budget -------- I'm guessing that a date format uses some underlying numerical calculation, because I get a similar result in Excel if I change a "date" format to a Text format. I've tried DateToText, but I still have slashes (and no leading zeroes). If I import into Excel to "find and replace" the slashes, the "dates" changes to that underlying number code. Any ideas? It seemed like an easy problem, and would be, I guess, if the "date" format wasn't just a mask over other numbers. Thanks in advance Cheri

Great solution! But, Do Buttons not work in table view? I have been using a graphic button in List View that just goes to a different layout in the same file(for each record), but it does not show in Table View. I tried making a field into a button. The field-as-button works in List View but, even though it shows in the Table view, it is inactive. Any way to use buttons in the records of table view? Thanks

Yeeha! That was it! Thank you.

I'm performing a find in a calculation field that combines 3 different fields. If any info is missing from any field, the field will display the word ERROR. The problem I've encountered is, when I try to find the word ERROR in the field, it will only return the records where ERROR is the last word in the field. Example: (record 1 field): 4/C-1/12-ERROR (record 2 field): 4/C-ERROR-002 will only find the record where the field contained "4/C-1/12-ERROR" and ignore the other record. I have made a new text field that uses Set Field to copy the values from the calculation field, and did the find in that field, but same results. I've tried *ERROR and "ERROR" and always get the same results - I hope I've given enough info, but I am stumped... Thanks

In the words of Jim McKee ...Fenton ... Freakin' elegant! Nice job Thank you! I had to add "pause scripts" throughout to see what all the steps were doing, but as soon as I saw what was happening, I was able to tweak it for my situation. It's great learning all the different ways that globals are used in scripts. I can't wait till someone posts a question that I can help with! Thank you AGAIN!

I have the opposite problem to solve. I have a field ("response_set") that contains comma delimited numbers. I need them to populate a portal ("::responseNumber") - each number to go into a new row on the portal. (portal has no data at start) I substituted the commas for spaces so that I could use the Left word, middle word, etc., going from portal row to portal row, but the "response_set" field is different for every record. I think the logic is: look at "response_set", copy (cut?) first word, paste into first row on portal; copy next word, paste in next row on portal, loop until no more words in "response_set" but how do I say this in Filemaker-speak? Thanks!

How can I use Troi File to rename a file with the contents of a field? (and without any user intervention) I have everything set with MoveFile, but it seems to want the filename to already be in the script. The field name is "Company No. for export" and this is how it is done in DialogMagic: External("DM-RenameFile", "Export.txt|" & Company No. for export) but I don't see anything in Troi's documentation regarding getting the filename from a field. Any ideas? (PS I have this question submitted to troi also, but have not heard back from them...)

I found this tip on the Troi site - Copying Record data: You can copy and paste the contents of an entire record by choosing Copy (Mac: command-C or PC: ctrl-C) with the record selected. When you paste what you've copied into another program, you get a tab-delimited text containing all of the data displayed in the current layout for that particular record. You can also copy data from more records, not just the one you're viewing. Hold down the option key (Mac) or Shift key (PC) while choosing Copy (or press command-option-C (Mac) or ctrl-shift-C (PC)). This copies the data from all the currently found records. If you paste what you've copied into a word processor you get tab-delimited text. And if you paste the copied data into Excel, the data instantly transforms into a spreadsheet. Hmmm. I'm actually trying to get the contents of one record at a time into a tab-delimited file. Maybe I'm not looking to export at all, but maybe just create a layout that has all my fields in order, and use a plugin to put that info into the file. Hmmm...

Thanks Ray and Fenton - The nulls are scattered, so I'll try the second solution. I've gotten a lot of this working, using plugins - but I came across a "what should have been obvious, but wasn't" problem. Ray mentioned it before: >Exporting records one at a time will not be too difficult, since FileMaker exports only the found set. So if you set up a script to find individual records (whether via a scripted find or by an Omit/Show Omitted sequence within a loop) you will be able to isolate each record and export it separately. < I made a script to loop through the found set, exporting at each record with a unique filename, but what I missed was Each exported file has the complete found set as its contents! duh. I tried adding an omit show omitted, but I end up losing my original found set, and show omitted shows entire database. What else am I missing? Thanks!

Thank you - that puts me on a better track than where I was starting... I also have to export null values - the API is expecting 40 fields, but only 19 are in my database. The programmer says "send a null value". Any way to do this upon export other than by creating 21 fields named null_01 through null_21? Thanks!

I need to find a way to export records, one at a time, saving each record with a different filename, automating the process with a script. What I have written so far stops with the dialog box waiting for the filename. I am generating filenames within a special field - I want to copy the contents of this field and paste into the dialog box (automatically) and (automatically) hit return, and continue on with the script. (The actual problem: I need to export certain records once a month to an accounting database(proprietary). The database programmers have written an "application program interface" (API) that will always scan a certain directory. When the API sees a file named "filename.in", it runs a validation to check the file for errors, then adds the contents to its database. It then sends back the file as "filename.out" that will contain additional info that I will need to import back into Filemaker as "update matching records..." Have not even started that end of my scripting) Client won't go with ODBC, because he says he will lose the verification/error checking capabilities of his API. I have seen posts that hint at what I need to do, using Troi or macros, but haven't figured it out yet. I have looked at Troi - but don't see a function that will name a file with my individual names (I see "createfile" - creates blank file AND I see "setcontents" to change the contents of an existing file, but I don't see how to apply this to my need) Thanks greatly in advance for any thought or ideas!

I need to create a list of the fieldnames in my database in the order that they export so that I can make a list that matches the export data to its fieldname. (EX: the 5th word in my tab delimited export file actually is the fieldname "whatever") I have created a fieldnames calc field, and in place of layout name, I have inserted "". This gives me the list of all the fields, but in their creation order OR: is their a way to export the fieldnames and not just the record data? Thanks in advance for any help!

Is there a way to open or import a FileMaker database into Appleworks. I have a basic database that I want to use for a client that only has AppleWorks, and I don't want to have to re-create the layouts and fields from scratch.

What kind of printer are you using? (postscript vs. non-postscript) Non-postscript will print eps files jaggy, because they are just printing the on-screen representation of the eps file. JPEGs and gifs are better for on-screen. The best *should* be eps for postcript printers and tiff for non-postscript printers. **Make sure that you open the Illustrator file in Photoshop and then save as a different format (tiff, etc.). I've noticed that often gives you a cleaner, more "true" format, than the one you get directly from illustrator. If it is a color or grayscale logo, open the file at 300 dpi. If it is B&W (no grays) you should be fine to open it at 600 - 800 dpi. Also, since you are on a mac, you can just copy from Photoshop, and paste into Filemaker. I had the same problem, and I just created a temporary layout in Filemaker, and "copied and pasted" AND "inserted picture" -different formats from Photoshop (pict, tif, bmp, jpeg). In my case, the pict file, copied and pasted, printed the best.

<< From the sound of it, you need a portal in your companies database, which displays a list of related records from the contacts file.>> I'm sorry - I didn't mention that the main database is the company database, and the contacts are, indeed, a portal to the contacts database. --- <<It may be that an existing relationship between the two files will be suitable, but you may have to consider creating a new relationship which will match the company name in the companies file to s suitable field in the contacts file (one which will hold the company name for both types of contacts.>> The relationship uses a unique, serial Company # as the match field. Company contacts and Agency contacts for the same company will have the same Company# --- <<You will also probably find that the First Name and Last Name fields are in fact the same for both company and agency contacts, and are simply labelled differntly on the alternate layouts. If that is the case, you will have only two fields to display in the portal (and they will hold the name for each related record in the contacts file, regardless of whether it is refers to an agency contact or a company contact).>> The Main Database has a separate layout for ad agency info (contacts, address, phone, etc). (BTW, The Main Database is not a listing of Ad agencies, rather, it is a listing of many different types of companies, some of which have Ad agencies) The contacts are not the same people. The found set I need to create will need to list the contacts - sometimes just agency, sometimes just company, sometimes both, depending on the sort criteria. The only way I can figure out how to generate this kind of list is to do the sort twice - once for company contacts (and export as a dbf for the mailing house) and once for agency contacts ( and export a second dbf). BUT I sure would like to have just one list.

I have a database of Companies. Each company has multiple contacts. They live in a file called Contacts (each contact is its own record) on a "Contacts Layout". Each company (may) also have an ad agency with agency conacts. These also live in the Contacts file on "Agency Layout". I need to create a found set of certain contacts, both company and agency, (on perhaps a "Combined Layout"), that I can send promotional mailings to. The list would need to change based on the promotion. My problem is how to get fields named Company Contact First Name, Company Contact Last Name, Agency Contact First Name, Agency Contact Last Name, to appear in one sortable list? I know the answer is staring right at me, (global fields? ) but it seems I have tried everything. Thank you!

Thank You! I didn't notice the repetition number entry box in the "Specify Field" dialog, but this should do the trick!

I have a database that uses repeating fields for customer contacts. I have separated these into individual records when I import into a new database, and am now using relationships. The Problem: Original creator used repeating fields for first name, last name, phone, title, BUT he used individual fields for notes! (Notes1, Notes2, etc) and "lined them up" with the repeating fields! I can't get these notes to separate into the individual records, of course - all 5 fields come into each record. How can I get the five fields into a repeating field just long enough to separate them properly upon import into the new database? I used a caclulated repeating field (notesfield) to get all 5 notes fields into one field, but it only fills the first repetion "notesfield"= If(IsEmpty(Notes1), "", Notes1)& "