117Alan

Hi Michael I’m sure experts will have other or better ideas but maybe this might help: Create the field you want lets call it “Grand_Total_Am_Invested” In field type select Summary and in the options section the bullet should be in Total of Then highlight “Total _Amt-Invested” Go to layout mode and make sure you have a layout part called “Trailing Grand Summary” (if not create that area by clicking on the top menu Layout, Part Setup, Create, Trailing Grand Summary, Done) Move the field “Grand_Total_Am_Invested” into this area of the layout. When you enter some values into the individual’s fields and then commit, the Grand Total value should automatically recalculate. Hope this is of some help, good luck.

To remove spaces in old records- First make a back up (File save copy as as….) Using SciptMaker how about something like: Go to Record/Request/Page[First] Loop Set Field[ Specify your telephone field] tick the box Calculated result and Specify the calculation Filter ( your telephone field ;"0987654321" ) Go to Record/Request/Page [Next; Exit after last] there is a check box to do the exit after last bit End Loop Or try: Go to Record/Request/Page[First] Loop Set Field[ Specify your telephone field] Perform Find/ Replace [" ";"";Replace All] Go to Record/Request/Page [your telephone field] tick the Specify By Calculation box and then insert your telephone field End Loop Alan

Thank you both. Both ideas are great!

In order to speed up data entry I am trying to create calculation that formats any four valid numbers, (with or without a colon), to the format required by FileMaker for a time field i.e. hh:mm In other words- 1. if the person enters the time correctly as hh:mm the calculation does nothing. 2. if the person enters hhmm the colon is inserted 3. if an incorrect 24hour time is entered eg 26:35 or 2a:25 the calculation returns for example a question mark. At present I have three fields that I use related to the duration of a procedure: StartTime, FinishTime and Duraton. For all three the type of field= “time” StartTime and FinishTime are entered manually, are set to “require strict data type= time of day” Duration is an “auto enter calculation” = If (Finish time="";0; If ( Finish time ≥ Start time ; Finish time - Start time ; Finish time - Start time + 86400 )) This allows for the event that a procedure might start before and end after midnight. For my “Duration” auto enter calculation to work the StartTime and FinishTime fields are, as I mentioned, “time” fields as opposed to “number” type fields. To get back to my original question of trying to insert a colon into the middle of four numbers one of the problems I have is that if I change the field type for StartTime and FinishTime from “time” to “calculation” then the “Duration” calculation fails. For the first line of my calculation to remove invalid numbers or if letters are entered in error guess I might need something like: Filter (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23) Then I get a bit stuck…. I have tried, unsuccessfully, using some ideas from this post: http://fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/195907/post/293736/hl/time+format/fromsearch/1/#293736 Which leads me to another question, in Cardiofuse’s calculation he uses for instance: Reformat=(PatternCount(Th eText;":")=0); and RawNumber=GetAsNumber(The Text) ]; Are “Reformat” and “RawNumber” calculation functions like “If” or “Case” because I cannot seem to find them in the list of “all functions by name”? Sorry so long winded but any help would be greatly appreciated Alan

Subject: Cancel Print Setup Here are two “script” ideas that word for me if I want the option to cancel or proceed with a print script: Allow User Abort [ Off ] Go to Layout [ “H invoice” (Items) ] Enter Preview Mode Show/Hide Status Area [ Show ] Show Custom Dialog [ Title: "Printing"; Message: "Do you wish to print this?"; Buttons: “OK”, “Cancel” ] If [ Get(LastMessageChoice)=1 ] Print [ Records being browsed; All Pages; Orientation: Portrait; Paper size: 8.26" x 11.69" ] [ Restore; No dialog ] Go to Layout [ “Main” (ABP) ] Enter Browse Mode Else Go to Layout [ “Main” (ABP) ] Enter Browse Mode End If Or if you would like to know, for instance, if an invoice has been printed before, this works for me: Allow User Abort [ Off ] Go to Layout [ “Iinvoice” (Items) ] Enter Preview Mode Show/Hide Status Area [ Show ] If [ not IsEmpty(ABP::DateInvoicePrinted) ] Show Custom Dialog [ Message: ("This invoice has been printed on" & ABP::DateInvoicePrinted & ".Do you wish to print it again?"); Buttons: “OK”, “Cancel” ] Else Show Custom Dialog [ Title: "Printing"; Message: "Do you wish to print this?"; Buttons: “OK”, “Cancel” ] End If If [ Get(LastMessageChoice)=1 ] Print [ Records being browsed; All Pages; Orientation: Portrait; Paper size: 8.5" x 11" ] [ Restore; No dialog ] Go to Layout [ “Main” (ABP) ] Show/Hide Status Area [ Hide ] Enter Browse Mode If [ IsEmpty(ABP::DateInvoicePrinted) ] Set Field [ ABP::DateInvoicePrinted; Get ( CurrentDate ) ] End If Else Go to Layout [ “Main” (ABP) ] Show/Hide Status Area [ Hide ] Enter Browse Mode End If Is this of any help to you?

For what its worth, looking at recent posts http://fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/198161/post/new/#NEW I now see there is another way to copy and paste scripts if one has windows and FileMaker Pro advanced- that is by using the Database Design Report feature. One small inconvenience that happened to me- after installing Cute PDF and using it, it then became the “default”. When I tried to print a “normal” invoice from my FileMaker data base I only then had the option of saving the copy to my documents as a PDF (i.e. the same option as I used to save the script to the hard drive) Alan

Thanks That works!!

Thanks for your help, - much appreciated. Unfortunately none of these solutions (including LaRetta’s advice) work, so that’s why I thought I’d ask the question again. I apologise as I did not know that questions should not be repeated. It might have something to do with a windows operating system. I am never offered the choice of printing to PDF, nor to “print preview”. I have spent some time in trying to find ways of bringing up these options on the screen.

Hi I would like to copy and paste (eg to a word document) several lines of script steps. For instance if I’d like to ask a question on this forum that requires showing all the steps in a script. Using FMP8.5 and Windows XP. But I can only copy the scrips steps onto my clipboard and then paste them into another script (ScriptMaker). I cannot paste the script steps outside of the file maker programme. I also can not print them. Any suggestions please?

Thank you both for your time and the appropriate advice. Much appreciated!

Hi How do I get filemaker to check if an invoice has been previously printed? I’d like to add a custom message to my printing script. The message would read something like “This invoice has been printed previously, do you wish to print it again” I’m not sure if this question should be here or in the “calculation forum” Thanks for the help.

Thank you

Hi I have a field, that returns a calculated value for a person’s age, using the calculation: (Date of procedure - Date of birth) / 365 I would like the number in the age field to turn (for example) red if the persons age is over 70 yrs old, or under 1 year old. I have tried adding: Case (persons age>70; TextColor (persons age ; RGB (255 ; 0 ; 0 ) ); Evaluate ( persons age ) ) But my attempts fail, mostly FileMaker says there is a “operator missing” Could someone please help with the next step to follow my existing calculation? Thanks

Before I posed the question I did try with my own calculations which were unsuccessful. I tried with “If” and then with “case” but I never though of the last bit of your calculation “Evaluate” Could you explain please what the “Evaluate” bit does? thanks

Much appreciated, Thank you I have downloaded the plug in and will give it a go. Thanks also for your comments (conditional formatting in FM9) re the colour change of the field contents if the incorrect amount of data is entered.

Thank you so much!

Hi I have a field containing a set of numbers (eg telephone number). Let’s say I want the field to contain eleven digits. If the incorrect amount of digits is entered I would like all the digits in the field to change colour say from black to red to alert the data entry person that there are too few or too many digits. While I realise I could use field validation to ensure that the correct number of digits are entered I would like to learn a calculation to satisfy the colour option. Can any one help with the calculation (or script) please? Thanks

Hi I have a layout with three Tab panels. What I would like to achieve is: the cursor entering a field located on the next (second)Tab panel when I Tab out of the previous field, which is on the first Tab panel. For data entry into the fields I have set the Tab order so that after entering data into the tenth field the cursor should enter the next (eleventh) field which is located on the second Tab panel. However the cursor always returns to the first field which is on the first Tab panel. This is I think a similar problem to “jump to a tab” http://fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/195066/ The advice suggested is to run a script: Go to Field [ yourField ] Pause/Resume [ Duration: 1 sec ] Go to Object [ Name YourField ] and set the field YourField like a button that fires that script I have tried that but is there a way to make the script run by “tabbing” into and out of a field (or button)? Or perhaps someone has another suggestion to help me. Thanks

Hi Thanks but that only seems to repeat the same numbers in all the fields

I have a field for an insurance number that contain up to eleven digits, but may be less. I would like create 11 little boxes in the data entry layout so that the person entering data can see that they have entered the correct amount of digits. Something like this, except 11 boxes: (sorry my drawing will not "cut and paste") (for now lets assume I do not want to use the “define database” field validation options) Also each time a digit is entered the cursor moves to the next box. I have tried using the drawing tools and the field control setup but I cannot seem to achieve a neat result. Any ideas please?

Thanks I'll try it out and let you know.

Hi I learning to use FMP 8.5 so I often look at questions and answers at this site, which offers great help-thanks for that. I have downloaded the above two files from aldipalo, but I am unable to view the script. Should I be able to or is it supposed to be hidden? Script maker is “greyed out” although Calculate Price is available (not greyed out) Also if I press the New record button I get a message: “This action cannot be performed because the file is not modifiable” Thanks

Hi I should have mentioned that I did try a few options after “selecting print”, before sending my last post. I have also explored all the (advanced) properties of all the available printers, it does not seem like I have an option to print to PDF. Cheers

Hi LaRetta Thanks, I was hoping someone would spot the question about coping and pasting the script steps. I have tried what you suggested but when I open script maker and then select the script I get the following options: (see attached) I do not (in this menu area) seem to have the option (print to PDF) that you referred to? Alan

Thanks for those elegant solutions and advice. I see what you mean that it could be a problem if a person changes their address then you have to update all the previous records. However maybe there is no reason to change them? It might not matter what their previous address was as long as the invoice relating to those details has been paid then that account has been settled. That being so, perhaps another thing to consider when creating a duplicate account is to have a line of text that appears something like: “please check that all details eg mailing address are still correct” before allowing the user to duplicate Thanks again