Modifying data input during a scripted find

I arrived at a solution that is working now.

The problem I was trying to solve:

I have a field containing a bar code number, and want to have a find executed against the data, but if the first two characters of the barcode were "AB", to strip those off before executing the find.

The solution:

Use a custom dialog box with user input to scan the barcode; store the results in a global field; run an If statement, and if the first two characters are "AB", set a variable to the value minus the left two characters; perform a find using that variable.

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Following is what I tried before the working version. I'm leaving it here mainly because I'm still trying to understand more (in my general FileMaker knowledge) about PROBLEMs 1 & 2 (#3 has been solved by using the custom dialog with user input, etc.). But since I have a working solution, only have a look if interested. thanks

I have a field containing a bar code number, and a button that runs a script to perform a find on that field, where the user scans the bar code, and the scanner returns the number plus a carriage return (I have the scanner programmed that way) to  execute the find. When there is a record with a bar code label whose number below the bar code itself matches (e.g., "20154673"), the following script works just fine.

Enter Find Mode [ Pause: Off ]

Go to Field [ Select/Perform ; hardware::id_num_org ]

# At this point, the bar code is scanned, and the CR
# triggers the find.

However there are some barcodes begin with "AB" which are not to be used in the records (business rules). When using "Enter Find Mode [Pause: Off ], "Go to Field [ Select/Perform ... " is then executed before the barcode is entered; if pause is On, the user has to manually select the field to enter in (unless there was an active record, and the target field was active) -PROBLEM 1.

If a record is not found due to the leading "AB", the "No records match this criteria" dialog is suppressed (as I want with error capture on), but the error code returns "0", not "401"—UNLESS I use "Perform Find [ Restore ]" with the criteria being data beginning with "AB", but of course the data being searched on is derived from the barcode scan. -PROBLEM 2.

(Note: I simplified debugging of the error code by temporarily commenting out the If structure, and placing a custom dialog at the end of the script, using "Get Get ( LastError )" ) .

Once I can (hopefully) get into the If structure OK, how can I modify the data that was input during the search? I have the code for "Set Field" (or similar) worked out, but don't know how to capture the input data into a variable, or what have you. -PROBLEM 3.

Following are the basics of the script so far:

Set Error Capture [ On ]

Enter Find Mode [ Pause: Off ]

Go to Field [ Select/Perform ; hardware::id_num_org ]

If [ Get ( LastError ) = 401 ]

  # I only want to run the steps inside the following
  # If statement if the scan begins with "AB";
  # not if there simply is no record for the barcode.

  If [ Left ( hardware::id_num_org ; 2 ) = "AB"
     Modify Last Find

     # I think in order to not require the user to
     # rescan if we get to this If statement, that I may
     # need to capture the scanned input into a variable.
     # That is yet another thing to work out.

     Set Field [ hardware::id_num_org ; Right ( hardware::id_num_org ; Length ( hardware::id_num_org ) - 2 ) ]

  End If

End If

Set Error Capture [ Off ]

I tried using Perform Find [ ] , but didn't see a way to pass the scanned barcode using criteria for "Specify Find Requests".

Edited October 25, 20187 yr by ken_s2007
I found a solution.