export container to file system IOS

[Job Prijt]

Hi 

I want to be able to annotate a pdf that is saved in a container field , and read it back in to FM , I am not able to find a good solution for this, so what I have come up with is to save / export the PDF from FM GO to the documents/FM/ folder on an Ipad.  In Split screen view it is easy to annotate and can be copied back into FM. 

 

This works with dragging the pdf from one screen to another but I want to automate this with a script. therefore I need to know the file path of the documents path of IOS that FM uses.  I have tried several options but cannot find this. 

 

 

[comment]

6 hours ago, Job Prijt said:

I need to know the file path of the documents path of IOS that FM uses.

Doesn't the Get(DocumentsPath) function give you that?
https://fmhelp.filemaker.com/help/18/fmp/en/index.html#page/FMP_Help%2Fget-documentspath.html%23

[bcooney]

https://www.geistinteractive.com/products/filemaker-drawing-tool-godraw/

[Job Prijt]

 

1 hour ago, comment said:

Doesn't the Get(DocumentsPath) function give you that?
https://fmhelp.filemaker.com/help/18/fmp/en/index.html#page/FMP_Help%2Fget-documentspath.html%23

 thanks, but the get(documents path) gives /var/mobile/containers/data/application / . . . . /Documents  but when I export to that path I cannot find the file anywhere, it does not appear in the files-app of IOS, so it seems that it is not exported right 

 

5 minutes ago, bcooney said:

https://www.geistinteractive.com/products/filemaker-drawing-tool-godraw/

thanks, I have looked in to that, but it does not seem to work for pdfs , and because we have a lot of multipages documents this does n seem to work easily 

also , it annoys me I cannot get it to work with the native IOS . . . 

[comment]

36 minutes ago, Job Prijt said:

when I export to that path I cannot find the file anywhere,

So how exactly do you export now? 

[Job Prijt]

52 minutes ago, comment said:

So how exactly do you export now? 

the script is fairly straight forward and works on fm advanced on mac, just not on iOS 

line 6 is to show the path, and it results in the /var/mobile . ..   

I do not see an error somewhere, so it seems that the file is exported, I just cannot find it . . . 

 

[comment]

I am confused. I thought you had the export and annotation parts working, and only needed to automate the inserting of the annotated file back into the originating container.

I have no access to FM Go, so I can't test what your report. It's possible that the directory used by Filemaker is blocked to other apps. What happens if you select the Automatically open file option when exporting? 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by comment

[Job Prijt]

9 hours ago, comment said:

I am confused. I thought you had the export and annotation parts working, and only needed to automate the inserting of the annotated file back into the originating container.

I have no access to FM Go, so I can't test what your report. It's possible that the directory used by Filemaker is blocked to other apps. What happens if you select the Automatically open file option when exporting? 

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond. 
the exporting does not seem to work , if I select automatically open, the pdf opens fine (in FM) but it should be seen / found in the documents app (native ios) but I am unable to find the file anywhere it seems to stay in the sandbox of FM. 
 

 

[comment]

1 hour ago, Job Prijt said:

the pdf opens fine (in FM)

I  think you are mistaken about that. FM does not know how to open a PDF file. The help says that the output file is opened with the default application. 

 

[Job Prijt]

19 hours ago, comment said:

I  think you are mistaken about that. FM does not know how to open a PDF file. The help says that the output file is opened with the default application. 

 

Yeah I know, but I'm afraid thats besides the point, the question is , where is the file saved / exported to so that we can use it . it seems that it stays 'within' the sandbox of FM 

[comment]

1 hour ago, Job Prijt said:

it seems that it stays 'within' the sandbox of FM 

That is my impression too. The help for FM Go says that you can choose a sharing option when exporting a field's content. Perhaps that makes the file visible to other apps. But I see no way to make such choice in the script step.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by comment