I am missing something here

[brucepensyl]

Having played with FM7 and do think it is a lot better than Access, I seem to have hit a block with the scripting. I understand using Scriptmaker for the basic things that it does. But when I see script lines like -

Set Field[Trips::gWindowName; Middle(WindowNames; Position(WindowNames; "Menu Right"; 1; 1); 10)]

I am lost. I am not the smartest kid on the block, since this is gibberish to me. I have had wonderful help from you all here, but I am looking for a book, tutorial CD or whatever that will explain in detail the proper grammer and puncuation needed to produce wonderful tasks. I just work better trying things when I have a hard copy to work from.

Any suggestions/direction will be most helpful.

Frustrated

[Fenton]

Set Field you probably know. It's pretty straightforward. But the fact that you can use a calculation result as the data makes it more powerful, hence more complex.

There is really no Substitute (Pun, "dumb", "") for knowing what all the main functions of FileMaker do, what parameters they accept, and the type of result returned. You don't really need a book for this (though it's more comfy to read in an armchair). Go to FileMaker Help, go to the functions list, and start reading.

The Text Functions are often used. You can ignore the esoteric ones, anything to do with Japanese for example (there are several). But most of the others will be needed. The documentation is not bad, probably as good as most books.

The above calculation has 2 functions:

Design functions:

WindowNames - the windows open (showing or hidden)

Text functions:

Middle(text;start;numberOfCharacters) - Extracts the numberOfCharacters from text, starting at the character position specified by start.

There's more explanation and examples in Help.

In plain English the calculation says:

Get 10 letters in the WindowNames list starting at the beginning of the 1st instance of the phrase "Menu Right"

The result is "Menu Right" (10 letters) if it's there, nothing if it's not.

I'm not sure exactly what it's being used for. And there's usually more than one way to do things and get the desired resulting data and/or action.

The Get functions are also needed. Most of these things are not hard to understand on their own. It's just that there's so many of them, and the combinations are almost infinite. Many of the weird ones are probably rarely used.

The Logical functions are critical. Case() and IsEmpty() are the most used of all. Both easy to understand.

When you're writing a calculation (or even trying to read someone else's) you can type a couple carriage returns, then double-click the function from its section to put it's raw form on the layout. Then compare the data in the real formula to the raw form to see what the data in that Position() is (GetRepetition(Pun, 2)).

Remove it when you're done, or you'll get beeped.

[Oldfogey]

Nested functions can be confusing, especially if you are not completely familiar with the syntax of each function. Re-write the example you gave like this -

Set Field[Trips::gWindowName;

Middle(WindowNames;

.................Position(WindowNames; "Menu Right"; 1; 1);

.................................................................10)]

[ignore the "....'. They should be spaces but the post editor clears spaces.]

This shows you the individual components from the middle out - 'Position' gives you a result, then 'Middle' uses that result to give you the next result and finally 'Set Field' completes it.

Pencil, paper and bottle of bourbon are all you need.

[-Queue-]

Paul, fyi, you can use

    spaces    and       more     spaces    

[Oldfogey]

You've got me, Queue. I've tried that and it all ends up left justified. (Not just me - I've noticed other posts with the same problem.)

Is there some significance in the uppercase 'C' in 'Code'? Or do I need to surround stuff with '==='?

Maybe a nested, concatenated, nested function would do the trick?

[-Queue-]

Use the Code option in the detailed reply. It will surround your text with [ Code ] .... [ / Code ], without the spaces in the HTML, of course.

[Oldfogey]

          Thanks! 

Now onl marginally

[stretch]

Hi brucepensyl - from one newby to another I can share a couple things - I started working with FMP6 about a year ago and bought two excellent books from Amazon. The first was 'Learn Filemaker Pro 6' by Jonathan Stars and the second (and more technical) was 'Book of Filemaker' by Chris Kubica. I see that there is a 'Learn Filemaker Pro 7' just out and would recommend this as a starting point.

One other obvious point - this forum and the awesome people in it are a HUGE and invaluable resource.

Good luck and happy landings!!

[brucepensyl]

Thank you for the posts. I have recently bought Sams Teach yourself FMP7. Looks good and I am starting from the beginning and going all the way through. Another book is waiting for me at Borders that I have yet to view.

I will work with them for a while and see how it goes.

Thanks again