Making a script operate on selected records ?

[Steven Cappiello]

I have a database that has a spreadsheet like layout.

It has an "action required" field, which allows the manager

to type in something like "please make copies and give to Mr. Smith"

The file is on a server. The system (which is served via FM server 7, is

operated on by a drone computer running a scheduled script that

loops through the records looking for flagged records every

few minutes and sends an email to the manager's assistant that tells

the assistant what action is required for which record.

What I'd like to do now is allow the manager to select several records,

put in an action request on all those records at once.

I'm a bit stumped on how to approach this.

I was thinking I could write a script that would add all his action requests into the

"action required" field for each record that the manager has selected (via checkbox)

but the problem with this is that then the assistant could receive several very similar

emails.

What would be preferable is to have an "action required on all checked records" field

at the top of the screen. And then when the manager typed in something to that field

and clicked a button that said "send action request" the system would send an email

to the assistant saying something like "please do ____this action____ for these records:

____all checked records__"

Has anyone done something similar to this or have an idea of how to approach this ?

I guess.... I'd want to create a carriage-return delimited list of all the checked record identifiers,

and send that list along with the note from the field to the assistant...

if that's a good idea.. I'm wondering where to put that field ? My first thought was a global,

but that would go away as soon as the manager logged out.

I'm thinking I should create another table that is related to the manager / account that is logged in,

and then put the action request info in there.. and then have my email looping script go through that table as well.

I'm using Xmail applescript to send the emails in the background... it pulls info from the fields of filemaker.. so SendMail script step on the client end is not an option.

thanks for any help you can offer

[transpower]

The main consideration here is to get the database architecture correct. I imagine that you would have a manager table, an action table, and a join table (manager-action). You can create the correct relationships between the tables and design the portals.

[Steven Cappiello]

No.... the actions are a text field.. something he/she will type in that can vary from "paint this candidate's face blue" to "call these people and invite them to dinner on 11/20 at Holly's"

I just want to achieve something like this

in header:

button with script with an input text field... (send this note _______ to my assistant)

in list view:

I want to be able to have my users check off the people

that the action pertains to.

__________________________

- James Patrick

x Katie Johnson

- John Smith

- Paul Parker

- John Smith

- Fred Smith

x John Smith

- John Smith

- John Parker

x Steve Smith

[Ender]

If only one user will be running this process at a time, then you can use a simple checkbox on a text or number field to mark the records. Then loop through the records, concatonating marked records' header text and names to a global field. Then email the contents of the global.

If this is a multi-user system, where two people could be simultaneously marking and unmarking records, then the mark field would need to be in a table related by Current User and Record ID.

It sounds like you were also interested in storing the action requests. This can get more complicated, depending on if this is simply a log of what was sent with a date/time stamp, or if this will be used in other relationships, like showing the history of the actions on a particular person's record.

[Steven Cappiello]

Ah.... so, these actions will only be used by one user per record at a time..(the manager of a dept. will only see records related to his/her dept.) thought.. to be honest, I didn't even think about the multi-user aspect...

which may come into play later for something else.. so I will think more about it. thanks

[transpower]

You could also do the reverse: if you have a small number of people, have a checkbox field on the event record listing them. Then have a script which will e-mail the message just to those whose box is checked.