Creating an output file from current record

[Michael_B]

Hey All,

First off, I'm new here... I've looked through this forum, but I can't seem to find the answer to my question.

I've been using Filemaker within in my dad's business for a few little things, but I can't seem to find out how to do the following:

Another program we use needs a CSV file with parameters that are in our order records in Filemaker. At the moment, we just manually create the files in Excel, but I would like to have filemaker create the file automatically each time we create a new record (order) with the data from that actual record. So for example, if the record contains the fields in a portal:

- data1

- data2

- data3 etc, etc

Basically I want a file to be in the format:

data1, data2, data3, etc

data1, data2, data3, etc

data1, data2, data3, etc

in plain text, but with a file extention of ".pnx" (the format the other program needs) It just needs to be dumped to a specified folder on the PC.

Is this possible? We are using FMPro 7.

Hope someone can help! Thanks in advance!

ALSO: I forgot to add that each line in the "CSV" file will be created from a portal record within the particular order. Basically, there is a standard line item (from another table) and we want to output each line item in the portal.

P.S. I read the recent exporting to Office and .rtf file thread, but i'm not sure if it applies to this exactly.

[spb]

If I'm reading you correctly, make a concatenation calculation field (text result) that strings together what you need into a single field. (NOTE: This is an FM 6 technique, it may differ in 7.) Using your example, the calc would be:

data1 & ", " & data2 & ", " & data3

If you need to emulate a .csv and include your field values within double-quotes, then add these inside the comma-space cluster within the &s. Using a double-quote as a text string can get tricky. If you need to do this, write again, otherwise this should work. Export just this calc field as a one-field export. When I do this, and have a .csv fully emulated, I export as tab-delimited to avoid extra double-quotes being added in. With only one field, there are no tabs inserted.

I'm not sure about adding a custom file extension, though.

Steve Brown