Discuss....

:joust:

It depends on your needs.

At Devcon 2005, John Mark Osborne demonstrated a typical "find duplicates" script using a global vs. a variable. Using a variable was much, much faster. For a job like that where the value being used as a checksum is needed only while the script is running, a local variable is perfect.

As ariw stated, it really depends on the situation which to use. However, I must say that after being given the ability to use variables, a lot of unnecessary data dump global fields are now no longer needed.

I say Pro Variables.

I guess there are several unexpected suckatudes with variables, like not being accessable in other files, not being able to directly display them in a layout, you still have to use fields in dialog boxes, etc...

I know at a performance level they rule, but on a functionality level, they seem to have a lot to be desired.

If filemaker had taken variables 2 steps further, theyd be awesome...

Step 1: You should have been able to declare a variable with another level of visibility across files, sort of an application level variable.

Step 2: You should be able to display a variable as a field so the user can set the variable directly instead of it having to be set at the beginning of a script.

This is one more new feature that could have been unbelievably good (think tabs), but filemaker for whatever reason has not taken it to that level.

There is no central place to see a list of all the variables I have declaired. And no central place to comment on how each one is used.

I love using them, but I can never remember what variables I have declaired. I would like something like the define fields window to view all variables declaired.

There's a data viewer in FM8 Advanced that can show the value of script variables. Though I suppose this doesn't help if you can't remember what they're named. :)

Edited November 16, 200520 yr by Guest