I want to be able to start a script on navigating out of a field, and as "IT_boy" suggested in his subject Layout Scripts": on entering and leaving a layout. :dreaming:

Yup!

John

Yes, yes, yes and again, yes!

No no and No, the status area is for the developer not for the eyes of the enduser!

--sd

Oh, oh!?

I think you don't understand what I'm talking about, Søren, it's got nothing to do with the status area! (by the way, I allways make a startscript that has Show/HideStatus Area [Hide] )

If you have ever wanted something to be altered based upon what you put into a field, and you for some reason cannot do it within the limitations of a calculating field, a lookup or anything else, and if you hate having to use your creativity on workarounds, then you should know what I mean.

Oh yes I do! ...and this it developers who agaisnst their own will think are forced to making filemaker do what is posible in Access or other tools having triggers.

Is it correct to expose ones frustrations of inadequate negotiential skills making clients/managemant choose filemaker over dedicated client/server solutions when cross platform issues demanded. These days are all workstations outfitted with a browser, so you could have implemented a MySQL/PHP solution for dealing with these issues.

Filemaker is a genuine mac user interface obedient tool that perscripes a button to execute a script, to make the developers include "forgiveness" to avoid rollback scripting if the user suddenly regrets his dealings.

This issue is hardly ever raised by seasoned Filemaker developers, who perhaps instictively take the interface rules from Apple serious ...you can notice this at Devcon where developers bring their labtops, and the powerbooks largely outweight (perhaps 90%) the PC'ish ditos. The choise of platform is down to the interface where you:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGHIDesign/chapter_5_section_2.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000353-TPXREF107

But the tool as such, do however have provisions in your direction.

Evaluate( in an autoenter with "replace existing value" selected.

Take a good look at these templates:

http://www.filemakerpros.com/NUMFORM.zip

http://www.filemakerpros.com/DecimalDemo.zip

But there is another question that need to be asked, are you sure that the task needs scripting at all?

This is often (I think!) raised, due to lack of knowledge to the way relational structures are implemented in filemaker.

Investigate this thread:

http://www.fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/173218/post/190819/hl//#190819

Where the questioner, were convinced that scripting was the name of the game, but where I and Comment came up with two different solutions to the same problem - entirely scriptfree!!!

--sd

Edited January 21, 200619 yr by Guest

Dear S. Dyhr,

I took a look at the custom functions in your zipped files, I could not see that they did anything to other fields or can trigger scripts and any direct actions outside the current field! As I say: I'm not looking for time consuming workarounds.

I have to spend some time thinking about all the philosy you added at the top, seems to me you are shifting focus!

Edited January 21, 200619 yr by Guest

Filemaker is 80% workarounds 20% development, pick another tool for your task!

If you investigate the Evaluate( function can any field in the same record trig changes to a field.

Make a new thread where you ask for help to the specific problem you have at hand ...you can then be the judge of how workaround'ish they seems to be in your eyes. If you need to make changes on value changes in other records, might your solution not be normalized sufficiently?

--sd

Edited January 21, 200619 yr by Guest