Modal window in Filemaker 7 or 8

[Rob Tito]

Is anyone aware whether it is possible to create a layout with modal behavior?

So far all I have seen in versions 1-8 are layouts that can be ignored by users, no modal behavior at all thus.

Any hints welcome, and yes you can make a field mandatory but true modal behavior prevents you to even quit the application before answering/adding the needed information

TIA

Rob

[Vaughan]

Hmmm... what you ask for is impossible -- any process is just a Ctrl-Alt-Del away from user termination. The advantage of field-level validation is that FMP won't commit the record unless the data validates, and this is almost impossible to emulate any other way.

Trio Dialog and other plugins allow modal-ness I believe. Otherwise the "native" solution is to pause or loop a script (with user abort disabled) at the "modal" layout.

However this itself isn't bulletproof: in MacOS the Expose feature allows users to change windows and the script will continue from whatever window is selected (trap for the window name to help fix this) and in Windows the user can quit the application easily enough.

Bottom line is to design processes that don't absolutely rely on true modality and don't leave the database in an undesirable state if the modality is bypassed. Easier said than done.

[Rob Tito]

yes that is just as my experience is for FMP since version 1, and sometimes you just want to have a window on top untill someone either dismisses it or within the businessprocess gives a valid answer/input. Programming is possible but then for every layout with a modal need you have to write it out again since these will most likely depend upon specifics of that particular layout.

I have not yet seen a plug-in that delivered modalwindow behavior so if anyone has a clue there, drop a line

Thanks for the answer and TIA for whats more to come :)

Edited February 8, 2006 by Guest