update display while script is running?

[wintergreen]

hi, i'm not sure if this is possible or not, but what I'm trying to do is update the display of a specific field whilst a script is running.

basically, i have a script that consolidates a lot of records. on the layout that the script is run from is a merge field that will display "consolidating record 1 of xxx". The contents of the field are updated by the script as it progresses, and there are a liberal number of "commit record" script steps, but the best i get is that that the field clears (as happens at the start of the script) processes (the busy/esc cursor) and then says "complete" (the final step), but nothing in-between... Anyone?

[Lee Smith]

Try the Set Field script step. i.e. Set Field( yourfield; Get (currentDate).

If this doesn't do it, then it may be helpful to see your entire script.

HTH

Lee

[wintergreen]

Thanks Lee. Not really sure what you mean by that. Here is (roughly) what the script looks like right now:

perform script [message; ""]

loop

exit loop if ...

perform script [message; "processing record " & $i]

go to layout (events)

perform script [consolidate record]

go to layout [original layout]

commit records

end loop

perform script [message; "process complete"]

it's more complex than that, but that's the guts of it.



the message subscript goes something like this:

set field [gMessage; Get(ScriptParameter)]

commit records

The only other point of note is that the events table and the table with the gMessage field are in separate, referenced files

[Ender]

Adding a Refresh Window[] script step in there should update the display. Doing so, however, does tend to slow down the process a bit.

[wintergreen]

that works great. it does slow things down, but i think if i combine this with a pop-up window it'll be a good trade off between speed and knowing that it's actually doing what it's supposed to