Text manipulation with scripts

[Matthew Wood]

I have data in multiple fields that needs manipulation.

Here are the fields:

Field 1: 50751327

Field 2: /MRW/Animation Episode 101/Audio Files/101act2_ADR.L.aif

Field 3: 560.083435058594

Field 1 is the file size in bytes, which I want to display in Megabytes instead, e.g. 48.4 MB.

Field 2 is the file path, but all I need from it is the file name, so I would like to trim everything out of the field except the last directory tree which is the filename, 101act2_ADR.L.aif

Field 3 is the time in seconds, which I want to display in minutes and seconds instead, e.g. 9:20

Can all this be done with script formulas? I could try manipulating the data with Applescript before it is imported into FM, but I don't know the extent of the FM scripting.

Thank you for any help...

Matthew Wood

[John Mark Osborne]

This can all be accomplished using calculation functions. You could place the formulas in a Set Field step in a script if you want or simply use a Define Fields calculation field.

Converting bytes to megabytes can be done by dividing by 1,024 twice.

Grabbing the file name off the end of a path can be done with the following formula:

Right(

field 2,

Length(field 2) - Position(field 2, "/", 1, PatternCount(field 2, "/"))

)

Minutes and seconds can be determined from a quantity of seconds by dividing by 60 or the number of seconds in a minute. Use the Mode function to fogure out the remaining seconds that don't make up a full minute.

[mr_vodka]

For Seconds try

Time ( 0 ; 0 ; timefield )

For Bytes try

Round ( bytesfield / 1048576 ; 1 )

For parsed file name try

RightValues ( Substitute ( path ; "/" ; "¶" ); 1 )

[Matthew Wood]

Thank you all very much, these solutions worked great! Kudos again to a very helpful and motivated forum!

[John Mark Osborne]

For Seconds try

Time ( 0 ; 0 ; timefield )

For Bytes try

Round ( bytesfield / 1048576 ; 1 )

For parsed file name try

RightValues ( Substitute ( path ; "/" ; "¶" ); 1 )

This solution will work great if you have FileMaker 7 or later. Matthew only has FileMaker 6.

[mr_vodka]

Hiya John,

I apologize for that. I was trying to finish answering some questions while trying to run out of the office and go home last night. Overlooked the version. I didnt even realize that you had answered it already. Thank for the correction.