I am developing in FM 8.5 Advanced. I have tried to use the "Windownames" function and it perpetually comes up blank. I turned on the "Evaluate If Empty" option but that doesnt seem to help. I used the function in a calc as follows: windownames(get(filename) ). And after all kinds of iterations with options on and off, defining it as a global and then as a minimally indexed calc, etc etc. I STILL get an empty window. When I try the VERY same formula in a new file, it works. What is going on?

The file may be corrupt.

I thought of that. So I tried to recover the file, although I have never had any problems with it. Is windownames supposed to be dynamic, changing as windows open and close?

PS...sorry for the triple post. Im new. PS...also...are you John from Seedcode? Just curious. I had some friends from Central Ohio who have a sizeable filemaker interest and one (named John) who lived in Michigan, a former affiliate with them.

Nope Sorry Joel; not that guy. I am sure there are a lot of John's out there i have never even been to Ohio.

WindowNames alone will give you all the current open windows regardless of which file they are in.

WindowNames( Get( FileName )) will return all the visible, hidden, or minimize windows for that particular filename; which in this case is the current file. It will list the names in the order of which they were opened.

P.S. Welcome to the forums.

John, thanks, Im glad I found this site.

So...is windownames dynamic then? Is it supposed to change everytime the windows change? Have you heard of it working better in OSX than Windows?

Just curious. I wont belabor the point too much, its just that I had a great idea for a script that would insure that only one window stayed open, cleaning pop ups away as needed and it seemed like that function was exactly what I wanted, but isnt working at all.

A calculation field using WindowsNames() is NOT a good way to test the function. Even if the calculation is unstored, the field will only refresh when the window is refreshed.

However, when you are using this function in a script, it will be evaluated in real-time when the script runs. To test this, insert a Show Custom Dialog script step with a calculated message using the function.

Here is a sample file.

WindowFun.zip