Export Field Contents quirk

[gephry]

I have a field that compiles the record data into iCal code (.ics). Then I use the ExportFieldContents function to create a .ics file to import into iCal. But! When it exports the data, it adds really weird formatting that makes iCal unable to read it. The .ics file starts with a random "<^" and then has weird spacing format issues (I have to press the arrow key or delete key two times in order to even move the cursor).

If I copy the field contents and manually create a .ics file, iCal sees it no problem and imports it. But if I use ExportFieldContents, iCal says the file is "corrupt." Any ideas on how to fix this problem?

Thanks!

[gephry]

Okay, this zipped file contains two examples of my data export.

iCal_fieldExport.ics is the data directly exported from the global field.

iCal_CopyPaste.ics is the data copied from the global field and pasted into a TXT document then saved with the extension ".ics"

If you open them up with iCal, iCal_CopyPaste.ics works but iCal_fieldExport.ics does not --- it gives an "unreadable" error. If you open both of them up in a rich text editor (such as BBEdit, not word or TextEdit), you can see the "<^" thing and the spacing issue I'm talking about with iCal_fieldExport.ics.

Ideas?

ics_Files.zip

[comment]

The difference is in encoding: field export is always encoded as UTF-16. I guess iCal doesn't like that.

[Fenton]

It's the utf-16 encoding. Which you can see if you look at the lower left, in the status bar of BBEdit (which is a text editor, TextEdit is a rich text editor). That's the default (and only) encoding for Export Field Contents.* The "good" file is utf-8.

A quick way, on a Mac, of getting a utf-8 file is to just write the file using a shell script command, running it with AppleScript, in a Perform AppleScript step. It produces a utf-8 file by default, and also translates FileMaker field internal carriage returns (ASCII 11).

-- tell application "FileMaker Pro Advanced"

	copy cell "filename" of current record to fileName

	copy cell "Text_" of current record to exportMe

	do shell script "echo -n " & quoted form of exportMe & " > ~/Desktop/" & quoted form of fileName

	-- -n prevents a final line feed from being added

-- end tell

~/Library/Calendars/ is the user's calendars directory, if you'd rather use that.

You don't need the tell FileMaker lines inside FileMaker; but you do need them in Script Editor, so I leave them in, but --commented. In the above I'm only taking the file name from a FileMaker field, adding it to the path to the user's desktop.

[gephry]

Oh man Fenton, that's perfect! I thought about AppleScript briefly but am not very fluent. I made some mods to your AppleScript so people can specify a custom filename (via Filemaker CustomDialog).

(Ooo, understood about BBEdit and TextEdit. Makes sense.)

Perfect! Thank you so much! Lifesaver!