Creating a history...

[artfairs]

Hi there,

I hope someone out there can help. Let me describe what I want to do and what I've done to try to accomplish this. I've gotten a little stuck on things.

Right now, I have a button set up on a "Pre-show Orders" layout, that allows me to send the client an email confirmation after I've inputted all their orders into the appropriate fields. What I would like to happen is that there is a field below this email button that automatically writes the timestamp for when this email was created (and sent). Now, sometimes a client will tweak or alter their order, and this field will need a new timestamp below the older timestamp (for when I send them the updated confirmation email). I want to be able to keep a history of these timestamps, instead of simply overwriting the old timestamp.

What I've created so far is a script, the first part of this script is the "Send Mail" with all my calculations specified, and then I'm THINKING that I would input after that "Insert" under the fields category, more specifically the "Insert Calculated Result". I tried using the "Insert Date" and that wasn't really doing what I wanted (and it just updated the date, instead of creating a list of dates).

Let me know if I'm not being clear and how to create what I've decribed above and/or if there is a better way of doing this.

Thank you very much.

[Stuart Taylor]

Set Field ( TheField ; Get ( CurrentTimeStamp )

If data is already in the field

Set Field ( TheField ; TheField & ¶¶ & Get ( CurrentTimeStamp )

Out of interest which artfairs do you work on?

[Lee Smith]

Hi Art, and welcome to the Forum.

There are some samples of how you might set this up at www.databasepros.com and http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos2.html#d1 (search for Audit File, or Field Modification, or Log File).

Or, you might just add something like this to your file.

If you have a field for notes about changes, just create a new field for a log.

then create a script step to add to your send button that does the logging of the change in the log file.

Set Field [ YourFileName::LogField; Get ( CurrentTimeStamp ) & "¶"& YourFileName::orderAdjustments & "¶" &

YourFileName::LogField & "¶" ]

HTH

Lee

p.s. Took me a few minutes to post this, so if I have repeated others, I didn't mean to step on someone else's toes.

Edited May 14, 2007 by Guest
p.s.

[Lee Smith]

Holy Cow Stuart, I didn't realize it was you. Nice change in the Avatar.

It is neat to see how people really look.

Lee

[Stuart Taylor]

Hi Lee,

Thought it would be fun, I think its great to see who your talking too, its also fun when you have an image of someone in your mind and then you see them. The image in my mind at least is rarely close.

(I had Avatars turned off until yesterday, which is why i added mine, you can do some interesting stuff with the forum personal settings).

Hi Art,

I had another thought in relation to the topic.

Although the timestamp method is great it's probably worth pointing out that it maybe better to create another table to hold the history in seperate related records. (If i think your trying to do what i think you are trying to do).

best

Stuart

[Lee Smith]

Hi Stuart,

Obviously I agree with your suggestion :

Lee

[LaRetta]

Yeah, it's great! Thanks for the reminder - I loved my cool hairless cat with glasses but I was getting tired of him. I'll need to find something else fascinating for awhile.

I liked the way your eyes changed - very subtle and sneaky - kinda like you, Stuart!!

LaRetta

[Genx]

Lol i love the random blinking :

[Lee Smith]

Thank god you mentioned that. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. :giggle:

[Genx]

Sigh... me and my damned sheep like qualities lol... Found this one randomly on my highschool's website from 2 years ago (hence the purple).

[Stuart Taylor]

This is great,

HELLO EVERYBODY!!!

[Ender]

I don't care how many pretty faces you all dig out, I'm not giving up my spaceship!

[Genx]

Awwww, you think we're pretty? LOL! I suppose it is a nice spaceship...

[Stuart Taylor]

LOL Ender, I can see your final front ear.

[LaRetta]

Besides, Mike, the name ENDER says it all. That's one of my favorite books - along with Stranger in a Strange Land! :^)

[Vaughan]

I've still got my 5 stars!

[Ender]

That's one of my favorite books - along with Stranger in a Strange Land! :^)

I'm in the middle re-reading the Dune series. But I think my favorite is Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Of course Card's Xenocide is excellent too. Ahh, so much sci-fi, so little time.

[Genx]

I never really liked Dune... Though i always loved more of the fantasy stuff like Robert Jordan, Raymond E. Feist, Terry Goodkind etc. Where do you guys find the time to read!?

[Vaughan]

My fave at the moment is Terry Pratchett's Disc World series.

William Gibson's stuff is amazing. I need to re-read that.

I recently started re-reading Asimov's Foundation series. It holds up pretty well.

I read Dune in my Uni days -- 1980s. I found it hard going then (couldn't get past the third or fourth book "Return of the Children of the God King Emperor of Dune" I think) and I can't bring myself to start reading it again.

[Ender]

I read Dune in my Uni days -- 1980s. I found it hard going then (couldn't get past the third or fourth book "Return of the Children of the God King Emperor of Dune" I think) and I can't bring myself to start reading it again.

C'mon man, you were almost over the hump. It just starts getting good at God Emperor!

But I'll give you a nod for Foundation. Say, if you like that, you'll probably like Dan Simmon's Hyperion.

[artfairs]

Thank you very much for all your help! And for being so friendly. Your feedback really helped me out.

To Stuart:

I work for artfairs inc., and we produce Photo Miami (during Art Basel Miami week), Photo LA and ART LA.

[Stuart Taylor]

Hi Artfairs

Could you add me to your e-mailing list

stuart @ dimensionsvariable .com

I worked for Haunch of Venison in London for 3 years (and many others in last 10 years).

I have done Basel many times but will go to Miami this year now i'm in NY.

best

Stuart

[Vaughan]

Thanks Ender, I'll give Hyperion a go.

Now, shall we discuss good SiFi movies, or is that a separate thread?

[Ender]

Well, I think this thread has diverged quite a bit already from artfair's original question. So what the heck?

Anyway, I'm kinda of the opinion that there are very few good sci-fi movies. Sadly, they tend to lack sufficient budgets for their special effects to really work, or the stories suffer from too much editing. Maybe it's just a lack of quality directors in the genre. We need a Peter Jackson to take on some sci-fi epic.

[Genx]

LOL! What is one of the "good" sci-fi movies Ender?

Any of you guys happen to be fans of Stargate or is that my own little geek thing?

[Stuart Taylor]

The only problem i have with stargate is that i have run out of episodes to watch :)

[Genx]

Myeah... to bad its dead. Oh well, at least atlantis is still around. And there are the three random tv movies coming :)

[Ender]

I'll recommend Serenity as a good recent sci-fi movie. If you like that, dig up the two seasons of Firefly that it's based on. Very good space adventure fare.

[Stuart Taylor]

I've moved on to Heroes ... but now i have to wait every week!!!

[Stuart Taylor]

Hey Ender,

Have to say 2001 is my fav movie.

A space oddity indeed.

[Ender]

Have to say 2001 is my fav movie.

An excellent book, and the movie had some great ahead-of-its-time special effects. But man, I just don't get the last hour. Maybe you need to be high to understand the whole kaleidescope thing.

Actually, I kinda prefer 2010. It seemed to have better pacing.

[Genx]

Serenity you say? looks decent,... rings a bell.. don't know from where. Any who, will watch it tomorrow :)

[Stuart Taylor]

Well the basic premise of man becoming aware of tools and moving forward based on this is interesting...

(phase of conciousness defined by the Monolith)

Then the whole of history is bypassed and the next point of reference is that of the point at which man colonises space and suddenly has to relearn the most basic things.

Mans tools are more suited (after the next phase of conciousness. ie mono on the moon) to the new environment of space than man itself.

At this point (the journey to the next mono) the tools (HAL) acquire conciousness and as with the objectives of most life forms survival becomes his primary objective.

Man reaches the other Monolith in space, the point of origin, from whenst it came. (scene one)

At this point man has become god (represented by the creation of HAL), (which is kind of what the search was about other than the meaning of life, unspoken).

He flys over many semi-organic forms, seas, strange land scapes.

He reaches his destination, Rather than meeting an alien race, which is what would have happened if Steven Spiel-burg had done it, he arrives in a space devoid of any organic forms, everything is man made, even the light comes from the floor. The things that surround him represent the knowlege of man. He is confronted only by himself. Life is represented simply as stages, the component parts are not relevant, empty, self-referential.

Before death he breaks the glass (one of his tools). Wine, a representation of culture and civilisation, at the end (on his death bed) man still reaches for further knowledge (reaches for the monolith).

He is reborn. Rebirth is either represented as man as part of the fabric of space and/or man enters a new phase as part of the fabric of space/conciousness of the universe or simply the end of a cycle.

Anyway thats my 2 cents about the last hour... hope i don't look too pretentious.

PS. I hope one day my users simply learn to use there tools. hehe :)

[Vaughan]

No good recent si-fi movies? No big budgets? What planet are you from!

Matrix

Fifth Element

Galaxy Quest

perhaps stretching the definition of SiFi:

The Truman Show

Vanilla Sky (very underated IMHO -- "Tech Support!")

Minority Report

I Robot

Butterfly Effect

Donnie Darko

The Day After Tomorrow (not an example of a good movie, but of BIG budget)

[Vaughan]

"...He reaches his destination, Rather than meeting an alien race, which is what would have happened if Steven Spielburg had done it..."

Oh yes, how could I forget 12 Monkeys...

In the director's commentry Terry Gilliam bags-out Spielburg's movie AI regading the ending: Gilliam says he'd have ended it when the car went into the water. The whole alien awakening thing dumbs it down.