Join TRS today. Only open-minded people welcome

[LaRetta]

[color:red]The Repeater Society was originated in 2007 in an attempt to herald the benefits of (shhhhhh, lower your voice) ... [color:gray]repeating fields.

The society was started by a woman with no repeater experience but a long lineage of teachers who left impressions and great moments of awe with examples of repeater beauty, elegance and finesse. These teachers were JT (-Queue-), Ray Cologon (CobaltSky), Ugo, Michael (Comment) and Shawn (The Shadow). Anyone who turns their backs on repeating fields is turning their backs on tremendous power and flexibility that can't be achieved easily in any other fashion.

Repeaters are not miracle drugs. They aren't perfect for everything; in fact, they should NOT be used to house data. But they work miracles when used by Developers for calendaring, spreadsheets, navigation, graphics, statistical data and as developer interface tools.

[color:green]Honk if you believe in repeaters!!

If you are interested in becoming a member, pm me. You will receive a button that says, "[color:blue]Repeaters Rock" although you won't be able to see the button because it would be dangerous to display such a terrible thing in public. But the Repeater Masters will know you are wearing your button and we from The Repeater Society will all smile and know each other secretly. And our solutions will be fast and elegant with repeaters working merrily in the backgrounds.

LaRetta

(a woman with repeater-envy)

Edited September 23, 2007 by Guest

[comment]

A button? How about one of these:

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews10697.html

[LaRetta]

Now THAT'S a repeater!! See there ... repeaters DO have great power!!

I've actually felt like reaching for one of those a few times today (here and on Cafe'). Ha ha!

[Genx]

Lol, I swear you guys are the best form of entertainment ???

[LaRetta]

Ah, you need to catch up on the days' posts - about repeaters. Then come back and join the club. You won't have to announce it publically; I wouldn't want to see such a young guy tar and feathered. But you can join nonetheless, silently.

[color:green]BTW, I had to add Shawn to the Repeating Masters list. He popped my eyes out with some cool uses for repeaters in games!

Edited September 23, 2007 by Guest
Added green

[mr_vodka]

Could you repeat that again?

[Søren Dyhr]

I had to add Shawn to the Repeating Masters list

Daniele needs to be added as well!!

Anyone who turns their backs on repeating fields is turning their backs on tremendous power and flexibility that can't be achieved easily in any other fashion

Exactly, just as you can't turn your back to or hate all blunt instruments, although they pretty often are occuring in police reports when skulls are smashed in.

But you have to realise that almost every tool have thier intended uses, while derivations in use should make one wonder if it really is the best chosen for the task at hand.

Frowning at the abused, instead of the abuser ... is not logical reasoning even in creed-centric discourses, although it happens.

--sd

[The Shadow]

BTW, I had to add Shawn to the Repeating Masters list. He popped my eyes out with some cool uses for repeaters in games!

It sounds like I might still be on the outside, as I'm using repeaters for data storage...

I assume you might be talking about my chess board?

[MelJ]

I'm a late comer to this forum and a newbie to FileMaker. It took me a while to research what a repeating field was. The reason being that everything I read about them was negative. Everyting I read said "stay away from them" and "don't use them". After a while I learned they are nothing more than a one dimensional array! (Multi-dimensional if you want to make them that way with separate ?Vars) I know that the term "Array" is an "Old School" term. (I used array's back in the pre-windows day's using foxbase)

Bottom Line....AN ARRAY (or repeating field) is a VERY powerful and FAST tool!

[Genx]

Array isn't really an old school term and is used in pretty much every programming language in existsance. All it really is, is just a way of describing a key/value grouping of data. Technically a Repeating field is a poor man's array - the numeric addressing is annoying.

A multideminsional array is simply an array where a value is, rather than being simply a single value, a secondary array. Technically a database is a very complex multidimensional array.

In any case, repeaters can be fast and powerful, but again, only when used in the correct situations.

[Inky Phil]

HONK HONK!! :party:

[JW]

La Retta,

I missed this one, and not knowing where the pm button is....

Honk me in...repeatedly

[Ugo DI LUCA]

Hopefully, we have repeating variables to play with now, so I can pass my repeaters to variables, then my variables to repeaters

Repeaters like fresh air, do not forget to move them from one place to another or you will finally store data in them. Not that bad actually, your data will move quicker than ever !

Well, I have my button anyway, repeating Still

Cheers

[LaRetta]

I am pleased to see the responses here in support of Repeaters. And I would bet that there are thousands of closet-repeaters and that's okay too. Not everyone is brave enough to speak up in support of them. But you can wear your button anyway. There may also be repeaterholics who just couldn't get here to respond or honk.

Shawn, yes, your Chess is a rocker! IIRC, you had three or four other games based upon repeaters. And I'm even tickled to hear you and Ugo say you've been known to store ... drumroll ... [color:red]DATA in them sometimes. ROCKIN'!!

I continue to honk for repeaters although I still lack true understanding of them. But what I DO understand is that the masters use them to great advantage. When new to FileMaker, everyone freaked out and cautioned everyone, [color:blue]"DON'T EVER USE REPEATERS! They are throwback to old days! They will corrupt you and deform your children!" I was so afraid of them that I closed my eyes every time I saw something about them (absolute truth) because I was afraid it might implant and corrupt my thinking.

Because of this ban-on-all-things-RP, I started repeatering very late in my life. Without these childhood repeater experiences, I struggled to understand the basics of them. This late bloom has affected me and I'm now frantically playing catch-up on their use. Newbies? Respect repeaters. Do not use them for data until you reach an advanced FM level yourself, get input from advanced Developers first, or get married to a button-toting repeaterMaster. Relationships work better for housing data in most cases but learn Repeaters and use them in other ways as needed.

Don't pass them by! Repeat ... all I am saying is give repeaters a chance.

[-Queue-]

Don't forget that they are also a very ugly shade of mauve!

[bcooney]

LaRetta, if you haven't seen this...

this came from Richard S. Russell by way of the Dartmouth Filemaker list. It was in response to some developer issues with - wait for it! - repeating fields!

........

"Once upon a time didst the great god Claris smile upon his chosen people, and deliver up unto them a database manager. It was fair of mien, and easy of use, and flat of file.

And the people didst use it, and were content.

But there arose a voice from the scoffers (for the scornful are with us in every generation), saying, "But, Lord Claris, I have made me a house, and in the house are many cupboards, and in the cupboards are many shelves, and each shelf holds 1 thing of a particular kind, and 1 thing only. But I have several things of a particular kind which I wish to place upon this shelf, and I know not what to do. Canst thou not aid thy humble supplicant?"

And Claris didst frown and furrow and, after a time, spake thusly: "Thou raisest a good point. Let me ponder upon't som'at and we shall see what we shall see."

And a silence fell upon the land.

Bye and bye didst Claris return and summon the attention of his chosen people, and thus he spake: "Ahem. I have just returned from Cabo San Lucas, where I have been cavorting, ah, consorting with my fellow deities, and the consensus among them was this, that I should employ the type of miracle that is known among us, the gods of software, as a 'kludge'. And so it is, my loyal followers, that I grant thee the ability of the magic touch. Thou mayest touch any shelf in thy cupboards and utter the magical imprecation 'repeating field', and -- lo! -- that shelf will hold not merely 1, nor 2, nor 3 things of a particular kind, but literally hundreds, if thou so wishest."

And the people drew back in awe and went "Oooh", and "Aaaah", and "Wow", and "Way cool".

And the people didst use it, and were content.

And Claris looked down upon his work and saw that, if it was not precisely what you'd call "good", it faked it pretty well.

There passed, in the realm of the gods, an eon (which, to the limited mind of mortal man, was known as "a coupla years"). And during this eon, Claris didst grow in wisdom, and stature, and power, and functionality, and focus.

And when he spake again to his people he said, "Behold! I am thy god Claris, but I have grown in wisdom, stature, power, functionality, and focus, in token whereof I have taken unto myself a new name. Henceforth I shall be known as 'Fmi'. And in honor of this occasion, I have decided to grant thee, my loyal followers, a great new boon. Behold: RELATIONALITY!"

And the great god Fmi stretched forth his hand, and from his fingertips sprang forth a dazzlement of light, shining so brightly that all men averted their eyes from its glory and majesty. And when their vision had adjusted to the newborn eminence glowing in their midst, the people drew back in awe and went "Oooh", and "Aaaah", and "Wow", and "Way cool".

But there arose a voice from the scoffers (for the scornful are with us in every generation), saying, "But, Lord Claris, I mean Fmi, what about built-in E-R diagrams, and multiple tables in a single file, and ..."

"SILENCE!" thundered Fmi. "Ingrates! Showest thou me first that thou canst handle relationality in temperance and in wisdom, then we shall speak of further boons that I might bestow upon thee."

And a murmuring arose among the gathered faithful, along the lines of "Dude's got a point, man" and "Yeah, yeah, I suppose".

And the very wisest amongst the chosen didst soon discover that anything that could be done with repeating fields could be done even better with the new miracle of relationality, and, moreover, that with the magical implements newly provided by Fmi, they couldst convert all of the old repeating fields to shiny new relational files. And so they did, and never looked back, and thus were not turned into pillars of salt.

And Fmi looked down upon his work and saw that, if it was not precisely what you'd call "good", it wasn't half bad.

There passed, in the realm of the gods, several eons (which, to the limited mind of mortal man, was known as "about a decade"). And during these eons, Fmi didst continue to periodically bestow additional blessings upon the chosen ones, in return for which he asked only the annual sacrifice of a few hektobux, which all concerned agreed was meet and proper and not a bad price for what you got.

And it came to pass in those days that Fmi determined him to put forth a great compendium of all the boons he had bestowed upon his people, that they might be suitably impressed with how spiffy he was. And so he issued his compendium, which he called the Holy Book of Manuality, and gave of it freely to his people.

But there arose a voice from the scoffers (for the scornful are with us in every generation), saying, "Hey, what's this stuff about repeating fields? What are they good for?".

And Fmi, in his wisdom and patience, explained "Look there, right there on the next page in the Holy Book of Manuality, and thou shalt see examples of the utility of repeating fields, how they may be used of a thusness, and a suchness, and a soness."

And the scoffers didst indeed look, and determined they them that the principal organizing characteristic of the aforesaid examples was the halfness of their assedness, and they didst exclaim "Dude! Weak."

Whereupon Fmi drew himself up with righteous indignation and spake thus: "It is true that not all of the boons and benefits I have granted thee are of equal quality, value, and utility, but each has its place in the firmament. And besides, needst I remind thee of the great covenant which I entered into with thee, my chosen people, a covenant signified by my placing upon the skies the symbol of the rainbow labelled 'Backward Compatibility'? For I, Fmi, am a benign and generous god, and I wouldst fain not retract from thee any boon or benefit which I have previously granted, lest there be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth at its absence."

But there arose a voice from the scoffers (for the scornful are with us in every generation), saying, "Oh, yeah? What about the 'Save' button in ScriptMaker dialogs?".

"Hmphf," quoth Fmi. "Let us speak of this anon." And he turned away to repair again to his cave, wherein he would ponder and frown and think Profound Thots.

And as he did so, another voice arose, saying "And what about that tab-numbering interface? We've been waiting on that for a couple of epochs now."

"La la la la la," quote Fmi. "La la la la la. Not LIStening to you."

So concludeth today's reading."

[LaRetta]

Oh now that is uproarious! Thank you for sharing it, Barbara!!

Now, JT, just because you've been gone a bit, doesn't mean you say ANYTHING ugly about repeaters. Please show proper respect on this thread which is devoted entirely to their appreciation. Mauve indeed ... Mauve is an ugly color for sure but repeaters are pretty pink and not mauve!

Ah, wait until Michael knows you're back - you'll never hear the end of teasing!

UPDATE: And Richard??!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Edited March 19, 2008 by Guest

[-Queue-]

It was actually an allusion to an ancient email forward (from the 90s) regarding a new virus and the evils it would bestow upon you, your family, your pets, etc. It was ridiculous and humorous and forwarded quite often by people 'in the know' (whatever that means). The final line contained the mauve quote. It seemed an appropriate response with the doom and gloom warnings regarding repeaters, so I couldn't resist adding the sarcasm.

[LaRetta]

Well, not surprising that I was never 'in the know.' Thanks for explaining! :wink2: