Opening file in a container field

[Mary Office Manager]

Hello,

I have a container field that holds a pdf file (reciept/invoice) for my expense record. The db will be published to the web. Currently, when the user opens the pdf file a copy is saved to the user's desk top. Is that the only way a user can open the file? If it's saved to the desktop? The user's desktop will become swamped with pdf files. I just hope there is another way.

Please advise!

[bcooney]

In filemaker, you need to export the file and then open it. As a developer the question was always, "to where?" Some choose the Desktop (as yours did), because there's a built-in function in FM, Get (DesktopPath), that a developer can count on as a valid path.

FM9 gave us the Get (TemporaryPath). It's probably the best place for those pdf exports, as it's a reliable path, hidden to the user, and the OS cleans it up on restart.

Long story short, unless you upgrade to FM9 and change your export path, your users will have cluttered desktops. This is probably better than a huge hidden diretory of pdf files.