writing to a text file / creating a log file

[dervaish]

hello all...

i want to know how to

1 - create

&

2 - write

to a text file. its main purpose will be to write log-in activity of the user and nothing else. since the program wll run on stand-alone workstations [no server for sharing]...each workstation will have its own log file. for now all i want to know is how to create and then write info to a text-file. rest i think i can manage once i have a starting point.

thanx in advance for the help.

[aholtzapfel]

Here is a solution using an OS level script (vbs).

It looks for a text file, creates it if it is not there, and appends a line to it.

Append_Text.zip

[comment]

Why not write the log into the database itself (which can also be exported at any time)?

[dervaish]

thanx for the replies guyes. i'll look into the example. and yes, comment, i'm also looking into the possibility of setting up a database to log the user activity. but was hoping if it can be done through textfiles and scripts directly.

[comment]

Filemaker cannot write (append) to a text file natively. You can use OS scripting (VBS on Windows, Applescript on Mac OS X), or a plugin, but the "direct" (and simple) approach would be to handle this within the solution itself.

[aholtzapfel]

I agree, A simple text field would allow you to log what you need to (triggered by running a script upon opening or closing a file) If you really need it as a text file, add a "Export Field Contents" script step to your script. There may be a reason to use an OS level script to do this (and maybe other things) but if you do this entirely in filemaker it is more likly to continue to work reguardless of the enviroment it is running in.

[dervaish]

thanx for the help guys. i manage to create a log file through SAVEit plug-in. so far so good.