info

[Guest]

ValueListIDs ( fileName )

ValueListItems ( fileName ; valueList )

ValueListNames ( fileName )

what are this functions used for ?

[LaurenKuhlman]

ValueListIDs ( fileName )

[color:blue]FileMaker assigns a unique serial number to every value list you create. This function returns a carriage return delimited list of these serial numbers. Honestly, I've never used this.

ValueListItems ( fileName ; valueList )

[color:blue]I use this all the time. So useful! Ever done a Insert > From Index... (Ctrl + I) on a field and wished you could get that list for a script, etc? Well, this is one useful purpose for ValueListItems. Create a new value list that uses values from the field you would like to index. Then call ValueListItems ( "yourFileName"; "yourValueListName" ). It will return all the values in that field (carriage return delimited) without duplicates and without needing a relationship (like List). There are a lot of other purposes for this as well but this is one of my favorites.

ValueListNames ( fileName )

[color:blue]This returns the names of the value lists in the file (again, carriage return delimited). Never used this either but I could see it being useful.

[color:blue]A note about the parameter "fileName" I usually see people doing this

ValueListItems ( Get ( FileName ); "valueListName" )

[color:blue]instead of hardcoding the file name. Of course, if you have multiple files this may not be the result you want.

Edited November 20, 2009 by Guest

[LaurenKuhlman]

Dr.GKR, Did that help out?