Snapshot links in container fields

[mweiss]

I haven't gotten my hands on FMP 11 yet, so it may be that this idea won't work. But it occurs to me that by saving a snapshot link, then embedding the snapshot into a container field using Insert File, we have a simple way of creating "saved found sets" without complicating our schema. Has anyone tried this yet? The idea has a "strange loopy" quality that I find very appealing.

[mweiss]

Nobody ever likes my ideas. :)

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Have you tried this to see if it works?

Steven

[mweiss]

Don't have FMP 11. That's why I asked if anybody else had tried it. But I can't see why it wouldn't work -- it seems like a pretty straightforward idea.

I'm thinking to "open" the saved found set you would need to export the contents of the container field (i.e. the stored snapshot link) into your temp directory, with "automatically open file" checked -- and that would restore the saved found set. (What, if anything, would it do to already open windows, though? Hmmm.)

Edited March 21, 2010 by Guest

[bruceR]

It would work fine, but recognize that it always creates a new window.

[Fenton]

I just tried this Export Field Contents, of an inserted ".fpsl" file, from a container field, manually, with the [x] Open file option, and it works as expected. It opens a new window, so it doesn't interfere with the current window. It was quite fast. Another plus is that it restores the new window to its previous size (which is a nice feature, as it the size is not in that ".fpsl" file).

You can open that file with a text editor (such as BBEdit or its free little sibling, TextWrangler; you'll likely want [x] Translate line endings on). It is just an XML file, with the basic info:

Path to file, both network and local (absolute). The id of the table (occurrence), the ids of the records (internal file id), the layout id, the selected row (when saved), the state of the Toolbar, and the "mode" (Browse, etc.). I've only done one, so there may be more variations.

One other thing I noticed; the dash between 2 ids. Must be for a "range", to use fewer ids (hard to tell here, as the numbers are adjacent; but it was a found set, so I believe this is a feature).

126

170-171

192