Missing Value to Address Book

[Daniel Shanahan]

I have an Applescript that moves data from FMP to Address Book. It works fine, except when data is missing in FMP. Here is the Applescript:

tell current record

	set theFirstName to cellValue of cell "name_first"

	set theLastName to cellValue of cell "name_last"

    set theTitle to cellValue of cell "title"

	set theOrg to cellValue of cell "company_name"

	set theAdd to cellValue of cell "shipping_address_1"

	set theAdd2 to cellValue of cell "shipping_address_2"

	set theCity to cellValue of cell "shipping_city"

	set theState to cellValue of cell "shipping_state"

	set theZip to cellValue of cell "shipping_zip"

end tell



tell application "Address Book"

	activate

	set thePerson to make new person with properties {first name:theFirstName, last name:theLastName, job title:theTitle, organization:theOrg}

	make new address at end of addresses of thePerson with properties {label:"Work", street:theAdd & return & theAdd2, city:theCity, state:theState, zip:theZip}

	save addressbook

end tell

Not everyone has a Title. For those who do, the data transfers fine. However, if Title is blank in FMP, something happens when it is pushed to Address Book - it seems like AB locks that field or sets it to NULL or something. When I am in "Edit" mode in AB, I tab through the fields, but I cannot tab into the Job Title field.

Is there a way to say something like, if theTitle is not missing values then theTitle, else leave it alone (and make it editable within AB).

I would really like to use such a condition on all the fields, just to make sure values are passed.

Thanks.

[Daniel Shanahan]

To demonstrate the problem, I've included a file - AB_exp_MissVal.fp7

There are three records:

John Doe has a title, so everything moves to AddressBook properly.

Jane Smith has no title. Once in AddressBook, in the Edit mode, I am unable to tab into the Job Title field to enter data.

Jones has neither a first name nor a title. Again, in AddressBook, in the Edit mode, I am unable to tab into the First Name field and the Job field.

In a way, this behavior is fine because it forces the user to make edits in the FMP data set. Nonetheless, I'm curious if there is a way to trap for Missing Values while I set the properties. In other words, if the value exists, set that property, otherwise, skip that property altogether.

Can anyone offer any insights?

Thanks.

AB_expt_MissVal.fp7.zip

[Fenton]

One thing you could do is check for a value before setting it into Address Book. Set FileMaker data into a variable, then check the variable.

if aTitle ≠ "" then

-- set into AB

end if

[Daniel Shanahan]

Thanks, Fenton. Then, will I need to do something where I set the properties? For instance, if I do this (abbreviated)

set theFirst to cellValue of cell "name_first"

set theLast to cellValue of cell "name_last"

if theTitle ≠ "" then

	set theTitle to cellValue of cell "title"

end if

...

(in Address Book)

set thePerson to make new person with properties {first name: theFirst, last name: theLast, job title: theTitle}



etc.

The code above will produce an error message that says the variable theTitle is undefined.

[Genelia]

Is it possible to get back data from address book to Filemaker File?

Thanks, Fenton. Then, will I need to do something where I set the properties? For instance, if I do this (abbreviated)

set theFirst to cellValue of cell "name_first"

set theLast to cellValue of cell "name_last"

if theTitle ≠ "" then

	set theTitle to cellValue of cell "title"

end if

...

(in Address Book)

set thePerson to make new person with properties {first name: theFirst, last name: theLast, job title: theTitle}



etc.

The code above will produce an error message that says the variable theTitle is undefined.