“Save as Excel..." not available when script is in pause

[andries]

Hi

why is the "Save as Excel..." button de-activated when a script is in pause?

According to FileMaker help the "Save as Excel..." functionality should only be de-activated in Find Mode.

Kind regards,

Andries

[Vaughan]

is there found set of records to save? Is a standard export command also disabled?

[andries]

Yes there is a foundset present :-)

I am actually talking about the standard command "Save As Excel...". The script step Save As Excel works fine. This is actually the current work around. We created a custom menu with is called "Excel", and which simply executes a script with one script step: Save As Excel...

It is really the paused script that is causing this, if we cancel the script, the button becomes active again. We tried also playing with turning "Allow User Abort Off" on and off, as this has an influence on the availability of certain buttons (for example Preview is only active if the abort state is "Off").

[andries]

Actually I have a more general question about the behavior of custom menus and the buttons in the toolbar.

I really don't find any complete documentation about the behavior of the "default FileMaker commands". What is interesting me the most is to have some kind of list which describes when an action is active, and when it is de-activated. When you go into the custom menu items it is the Property "Usage" where I want to have more information about...

Does anyone has a source for this information?

[fmbiz.net]

Actually I have a more general question about the behavior of custom menus and the buttons in the toolbar.

I really don't find any complete documentation about the behavior of the "default FileMaker commands". What is interesting me the most is to have some kind of list which describes when an action is active, and when it is de-activated. When you go into the custom menu items it is the Property "Usage" where I want to have more information about...

Does anyone has a source for this information?

Hello Andries,

The Custom Menu documentation covers just enough to show you how to create and edit menu features but it does not go into detail on the consequences of your Custom Menu choices. As a general rule, any time you alter the Built-In FileMaker function in a menu or delete it from the Menu Set it will "grey" out the function attached to the Icon in the status area. In most cases where Custom Menus are used the Status Area is locked away from the general user. So as a designer you can simulate the native Icons by first copying the icon as a graphic and pasting it to your layout with your new scripted function attached to the icon. Now both the Custom Menu item and the Icon have the same function.

But so far I have not seen a list such as the one you are looking for. I think one day we will see at least one FileMaker Developer write a book that will reveal untold discoveries like this.

Good Luck.

- Charlie M.

FMBiz.net

[Lee Smith]

Actually I have a more general question about the behavior of custom menus and the buttons in the toolbar.

I really don't find any complete documentation about the behavior of the "default FileMaker commands". What is interesting me the most is to have some kind of list which describes when an action is active, and when it is de-activated. When you go into the custom menu items it is the Property "Usage" where I want to have more information about...

Does anyone has a source for this information?

Matt Petrowsky, FileMaker Magazine, recently did a couple of videos on this topic.

link that you might find helpful. The videos are by subscription, but the cost is low for what you get.

HTH

[andries]

thanks for the link, we are working on investigating this behavior and listing for each command what privilegeSet settings, Allow User Abort State, script running Yes/No, ... are influencing the "grayed out" behavior.

But this takes a lot of time. When it is finished, I will post our findings.

Andries

[Vaughan]

With respect, I don't see the point of such a documentation effort. FMP itself handles the activation or disabling of commands.

I suspect that the disabling of the Save as Excel command is due to something else. Is it a runtime or the full FMP client? What OS are you running? Have you tested the solution on other computers?

So as a designer you can simulate the native Icons by first copying the icon as a graphic and pasting it to your layout with your new scripted function attached to the icon. Now both the Custom Menu item and the Icon have the same function.

I do not understand this at all, and I don't think this is doing what you think it is.

If your custom menu set does not have a command, that command will be unavailable.

[andries]

With respect, I don't see the point of such a documentation effort. FMP itself handles the activation or disabling of commands.

I suspect that the disabling of the Save as Excel command is due to something else. Is it a runtime or the full FMP client? What OS are you running? Have you tested the solution on other computers?

We are running on FMP client, and tested it on several machines, with several files. The Save As Excel command is not available when a script is in pause...

I really think it is worthwhile to document it, because it is indeed FMP who handles this activation and disabling of commands. As I really want to make more use of the native toolbar, I want to understand when certain commands are available and others not (and honestly this "Save As Excel..." disabling, I suspect it to be a bug, as adding a button to my layout that calls this exact same command, works nicely when a script is in pause).

[Kyle Douglass]

We are running on FMP client, and tested it on several machines, with several files. The Save As Excel command is not available when a script is in pause...

I have come across this same issue. I'm running a script that creates a report and pauses in preview mode for the user to look over before being given an option to print. At this point, the "Save as Excel" button in the Status Bar is greyed out, but the "Save as PDF" button is functional. If I cancel the script, and reenter Preview Mode, the "Save as Excel" button is no longer greyed out. Neither option in the Allow User Abort script step affects this.

I'm also thinking this "glitch" came with one of the recent updates as my client told me they used to be able to "Save As Excel" in this script, but suddenly lost the option when I updated to the last maintenance release (we're on 11.0v3). If someone could confirm this as a glitch or identify the cause, that would be helpful.

As a workaround at this point, I've set the "Allow User Abort" script step to "Yes" and am instructing them to stop the script so they can export but this means navigating back to the layout the script was activated from manually.

[Vaughan]

I open previews in a new window. That way the user just closes the window to return to their previous interface. It also prevents the user's current found set etc from being disturbed.