Text field for keywords

[Miron]

Hello Guys and Gals,

I'm a "rookie" FM aficionado (bought my first copy back in FM5 but only did very simple solutions) and

my guilty, secret pleasure is playing with Filemaker.

I'm trying to do something with a solution and I can't quite figure out how to do it. If someone can give me an idea in which direction (and what functions to study) it would be greatly appreciated.

I have a field I'd like to be able to past some keywords or keyword phrases info. It could be 1 to 4 word phrases.

I then need to move these these keyword phrases info another field and format the phrases. (either with a quote or capitalize each word, etc)

Any idea on how I could do this. Not looking for specific code, just an idea of which of the functions would allow me to do this.

Thanks

Alfred

P.S. I'm working with FMP12

[beverly]

What are your "delimiters"? (what is separating each "phrase" as you paste? is it comma? is it return? is it

That would help us give you better answers. So, if you have returns between each phrase you can use the VALUE functions:

LeftValues()

RightValues()

etc. Just like WORD functions: LeftWords, RightWords, etc., the value functions work on a return-separated list (of words or phrases).

Proper() helps each Word be capitalized

Check out the new functions! It may also depend on what version you are now using and the available functions.

Beverly

[Lee Smith]

Hi Miron, and welcome to the Forum,

Please update your Profile to reflect your current information. Click here My Profile, for a quick link.

[LaRetta]

Hi Alfed,

Welcome to FM Forum from me as well! It would help to understand the context and purpose.

For example, management might want ability to create these keywords/phrases (value list or table) and then Users can select from those values to construct sentences (for letters) ... Or?

[Miron]

First of all, thanks everyone for your replies

@Beverly

The answer would be ?

I would be copying and pasting from either the results from Google keyword tool (which offers a txt option) or a .text file so I'm not sure of what the delimiter would be. Is there such a thing as a "default" delimiter in a text file.

Could I run a script on import that would add delimter or would I first need to know what was there?

BTW, I'm playing with FMP 12 Advanced. (Yes over my head but I just HAD to have it.)

@Lee

Sorry, I forgot, I just updated it

@LaRetta

Thanks for the Welcome.

I'm trying to copy and keyword phrases from either a text file or Google keyword tool (it offers a text popup window to allow copying of these keyword phrases)

They I'd like to paste these into a field in FMP. I would then copy to another field and add brackets. Copy to yet another field and add quotation marks.

These list would change from record to record so value lists in this instance would fit.

Thanks again to everyone for their responses!

Miron

[comment]

I'm trying to copy and keyword phrases from either a text file or Google keyword tool (it offers a text popup window to allow copying of these keyword phrases)

I took a quick look at Google Adwords Keywords Tool:

https://adwords.goog...m/o/KeywordTool

I see that search results can be downloaded to a text file in several formats - most of which (TSV, CSV, XML) can be imported by Filemaker. This is likely to be a much better option that copy/paste/parse.

copy to another field and add brackets. Copy to yet another field and add quotation marks.

It's difficult to see the purpose of that. You already have the data, why duplicate it?

[Miron]

I took a quick look at Google Adwords Keywords Tool:

https://adwords.goog...m/o/KeywordTool

I see that search results can be downloaded to a text file in several formats - most of which (TSV, CSV, XML) can be imported by Filemaker. This is likely to be a much better option that copy/paste/parse.

It's difficult to see the purpose of that. You already have the data, why duplicate it?

They wont all be coming from google keyword tool I just used GKT as an example. If I'm not mistaken, FM will import every line to separate record so importing form a txt or csv file won't work.

The purpose of duplicating it is that the data needs to be formatted differently for diffent purposes. One set need brackets, another duplicate set needs quotes and they are separate instances of the data.

[LaRetta]

Hi Miron,

I still do not understand what you are trying to accomplish. What is the table name and its purpose? Why are Users adding keywords to each record?

The purpose of duplicating it is that the data needs to be formatted differently for diffent purposes. One set need brackets, another duplicate set needs quotes and they are separate instances of the data.

This is telling us what you want to DO but not what you want to accomplish. What business process will be achieved? What 'different' purposes are you wanting to achieve? :-)

[comment]

1. What LaRetta said.

2.

FM will import every line to separate record

That's usually the preferable arrangement in a one-to-many relationship: keep the "many" in a related table, where each is a separate record. Keeping them as a list in a field is possible - but it places serious limitations on what can be done with them.

3.

The purpose of duplicating it is that the data needs to be formatted differently for diffent purposes. One set need brackets, another duplicate set needs quotes and they are separate instances of the data.

This could be easily achieved by using calculation fields to add the brackets/quotes. Whether that's the best way depends on the purpose of the exercise, of which we still know nothing ("data needs to be formatted differently for diffent purposes" is not saying much).

[Miron]

Thanks for the replies. I thought I was making my intention clear but I guess now.

I'm trying to take a list of keywords (anywhere from 1 to 5 keyword phrases) and store them in FMP (in a specific record).

The list could be 3 Keyword Phrases long, or 20 or more.

I then want to take that same list and add brackets and quotes around the keyword phrases which I would then copy and paste outside of FMP.

I would be keeping a 3 copies of these sets of KP (keyword phrases), the orginal, one set with brackets and one set with quote marks.

If I'm stil not clear let me know.

Thanks,

M

[comment]

I then want to take that same list and add brackets and quotes around the keyword phrases which I would then copy and paste outside of FMP.

If that's all you want to do, then this could be very simple. It's just that we are used to a higher level of automation, instead of all this manual copy/paste.

BracketValues.fp7.zip

[LaRetta]

Hi Miron,

You keep repeating the same information over and over. You tell us what you want but not WHY. Again I ask what the information is for and why you want it. I ask again for at least the name of your table to give us SOME idea. If we understand the PURPOSE of providing this for your Users, we can better suggest. I need information such as, "we're writing letters" or "the keywords are used to describe this product record" or "we're creating invoices" or ...

I cannot review Michael's file right now but we may have better ways than your method - if only we knew the reason for the keywords and also why they will be used elsewhere. If you hired a person to sit down and accomplish this task from an employee's perspective, what reason do you tell them as to why they will perform this task?

Hang in there ... communicating only through words can be difficult but we'll help you through it. I'll check Michael's file later when I can ... he has a clairvoyant streak and might have nailed it anyway. But still I worry that we are making suggestions blindfolded.

[Miron]

If that's all you want to do, then this could be very simple. It's just that we are used to a higher level of automation, instead of all this manual copy/paste.

Thank you comment! This does EXACTLY what I was looking for.

@LaRetta,

What I'm trying to do is manage keywords in a record. I'm not repeating myself, it's the END goal of what I'm trying to do. Think of it like a PPC management software where each record would have a set of keywords that have to be pasted in, then formatted, then copy and pasted back out. (It could be exported but it would have to be exported to a spreadsheet with about 200 other fields and quite complex.

You are right, Michael does indeed have a clairvoyant streak. I'm off to study what he did.

Thank you everyone! (and especially Mr. Clairvoyance!