Can't access the data inside of a container field? FMP12

[gczychi]

Hi,

 

it's probably very easy, but I don't know how to access the data inside of a container field.

 

I have a script that inserts a small text file (insert, no reference) into a container and all I can see is a file icon with the filename. When I use «GetAsText(ContainerField)», I only get the filename. But how can I access the data inside of this container/file?  I need to perform a couple of text manipulations and store the results in another field of this record.

 

Thanks so much for any help.

 

Gary

 

[Wim Decorte]

That's not something that FM supports natively.  When you insert a file into a container, you insert the binary file, not the contents of the file.  If you need the contents you will need to resort to a plugin for that.  Or do some OS-level manipulation using the OS scripting languages.

[gczychi]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

So, what you are saying is that there is no way to access even the binary data?  Wow, that's a surprise.

 

I don't know enough AppleScript (I'm on a Mac) to be able to do this.  Any suggestions?

 

Thanks a lot,

 

Gary

[gczychi]

After a couple of hours of trial and error, i have found the easiest way to read a text file into a text field, using a shell command inside an AppleScript (Mac only):

 

Compose a variable $script (for example) and use it in an AppleScript script step:

 

$script =

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

set fn to choose file

copy POSIX path of fn as text to cell "Path" of current record

set cell "Text" of current record to (do shell script "cat /Users/gc/Desktop/A00542721.txt")

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

The pathname is still hard coded here, so that you get the idea. I have divided that into two small scripts. In the first, I am saving the file name of the file that the user chose into a gobal «Path» field. And in the second I use this path field to read the contents of the file into my field «Text».

 

I hope that someone finds this useful.

 

I'm still puzzled that FileMaker can't do this simple task by itself.

 

 

Gary