ListFoundSet kinda...

[bruceR]

But 12 did not have perform script on server. It is hard to tell where you are going with this.

[David Jondreau]

Charity,

 

I think we're having a problem here of "inferential distance" and maybe some language issues. Your background knowledge and assumptions are different than mine or Bruce's. You seem quite confused about a few things, primarily 1) what the Perform Script on Server[] script step does, 2) what "downloading records" means, and 3) what it means to have calculations performed server side.

 

3) I recommend you simply forget about what you may have heard about calculations being performed on the server pre-13. It's a bit esoteric and not actually relevant.

 

2) When a FileMaker client "touches" a record, whether it's finding a record, or sorting a bunch of records, or a dozen other things, it transfers the data from the server machine to the client machine. Because of the way networks are structured, that transfer can take 10x longer than if didn't have to transfer the data. If process takes but 1/10 of second on the server, it may take 1 second on a client machine. Which isn't very noticeable. But if it takes 10 seconds on the server, it can take 100 seconds on the client machine...very noticeable.

 

Once the records are downloaded, that data is stored in temporary memory and can be manipulated much faster, but the original transfer can take some time, and some data can't be stored in that temporary memory ("cached").

 

3) What Perform Script on Server[] does, all it does, is run a script on the server machine. No information about the client's state, it's found set, it's sort order, anything else is transferred. It's as if you called up your friend in a different office and said, "Hey, run this script for me, thanks". The one exception being you can pass a script parameter, giving it some information. And that script, can only return a limited about of information, a script result. It can't return a found set or a sort or anything else like that. You won't see a change in the layout or the found set you're looking at (unless the script you called actually deletes records).

 

I hope that clears things up a bit.

[Charity]

Oh that sure helps David, thank you very much.

 

I went from trying to understand 11 to 12 server study and now 13.  I will continue to study.