Is it possible to link to or store documents?

[gnarlydude]

Hi,

I need to be able to store documents like pdf's, Word documents, email messages, that sort of thing in my database. Is this possible? I know you are limited to graphics and sound files in a container field (at least with FMP 5), is there any other way to store documents in FMP 5? If not is there a way to add a link in a record that would pull up a document stored on my hard drive?

I need to be able to track the various correspondence that goes out to my clients. Does anyone have any ideas?

By the way I am using FMP 5 and need the data base to work on both Macs and Windows machines.

[wwyngaard]

If you have a Mac running OS X you can insert and store PDF's in container fields and view them with mac or Pc. The other option is to run Web Companion and use a calculated URL field to point to the file.

[ZuperZZ]

Hi,

Of course it

[andygaunt]

Yes,

but only if you are on a PC. OLE does not work on a mac.

[goostree]

I don't know if there is a Mac equivalent for this, but I know you can store a link to your document that will work for your PC users.

Make a field to put the link in (I'll call it "filepath"). Save the document you want to link to, and copy its filepath. Paste the filepath into the filepath field. Use a script with the Open URL script step, and it will open up Windows Explorer, use the filepath you saved, and open up whatever you saved there.

[ZuperZZ]

I

[kenneth2k1]

Andy is right. This is from the FMP 5.0 help file:

Use container fields to store:

<sum> graphics, movies, photos, bitmaps, sounds

<sum> multimedia file types supported by QuickTime 3.0 or later

<sum> OLE objects (Windows only)

From my version of FMP, the Insert Menu contains "Picture" "QuickTime" and "Sound."

I usually link these forms using the "open URL" as suggested before. I would guess that someone has a trick to doing it.

Ken

[RussBaker]

Here is a way that will work on a Mac. I also think you can use the open URL step and if you define the pathname starting with "///" then it will look on the hard drive, not the web - but I haven't tried that one yet.

Fields you need in your database:

A text field called "File Path text"

Scripts you need:

A 1 step script to open the word document associated with the record

The script step is:

Send Apple Event["Microsoft Word","aevt","odoc"]

To set it up like that you:

Select the Send Apple Event step.

Click on "Specify".

Select "open document" from the "send the xxx event with" section.

Click on the Field Value button and specify the "File Path Text" field.

Check the "Bring target application to foreground" box.

Check the "Wait for event completion before continuing" box.

Click on "Specify Application" and cycle through the folders until you

get to the Microsoft Word application, select it and click on "Open".

Thats it.

Now, in the "File Path Text" field in your database records, type the full path name of the field from the hard disk down to the file name, for example:

RussLap 6G:Filemaker Tests:Forum Questions:Test Doc Number 2

Create a button called "Open Word Doc" and assign the script to it.

Now, when you click on the button, Word will open and then the Word Document "Test Doc Number 2" will open.

[gnarlydude]

Thanks all for your replies. I am afraid that although your ideas work, they won't work in my situation. I need some sort of drag and drop type solution as the people using my data base are almost totally computer illiterate (my boss didn't know how or that he should delete old emails once in a while-he had over 4000 emails in his inbox when I started working in his insurance office).

Here is the situation. When we get a new lead we start a client file. I have designed a contact database to hold all the pertinant info on a new client. As we work with this person we (and the client) generate all types of correspondance: email messages, Word documents, pdf's etc. Now before I started working in this office, these documents were stored in any place you can imagine on these peoples hard drives so when my boss went to look for a quote, for example, that he made for a client he had a less than 50/50 chance of actually finding it. That is were my data base would come in and help. I imagine a button with a "link to file" script that the boss man could click, a dialog box would pop open and ask what/where is the file that he wants to link to and then he would navigate to the file and click on it. A reference to the file would then be placed in a field on the clients record. Clicking on the reference would then trigger the appropriate application to open up the document. That's all there is to it.

I am thinking that FMP just isn't robust enough to handle this type of operation. Am I right? There are tons of Insurance agency client management applications out there that do similar things as what I am trying to accomplish with FMP. Unfortunatly they all pretty much suck and leave out some important functions or they are so overly complex that it would take a year to learn how to use them. Thats why I had hoped to build a custom FMP solution from the ground up. It was a good idea anyway.