FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual

Organizing Your Scripts

Most mature databases end up with dozens, or even hundreds, of scripts that make life a lot easier for the folks who use it. But developers don’t usually have the luxury of creating scripts in an order that makes sense for display in the Manage Scripts window. That’s why FileMaker gives you a suite of tools you can use to organize your scripts.

Figure 13-13. The Window menu displays the names of all FileMaker’s open windows. Database windows usually have the same name as their file, so it’s easy to choose the one you need. But Edit Script windows lose a bit of meaning when the menu truncates their names, as you can see here. When you have multiple Edit Script windows open, be prepared. You may not get the window you want the first time. If you think about the windows like a deck of cards, it may help you remember which one is which. When two windows appear to have the same name, the one closest to the top of the deck will be higher in the Window menu.

Creating Script Groups

In Figure 13-14, you can see the Manage Scripts window from a database with a lot of scripts. The window looks a little like a window on your operating system, where documents are organized in folders. FileMaker lets you create New Groups for organizing your scripts that same way. Not only can you give a new group a descriptive name, but also, like folders on your desktop, you can collapse ...