FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual

Scripting for Fields

Most people using FileMaker spend a lot of their time working with field data, so it’s no surprise that script steps devoted to fields abound. You can put the user in a specific field, select field text, and even play sounds and movies from container fields. You can perform a find and replace operation, run the Replace Field Contents command, and export field contents to a file. Finally, you get more than 10 ways to put data into a field.

Navigating Fields

FileMaker offers a couple of ways to field-hop—pressing Tab to move to the next field in order, or just clicking the desired field. It has script steps that mimic both techniques.

Go to Field

The simplest field navigation script step is called "Go to Field.” It’s really a two-purpose step, with two checkboxes to prove it. In its simplest form, you turn on the “Go to target field” checkbox and pick the field you want to go to. When the script runs, FileMaker puts the user in the specified field (provided it’s on the layout).

Tip

When you use “Go to Field” in a script, FileMaker dutifully ignores the field behavior specified on the layout and puts the user right into the field. You can use this fact to create a field that users can get to only by using your script.

The step also has a checkbox called “Select/perform.” When this option is turned on, the script either selects the contents of the field it goes to or does what’s in the field—if possible. For example, if the step goes to a container field that holds a sound ...