FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual

Importing and Exporting in a Script

Like almost everything else in FileMaker, you can completely control the import and export process from a script. You use the Import Records and Export Records scripts, which you can find in the Records section of the script steps list. You also find script steps for "Save Records as Excel” and “Save Records as PDF,” with similar options.

POWER USERS’ CLINIC: SQL Queries

To make use of FileMaker’s query builder, you need to know just a little bit about SQL. A SQL query is made up of clauses, each of which influences the results you receive from the database server. Although SQL understands several clauses, the query builder window supports just three of them: SELECT, WHERE, and ORDER BY. The window has a tab for each of these.

The SELECT clause is where you tell the database what fields you want to import. You can include fields from more than one table if necessary. A SELECT clause alone imports every record in the table. If you include fields from more than one table, you get a result that may surprise you: Every record from each file is mixed in every possible combination. In other words, you import lots of records (multiply the record counts from each table to figure out how many).

The WHERE clause’s job is to control which records get imported and how the tables are related. To specify certain records, you build find criteria into the WHERE clause. First, select a table and column from the pop-up menus. Then select something from the Operator ...