On Jan 5, 2010, at 5:21 PM, Stephen Wonfor wrote:
Hi Jackie
Will and Geoff make good points. Here's a different take on it.
...
(Adding Refresh Window Steps that convert to Select Window and Exit
Record steps where you need a Commit after a cluster of SetFields)
I did forget that the Commit Record script step often has to be
sprinkled liberally into converted scripts; the 3rd major gotcha of
fp5 - fp7 script conversion. It's the new window model, Jackie, that
allows multiple windows to have multiple "current" records. FileMaker
6 and before only allowed one current record in the whole application;
a set of scripts that bounced back and forth between files implicitly
committed the current record data simply by exiting the script. (mostly)
Now these tools the pros recommend; they will help for sure. They will
also add a layer of complexity as you see everything you may or may
not have wanted to know about your database. If I'm guessing right,
you are a power user who has built or maintained their own custom
database, learning as you go. As soon as you get to a point, say,
where none of your scripts are working and you realize that you need
to add a bunch of Commit Records, and it occurs to you that it would
be swell if there was a way to spray them into all your scripts
automagically; then you are a MetaDataMagic potential customer. At
that point you will be able to decide that a dozen or two scripts will
take about an hour to update and thus MDM is not worth the $300 to
you; or alternatively, that your tangled mess of hundreds scripts is
hopeless, that MDM is a huge bargain; and you know exactly what it is
that you want it to do for you.
Speaking of tools, I would recommend that you get the latest FM
Advanced. You really will need the script debugger to step through and
test scripts. You don't "have" to have it, in the same way you can
rebuild an old Ford engine with only a pair of channel-locks and a
screwdriver, but I wouldn't want to do it.
Stephen ( and most of these wonderful people ) is a real pro; if
anything I have said seems to conflict, then I would go with what he
says. :) Btw, nice concise four stepper from Darren there Stephen;
that's very handy. Thanks.
Geoff
ps. Converting an old file, I went to the file references in FM10 to
clean those old paths to long forgotten drives, and saw a reference
from my old machine to an old external drive I had forgotten about.
Aha! That's where that project I worked on years ago is hiding. Now I
just need to remember where that old drive is...
