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Creating and editing scripts

After you have planned your scripts, you are ready to create, edit, and manage them.

To create or edit a script:

1.	Choose Scripts menu > Script Workspace.

Or, choose File menu > Manage > Scripts.

The Script Workspace window opens. You create and edit scripts using the three panes in this window—the scripts pane (left), the script editing pane (center), and the script steps pane (right).

2.	Create or open a script:

•	To create a script, click . In the script editing pane, type a name for the new script and press Enter or Return.

•	To edit a script, click the script name in the scripts pane, then click in the tab that appears in the script editing pane.

3.	Begin typing a script step name, then choose the script step from the list that appears.

Or, double-click the script step in the script steps pane.

4.	If the script step has options—indicated by text enclosed in brackets ([ ]) or by next to the script step—do one of the following:

•	Click the text in the brackets, then specify options that appear.

•	Click , then specify options that appear.

•	Click between the brackets and edit the calculation, or click to open the Specify Calculation dialog box. Only some calculations are editable inline.

Note  As you edit a script step, you may see the Restore option. Restore indicates that the criteria you specified when the script step was last edited will be used when the script step is executed.

5.	Do any of the following as you work in the script editing pane:

 

To	Do this
Add a line to the script	Do one of the following:  • Press Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Command-Return (OS X).  • If no script step options are in focus, press Enter or Return.  • If the last line of the script is not blank, select the last line and press Down Arrow.
Add a line above the selected line	Do one of the following:  • Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (Windows) or Command-Shift-Return (OS X).  • If no script step options are in focus, press Shift+Enter (Windows) or Shift-Return (OS X).
Move between lines in the script	Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow.
Add a comment to a script	On a blank line, type # or choose Comment from the script steps pane. Using the Comment script step in your script helps others who might want to look at or modify it.
Add a script step to the Favorites category	In the script steps pane, select the script step and click (Windows) or (OS X). To remove a script step from the Favorites category, select the script step and click (Windows) or (OS X). Note  You can’t add a script step to the Favorites category if the script steps pane is sorted aphabetically.
View information about a script step	In the script steps pane, select the script step. A brief description of the script step appears in the Help pane. To view more information about the script step, click .
View script steps alphabetically or by category	In the script steps pane, click to toggle displaying script steps alphabetically or by category.
See which FileMaker products support a script step	Click and choose a product. All scripts steps that are compatible with the product are displayed.
Increase or decrease the area of the script editing pane	• To show or hide the scripts pane, click .  • To show or hide the script steps pane, click .
Copy and paste a script step	See Copying and pasting scripts.
Duplicate a script step	Select the script step, then choose Edit menu > Duplicate.
Delete a script step	Select the script step, then press Delete.
Reorder the script steps in the script	Click the script step in the script editing pane and drag it to a new location in the script.
Select multiple script steps	Press Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (OS X). You can add, duplicate, or delete multiple steps.
Run the script	Click .

Note  An asterisk (*) next to a script name means that the script has been changed but not saved.

6.	When you’re finished creating or editing the script, close the tab, then click Save.

Or, choose File menu > Save Script in the Script Workspace window (Windows), or choose Scripts menu > Save Script in the FileMaker Pro menu bar (OS X).

7.	Create additional scripts, or close the Script Workspace window.

To manage scripts:

Do any of the following to manage scripts in the scripts pane:

 

To	Do this
Rename a script	Do one of the following:  • Right-click the script name and choose Rename.  • In the script editing pane, double-click the script name.
Copy and paste a script	See Copying and pasting scripts.
Duplicate a script	Right-click the script name and choose Duplicate.
Delete a script	Right-click the script name and choose Delete.
Reorder the scripts	Click the script name and drag it to a new location in the list.
Print a script	• Windows: Choose File menu > Print Script in the Script Workspace window.  • OS X: Choose File menu > Print in the FileMaker Pro menu bar. In the Print dialog box, select your options, then click OK (Windows) or Print (OS X).
Perform a script with full access privileges	Right-click the script and choose Grant Full Access Privileges. See the notes below for additional information.
Manage folders in the scripts pane	See Managing scripts using folders.

Notes

•	For information on each script step and its options, see Script steps reference (alphabetical list) and Script steps reference (category list).

•	You can use operators to concatenate text, perform mathematical functions, and do logical comparisons in calculations. See Using operators in formulas.

•	If many scripts are open in the script editing pane, some script tabs may be hidden. To display a hidden script tab, click , then choose the script name.

•	If a script is open in the script editing pane, you can right-click the script’s tab and choose Select in Scripts Pane to select the script in the scripts pane.

•	To edit the color coding of script steps and options in the script editing pane, choose View menu > Syntax Coloring.

•	To build scripts quickly, duplicate (or copy and paste) an existing script and modify the copy.

•	You can also create, edit, duplicate, and delete scripts from the Specify Script dialog box when you create a button or script trigger.

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To edit a script in a new window, right-click a tab in the script editing pane and choose Move Tab to New Window, or click a script name in the scripts pane and choose File menu > Open Script in New Window (Windows) or Scripts menu > Open File in New Window (OS X). The script opens in the Edit Script dialog box. Keep the following in mind:

•	The Edit Script dialog box has access only to features available in the script editing pane and the script steps pane.

•	To allow the script to do things that normally may not be allowed by the user’s assigned privileges, select Run script with full access privileges.

•	If you accessed the Edit Script dialog box by converting a button action to a script, you can press Ctrl+R (Windows) or Command-R (OS X) to rename the script.

•	When you set a script to run with full access privileges, keep the following points in mind:

•

Setting a script to run with the full access privileges enables users with limited access and privileges to perform scripted tasks that they would otherwise be unable to perform, such as exporting or deleting records. The access privileges do not change, but the script is allowed more privileges than the user. Furthermore, full access does not carry over to any subsequent sub-script, unless this feature has been enabled in that script as well.

•	Scripts can be set to run with full access privileges only by users with the full access privilege set. Only users with full access privileges can edit or delete scripts for which this feature has been enabled.

•	A script can run with full access privileges only in the file in which the script is defined. Scripts cannot override access restrictions on external files. For example, a script that is set to run with full access privileges cannot delete records in an access-restricted external file.

•	Users without full access privileges can be given permission to edit scripts that are marked as modifiable in their assigned privilege set. Full access privileges are required to create, duplicate, import, and/or delete scripts.

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If you are using FileMaker Pro Advanced, you can disable script steps so that you can test your script. To disable a script step, select it, then choose Edit menu > Disable (Windows) or Edit menu > Enable/Disable (OS X). Disabled script steps are preceded by “//”. See Disabling script steps (FileMaker Pro Advanced).

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If a script step specifies a field in a tab panel or slide panel that is not the front-most panel, the specified field is selected and the panel it is in moves to the front of the panel control. If, however, the same field appears elsewhere on the layout and the script finds that field first, the panel with that same field will not come forward. Instead, assign an object name to the field and use the Go to Object script step to move to that instance of the field.

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If a script step specifies a field in a popover, the popover opens and the field is selected. If the same field appears elsewhere on the layout and the script finds that field first, the popover with that same field will not come forward. Instead, assign an object name to the field and use the Go to Object script step to move to that instance of the field.

Related topics 

Script steps reference (category list)

Script steps reference (alphabetical list)

Working with buttons and button bars on layouts

Working with the Scripts menu

Editing scripts privileges

Publishing databases on the web

Debugging scripts (FileMaker Pro Advanced)