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Export Records

 

Purpose 

Exports records to a specified file.

See also 

Exporting data from FileMaker Pro

Creating scripts to automate tasks

Format 

Export records [No dialog; “<output filename>”; Automatically open; Create email; <platform and character set>]

Options 

•	Perform without dialog prevents dialog boxes from displaying when the script step is run from FileMaker Pro. These dialog boxes would let the user set new export criteria.

•

Specify output file allows you to specify the file and file type to export. Choose the folder you want to export to, or type the folder path directly into the list. Specify one path per line. FileMaker Pro will use the first path it locates. See Creating file paths. The file type you use depends on the import requirements of the program using the exported data. You can also specify options to Automatically open the file and Create email with the file as attachment after saving.

If FileMaker Pro executes a script that does not specify an absolute path, and the database file containing the script is hosted, the path is assumed to be the current user’s Documents folder.

Note  You can export records as a Microsoft Excel worksheet by choosing Excel Workbooks (.xlsx). For more information on saving FileMaker Pro files as Excel files, see Saving and sending records as an Excel file.

If you specify XML as the export file type, the Specify XML and XSL Options dialog box appears, where you can specify an XML grammar and choose an XSLT style sheet if you want to transform the XML. The XSLT source may be a file, the result of an HTTP request, or a calculation that generates a file path or an HTTP request.

Note  Do not export fields whose name is entirely numeric (such as "2") or whose name is a single-byte kana character (Japanese version) using the FMPDSORESULT grammar.

•

Specify export order uses the export order that was in effect when you added the script step. The last export order used in the file appears as the default and can be edited or deleted. If necessary, choose an output file character set from the list. Select Apply current layout’s data formatting to exported data, or the formatting of the last exported data will be used.

Compatibility 

 

Where the script step runs	Supported
FileMaker Pro	Yes
FileMaker Server scheduled script	Partial
FileMaker Go	Partial
Custom Web Publishing	No
FileMaker WebDirect	Partial
Runtime solution	Yes

Originated in 

FileMaker Pro 6.0 or earlier

Description 

You can set the export order before adding this script step, or perform the step with a dialog box so a user can set new criteria. Export Records exports all the records currently being browsed. If you want to limit the set of records you're exporting, use a find request before using Export Records.

When you include this script step in a FileMaker Server scheduled script and you do not select Perform without dialog in the Edit Script dialog box, the text (NOT compatible) appears after the script step. The script, however, will run. The behavior will be the same as if Perform without dialog was selected. See Get(DocumentsPathListing) function for more information.

Notes

•	When using the Export Records script step or Import Records script step in a FileMaker Server scheduled script, keep the following in mind:

•	Any specified file must be in the FileMaker Server Documents folder, the temporary folder, or a child folder of either the FileMaker Server Documents folder or the temporary folder. For example, the following are all valid paths for file.csv:

<Documents>/file.csv

<Temporary Path>/file.csv

<Documents>/Folder1/file.csv

<Temporary Path>/Folder1/Folder2/Folder3/Folder4/file.csv

•	Any path specified that isn’t a complete path to the file (for example, anything other than /Library/FileMaker Server/Data/Documents/<0 or more directories>/<filename> ) is evaluated as being relative to the temporary path.

•	Any paths that include “..” are considered invalid.

•	Export to .fmp12 is not supported.

•	In FileMaker Go, exporting to .fmp12 and XML formats is not supported.

•	When using this script step in FileMaker WebDirect, keep the following in mind:

•	FileMaker WebDirect does not support this script step in mobile browsers.

•	FileMaker WebDirect does not support exporting to .fmp12, XML, or Excel formats.

•	If the Specify output file option is selected, FileMaker WebDirect outputs exported records with the specified filename and file type but ignores the specified file path.

•	FileMaker WebDirect outputs exported records to the web browser’s default download location.

•	If field data or record data is too long for the export format, the Get(LastError) function returns 0 rather than 736.

Example 1 

Finds and sorts records, then exports the found set as an Excel file without prompting the user.

Go to Layout ["Invoices"]
Perform Find [Restore]
Sort Records [Restore; No dialog]
Export Records [No dialog; "Unpaid Invoice List.xlsx"; Unicode (UTF-16)]

Example 2 

Exports the found set as an Excel file unless a file with that name already exists in the output directory.

If [not PatternCount ( Get ( DocumentsPathListing ); "Unpaid Invoice List.xlsx" )]
Export Records [No dialog; "Unpaid Invoice List.xlsx"; Unicode (UTF-16)]
End If

Related topics 

Import Records script step

Save Records As PDF script step

Save Records As Excel script step

Script steps reference (alphabetical list)

Script steps reference (category list)