FileMaker Pro 9 - The New Script Maker - 6 minutes, 25 seconds
TRANSCRIPT
Hi, I'm Geoff Coffey, co-author of FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual. In this Screen Cast, we're gonna talk about the new ScriptMaker in FileMaker Pro 9. We're going to look at the filter box, the ability to add groups and separators to your script list, and the new non-modal ScriptMaker and Edit Script windows.
FileMaker 9's new ScriptMaker is pretty radically different from prior versions, but one thing that hasn't changed is how you get to it. Just go to the Scripts menu and choose ScriptMaker.
The first thing you'll notice is that the ScriptMaker window looks almost completely different than it did before. For instance, I have new controls across the top. I have buttons on the bottom instead of on the side, and my scripts have little icons next to them.
One of the coolest new features for people with big databases is the filter box right here. Now it doesn't make much sense for a database this small; but imagine I had dozens or even hundreds of scripts in this database; and I was looking for the one that talks to our Oracle database. That could be a lot of scrolling and digging around in older versions of FileMaker; but in 9, I just come to the filter box and type in Oracle.
ScriptMaker immediately removes every script from the list except for the ones that have Oracle in their name. Then I can instantly find the one I'm looking for. If I wanna see all the scripts again, I just clear out the filter box with my delete key.
Now finding scripts is easier, but it's also easier to organize your scripts so that they're easy to find and manage. Down here, we have the New button. Now if I click this New button, FileMaker makes a new script. That's not what I want in this case.
What I wanna do instead is create a new group. So I'll click the little triangle. If we zoom in really close, we can see there's a little triangle next to the New button. If I click on that side of the button, I get this popup menu; and I can choose New Group. When I do, FileMaker asks me what to name the group. I'll say Import Scripts and push Okay.
Now I have a new group. This is not a script. This is a group. You can tell, because it has a folder icon. Its name is bold, and it has this little minus sign here.
What I can do is take the scripts that I have and put them into that group. If I drag them down, all I've done is put them below that group; but if I drag from the arrows straight to the right, you'll see that that script gets indented so it looks like it's inside that folder. I can do that with each of my Import Scripts like so.
Now I have a nice visual indicator that these scripts go together as part of a group, and that group has a name right here. Even better, I can click the minus sign; and all the scripts disappear; and I see only the group name. To get them back, of course, I click this little plus sign; and they reappear.
So using groups, I can take a lot of scripts and organize them into nice little packages. You can even create groups inside of groups just like this. I'm gonna go ahead and delete that group by selecting it and clicking the delete button.
Another way to help with organization is separators. I can click anywhere in ScriptMaker, then come down here and say New Separator. FileMaker creates what is essentially an empty script with a dash for a name, which serves as a little bit of a visual separator to keep things apart.
Now separators and groups have implications on the Scripts menu itself. If I switch back to my database and go to the Scripts menu, I can see that I have my first two scripts here; and here's my separator. You see, it draws like a line, like a normal separator line, in any kind of a menu in your Windows or Mac operating system.
And then my group shows as a menu of its own, and the scripts inside that group show as a sub-menu. So you can have more complex and well-organized Script menus this way, as well. Of course, if I don't want them to show in the Scripts menu, I just turn off their checkboxes, just like in older versions of FileMaker; and then they no longer show.
Another really great thing about FileMaker 9 ScriptMaker is this. You can have more than one script open at the same time. For instance, I might open up my Send E-Mail script here and be looking at it; and without closing that window, I can switch right back to the ScriptMaker and open up my Import From Spreadsheet script, as well.
Now I have two scripts open at the same time. It's hard to see in this tiny, little screen; but if you had a bigger screen, you could look at these scripts side by side. You could edit both of them at one time, be in the middle of making changes and switch to another. You can even copy and paste script steps from one to the other if you have FileMaker Pro Advanced.
So having two scripts open at once is really, really helpful. In fact, when you're in the middle of editing your script, if you need to look something up or make a change to your database structure without leaving the ScriptMaker window, you can even go to File, Manage, Database and look at your Relationships fields and Tables tabs.
Now, one of the implications of these new script windows is that, since they don't take over your entire FileMaker, they no longer have an Okay and Cancel button down here in the corner. If you wanna get rid of a script window, just click the X right here. If you've made changes, FileMaker will ask you if you wanna save.
If you're the kinda person who likes to use the keyboard, don't get too worried. When you have a script window open and you wanna close it, just press Control W or Command W on Mac OS 10. Again, if you've made changes, FileMaker will ask you if you wanna save. If you don't wanna see that "Do you wanna save?" dialogue box, you can press Control or Command S and then Control W to close the script window.
The last thing worth mentioning about ScriptMaker is these buttons along the bottom. Some of them are pretty obvious. The New button, we've already seen. It lets you make new scripts, separators, and groups. The Edit button just lets you edit the script you have selected, and the Delete button will delete the script you have selected.
But a few of them don't have labels. This one here will duplicate a script. This one prints the script. This one lets you import scripts from another FileMaker database, and this one right here lets you run the script. So if you wanna run a script directly, just select it and push the green button right down here.