Frequently Asked Questions on FileMaker Pro

Sections:
1	Where can I get information from
    1.1 Internet sites
    1.2 Software and templates
    1.3 Newsgroups
    1.4 Mailing lists
    1.5 Books

2	Version history
    2.0 What is the current version of FMPro for Macintosh
    2.1 Is Filemaker Pro relational
    2.2 Will the next version be relational
    2.3 When will FMPro 3.0 be released

3	Field Formats and Index values
    3.1 What for do I need Index values?
    3.2 Lookups
    3.3 Text formats and Index basics
    3.3.1 Character Translation for Indexed Values
    3.4 Number format
    3.5 Date format
    3.6 Time format
    3.7 Hidden fields

4	Repeating Fields
    4.1 Convert repeating fields to non repeating fields
    4.2 Convert nonrepeating fields to repeating field
    4.2.1 How to create ASCII-29
    4.3 Merge separate records to a single repeating field
    4.4 Removing duplicates or Sychronizing databases

5	Find
    5.1 Some Facts
    5.2 Perform scripted find
    5.3 No matching records found
    5.4 Find on multiple fields
    5.5 Find with AND / OR / NOT
    5.6 Find on a subset

6   Miscellaneous tips
	6.1 Removing password
	6.2 Go to last record

7	Documenting
    7.1 Documenting scripts
    7.2 Printing Index Fields

8	Copying Layouts
    8.1 Is it possible to copy a layout from one database to another?
    8.2 Is it possible to copy a record or list of records to other
        applications?

9	Useful tools
    9.1 Print2Pict
    9.2 Acid Jazz etc.
    9.3 BBEdit Lite
    9.4 Ram Disk
    9.5 HTML extension
    9.6 Mail from within FMP
    9.7 Mail to FMP

10	Special templates
    10.1 Templates for collecting CD

11	About

------------------------------

Subject: 1   Where can I get information from

1.1 Internet sites

  Claris WWW (updaters, templates, technical support articles, trial
  software and product literature):
  http://www.claris.com

  Claris FAQs on FileMaker Pro 2.x:
  http://www.claris.com/TS/FAQs/IndexFileMakerPro2.x.html

  Claris FMPro and HTTP (featured article):
  http://www.claris.com/TS/Featured/FMProCGI/Article.html

  Claris FTP server (anonymous downloads):
  ftp://ftp.claris.com

  Claris Tech Info Database (over 4000 searchable articles):
  gopher://spinaltap.micro.umn.edu/00/computer/Claris/FileMaker
  gopher://spinaltap.micro.umn.edu:70/77/computer/Claris

  Tips from the File Maker User Group (FMUG) at
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):
  http://web.mit.edu/mugs/www/fmtips.htm

  Octal as a member of the Claris Solution Aliance (offers commercial
  templates and free tips to AppleScript and FMP):
  http://www.magic.ca/~octal/octal.html


1.2 Software and templates

  sumex-aim.stanford.edu (info-mac) and its mirrors, most in directory
  Applications, e.g.:
  ftp://ftp.switch.ch//mirror/info-mac/app/

  Umich and its mirrors, e.g.:
  ftp://mac.archive.umich.edu/mac/util/filemaker/

  Claris:
  ftp://www.claris.com/pub/USA-Macintosh/Templates/FileMakerPro
  ftp://www.claris.com/pub/USA-Macintosh/Solutions_Showcase/x.FileMaker_Solutions

  Demos:
  http://www.ccsi.com/n-perspect


1.3 Newsgroups

  comp.sys.mac.databases

  Posting concerning FMPro may appear in comp.sys.mac.apps,
  comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.databases, de.comp.databases, several local and
  IBM-PC related groups as well, but I highly recommend to keep them in
  comp.sys.mac.databases only.


1.4 Mailing lists

  >>> List: FMPRO-L
  send to this list: FMPRO-L@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU
  *
  *  Claris FileMaker Pro discussions
  *
  * This mailing list is for discussions on all aspects of the
  * FileMaker Pro database development environment, published by Claris
  * Corporation. Both the Mac and the Windows versions of the program are
  * welcome topics of discussion, as are future speculations on the
  * direction of the environment.
  *     Posters should refrain from submitting enclosed database files to
  * the list, and any freeware and shareware databases should be submitted
  * to the appropriate Mac and/or Windows anonymous ftp sites. On the
  * Macintosh side, these are sumex-aim@stanford.edu and
  * mac.archive.umich.edu.
  *

  *** To subscribe to this list:
  Send to: LISTSERV@listserv.dartmouth.edu
  Subject: subscribe
  Message: subscribe fmpro-l <your full name here>

  *** To Unsubscribe from this list:
  Send to: LISTSERV@listserv.dartmouth.edu
  Subject: unsubscribe
  Message: signoff fmpro-l


  There are currently two further lists for discussion of Filemaker Pro
  topics available: The regular Filemaker Pro list (fmpro@blueworld.com),
  and one for discussion of Filemaker Pro CGIs (fmpro-cgi@blueworld.com).

  >>> List: FMPRO
  send to this list: fmpro@blueworld.com
  > This list was created after consulting with several prominent FMPRO
  > developers as well as Claris Tech., all of whom had no knowledge of an
  > existing FMPRO list. As well, we've created the associated FMPRO-CGI
  > list to allow for an adequate forum for that specific topic.
  (from bill@blueworld.com (Bill Doerrfeld))

  >>> List: FMPRO-CGI
  send to this list: fmpro-cgi@blueworld.com
  > CGI stands for "Common Gateway Interface". The CGI definition provides
  > a standard for external gateway programs to interface with information
  > servers such as MacHTTP.
  > If You're running Your own WWW-Server, You can define FORMS, that Users
  > can fill out. The contents can go into a FMP-Database - using these
  > CGI's) *More Information: http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/overview.html
  (from schneima@uiag.com (Markus Schneider))

  Commands should be put in the message body of the message sent to the list
  request address, "fmpro-request@blueworld.com". Here are the commands
  currently recognized by this list:

  *** To subscribe to the list fmpro or fmpro-cgi:
  subscribe [list name]

  If you need a digest version of the list, use the command:
  subscribe digest [list name]

  This command unsubscribes you from one of the lists:
  unsubscribe [list name]

  To get the help file, send:
  help


1.5 Books

  Various books are available, from beginner to advanced users.

  See www.claris.com


------------------------------

Subject: 2	Version history

2.0 What is the current version of FMPro for Macintosh

  US: 2.1v3
  updater from 2.0 available

  German: 2.1Dv3
  updater from 2.0 available

2.1 Is Filemaker Pro relational

  Not yet.

  It has some features, e.g. lookup fields, that may perform some
  relational tasks.

2.2 Will the next version be relational

  Yes, it will include relational functionality.
  No, it won't support full relational functions.

2.3 When will FMPro 3.0 be released

  Claris states by the end of 1995.
  Alpha tests passed before May 1995
  Beta test August 1995?
  
  Rumours state that it will support global variables and conditional
  scripts.
  
  From rumours on the Alpha version:
  * Text with Tabs
  * Macros with calculations, you can access to each field from script
  * global variables
  * you can specify if you don't need the index of fields

  Other rumours state (14/08/1995)
  Both Mac and Windows - simultaneous release in December (estimated by
  Claris)
  32 MB barrier - Gone. Up to 2 GB [...] although practical use will
  limit that to more like 500 MB to 1 GB.
  
  
------------------------------

Subject: 3	Field Formats and Index values

3.1 What do I need Index values for?

  Most operations are based not on the value typed by hand, but on an
  indexed value that was derived from the actually typed value.

  Rapid find commands, comparisons, lookups and calculations all are
  triggered on the index value.

  The index of a field can be displayed by cmd-I. It is a list of all
  indexed values, sorted in alphabetical order.

  The index can be used to select and paste previously entered values
  rapidly.

  Index also works on check boxes and radio buttons - as cut, copy and
  paste do.

  Indexing works different on various field formats.

  Indexing is not done immediately. At least after selecting the next
  record, the index should get updated properly.

  Due to conversions, bugs or system crashes, the index may get corrupted.
  In this case find and lookup won't work properly. Importing in a clone
  of the database will force the construction of a new index.


3.2 Lookups

  Lookups are based on the indexed values of all records. It will copy
  a value from the first, matching record that it finds.

  Example:
    Lookup File "main",    Current File "main"
    Copy the contents of "Field1" into the field "Lookup_Field"
    when the value in "Field2" matches a new entry in "Field2"
    This will cause a self lookup, pasting a matching value.

    Text Field2 contains "A B", "B A".
    Both fields are indexed as "A " and "B ".
    Creating a new record "A B" will copy Field1 from Record "A B" to the
    Lookup_Field.
    Creating a new record "B A" will copy from Record "A B", too, since
    the triggers "A " and "B " are the same.

  If you want to copy from exact matching values, use the non-separating
  delimiter option-space. "B<option-space>A" gets indexed as it is. Words
  only get indexed up to 20 characters!

  Lookups will be used only after you entered new data in the trigger field
  (Field1 in example).

  A relookup on all selected records can be forced by selecting the lookup
  trigger field and choosing Relookup from the menu Edit.

  Lookups don't work based on multiple trigger fields. Concatenating
  multiple fields by a calculation and triggering on the calculation is
  possible.

  Relookups on calculations don't work by selecting the calculation field,
  but by selecting any of the fields it is based on.


3.3 Text formats and Index basics

  For an introduction, see the manual "working with Information in Records"
  (Section 4), "Using the Index" (4-9):

  - "Each word in a text field is indexed separately so you can later find
    the records that contain any word you've typed"
  - "Punctuation and special characters aren't indexed"
  - the first character of a word is converted to Upper Case
  - all other characters will get lower case
  - an additional blank character gets appended at the end of the Word

  Example: "this wordTest" is indexed as "This ", "Wordtest "

  The ordinary range for characters is [a..z], [A..Z]. The numbers [0..9]
  get treated as usual. The non-separating blank "option-space" is treated
  like an ordinary character, thus preventing the separation of words.

  Some unusual behaviors I found are (undocumented - don't rely on them):  
  - Indexed words are limited to the first 20 characters!     
    Since find requests and lookups are based on the index, take care of
    this limitation!
  - Text following an underscore won't get indexed!
    "Text_A" and "Text_B" both get indexed as "Text ".
    Don't use the underscore as non-separating delimiter!
  - Some special 8-bit characters get translated!
    Most of the accented characters are translated to plain characters.
    Some special characters get translated to two character combinations,
    e.g. the German Umlaute ae, oe, ue and ss.
    The ligatures fi and fl get lost!
  - Between characters &, -, / and ' are handled properly, otherwise lost.
  - Other characters are handled as delimiter.

  This behavior belongs to text fields. The text limit is 64k, with any
  number of lines. For other field types the behavior may be different,
  as described below.


3.3.1 Character Translation for Indexed Values

  Some of the following 8-bit characters might get lost while mailing.
  Messages posted to newsgroups will be converted to the ISO 8859-1 (Latin)
  character set (by YA-NewsWatcher 2.0.29 or better). Messages mailed will
  get translated as Quoted Printable (MIME) (by Eudora 1.5.3 or better).
  Please don't complain about messed up characters in this subsection.

  ------ Original and Converted Character for Index (US-Version) ---------
  €  �  ‚  ƒ  „  …  †  ‡  ˆ  ‰  Š  ‹  Œ  �  Ž  �  �  ‘
  A  A  C  E  N  Oe Ue a  a  a  ae a  a  c  e  e  e  e

  ’  “  ”  •  –  —  ˜  ™  š  ›  œ  �  ž  Ÿ
  i  i  i  i  n  o  o  o  oe o  u  u  u  ue

  §
  ss

  ®  ¯
  Ae O

  »  ¼
  a  o

  ¾  ¿
  oe o

  Ë  Ì  Í  Î  Ï
  A  A  O  Oe oe

  Õ (upper apostrophe = ANSI 213 = 0xD5)
  '

  Þ  ß ligatures fi and fl get lost
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------


3.4 Number format

  Entries may be up to 255 characters in only one line. Most characters
  are accepted, but only numbers will be recognized. Thus you can enter
  currency symbols, decimal points, percent symbols etc.

  The valid numbers are 0..9

  Leading "-" is recognized as minus

  , (comma) and . (dot) may be used as delimiters. The symbols are treated
  differently in international versions! In Germany "," is a decimal
  delimiter, "." marks thousands, in US it's just vice versa. FMPro seems to
  recognize the system settings.

  Yes and True are translated to 1
  No and False are translated to 0

  All other characters are just ignored,
  except blank and É (="...") that work as separators.

  No additional blank is appended to the index value.
  Only 122 characters will get indexed.

  Examples: "1.2 DM"   is "1.2" (US) or "12" (German)
            "-3"       is "-3"
            "4-5"      is "45"
            "6É7"      is "6" and "7"
            "8 Pounds 9 Pence" is "8" and "9"


3.5 Date format

  Entries may be only one line long.

  The date format depends on the system settings. Possibilities are
  day/month/year, month/day/year and year/month/date.

  For further explanations the German format DD.MM.YYYY is used.

  Input may be any valid one to four digit number, from x.x.x to
  xx.xx.xxxx.
  
  The valid range is from 01.01.0001 to 31.12.3000.
  
  Any single non-numerical character may be used as delimiter.

  If the year is omitted, the actual year will be used. Taking only two 
  digit years should take the actual century.

  Examples: "1.1.1"    is "01.01.0001"
            "29.2.94"  is "29.02.94"
            "1-4+04"   is "01.04.04"
            "1-4"      is "01.04.95"

  Some more words on the actual date format: The date is stored similar to
  a numerical value. Calculations on dates will work like those on
  numerical values. Conversions are done automatically but may work
  different than you might expect! Take care and it will be very powerful.

  The date with the number         1 is "01.01.0001"
    although our calendar didn't exist at that time, but only since the
    Gregorian calendar was introduced

  today                      728 460 is "16.06.1995"
  maximum                  1 095 727 is "31.12.3000"

  next higher values might be displayed as "?" and won't get indexed,
  but e.g.             1 000 000 000 is "04.01.*0,1" as date


3.6 Time format

  Although various output formats are possible, the input is limited to
  numerical values and the colon as delimiter.

  AM/PM is available for 12-hour formats.

  Additional time information is allowed, depending on your system
  settings. Example: 
  while typing, it was "15:48:23 Uhr", indexed as "15:48:23"

  Input format is hours/minutes/seconds
  Input may be from "x:xx" to "xx:xx:xx" in the valid range
  The valid range is between -32767..32767 hours.

  Similar to the dates, the internal representation can be handled as
  number in seconds from time "00:00:00" (see above).

  The time with the number          0 is  "00:00:00"
                                  -60 is "-00:01:00"

  Numbers outside the valid range may be converted properly.

  Tip: If you needed the input format minutes/seconds, just use "HH:MM"
  instead! Most of the time this is fine, e.g. for recording the length of 
  CD tracks. If you need the real time for another calculation, convert it
  by a division /60.


3.7 Hidden fields

  In order to insert values to a certain field, e.g. while using scripts,
  find dialogs etc., the field must be available on the choosen layout.

  If the field shall be available but not be displayed you may

  - assign a field size of 1 by 1 point to the field:
    select layout mode, display and edit size (recommended)

  - assign an invisible font color to the text:
    choose background color as text font

  - hide the field behind another field:
    just move another field on top of it. Fields are staggered by order of
    creation but may be moved by Arrange forward/backward

  - exclude the field from the tab order:
    edit the tab order, exlude it or move it to a late tab order
    (recommended as additional step)


------------------------------

Subject: 4	Repeating Fields

4.1 Convert repeating fields to non repeating fields

* Import all data in a clone of the database, splitting repeating fields
  to single records.

* Create a script to copy from repeating field entries to separate fields.

* Create the single fields as calculation fields from the repeating
  fields, change the format from calculation to the format desired.

  <gopher://spinaltap.micro.umn.edu/00/computer/Claris/FileMaker/
  Splitting the Contents of a Repeating Field into Separate Fields>


4.2 Convert nonrepeating fields to repeating field

* Create a script:
  <gopher://spinaltap.micro.umn.edu/00/computer/Claris/FileMaker/
  Moving Data to Repeating Fields Using a Script>

* Export as text, convert record delimiter to repeating field delimiter
  (ASCII-29) and reimport.

  The fields of comma-separated text will be stored in a way like:
  repeatingfield 1<ASCII-29> 2<ASCII-29>3

  To move separate fields A, B, C to a single repeating field,
  - export as text:  A, B, C
  - use a standard text editor or a conversion utility to replace the
    comma with <ASCII-29>
  - reimport to a repeating field

  This works with merge format and tab separated text as well.

* Use commercial software (MakeRepeats)


4.2.1 How to create ASCII-29

  The character ASCII-29 is not on the keyboard and is invisible most
  often. However, some editors will display it, e.g. as a small box.
  Editors like MS Word or Alpha allow for input of decimal code to
  create this character.
  
  The easiest solution is to open any exported database with a suitable
  editor, copy the ASCII-29 character and paste it where necessary. For
  reusage it's appropriate to put it in the album.


4.3 Merge separate records to a single repeating field

* Create a script to copy from several records to a repeating field.

* Export as text, convert delimiter to ASCII-29, reimport

  The procedure is similar to merging separate fields, but requires some
  additional effort.

  Example:

  Consider a database with the records spearated by Carriage Return <CR>, 
  exported as comma delimited, with fields: Name,  Text
  "A","1"<CR>
  "B","1"<CR>
  "A","2"

  It should be merged to a database
  "A","1"<ASCII-29>"2"<CR>
  "B","1"

  This can be done by sorting the records and replacing the <CR> with
  <ASCII-29>. To separate between the records A and B some additional
  criterion is required.

  Unfortunately FMPro doesn't allow the comparison of a record with the
  previous one. So one chance is to make this comparison externally,
  e.g. via a spreadsheet application.

  Another solution is:
  create the fields:
  serial number          SN (number):      Auto-enter serial number
  serial number lookup   SNL(number):      Copy SN if Name matches
  mark record            MR (calculation): If( SN = SNL, Name, "")

  The sorted database now looks like this:
  fields: Name, Number, SN, SNL, MR
  "A","1",1,1,"A"<CR>
  "A","2",3,1,<CR>
  "B","1",2,2,"B"

  Export the fields MR and Number, replace <CR>," with <ASCII-29>" and
  import. Further more you can find all non-blank MR, sort them similar 
  and import all other fields.

  For further improvements think about "replace all with new serial
  number", "relookup" and "sort, import to clone".


4.4 Removing duplicates or Sychronizing databases

  Use a lookup to get values from the other database,
  delete all records where the lookup returns a value,
  import all remaining records to the other database.

  Example for marking duplicates (as "1"):
  serial number (number) = auto-enter serial number
  unique lookup (lookup, number) =
    if trigger fields are equal, copy from serial number
  unique calculation (calculation, number) =
    if(serial number = unique lookup, 0, 1)

------------------------------

Subject: 5	Find

5.1 Some Facts

  - If no other option were choosen, a find command on "string" will
    search for all records where an indexed word begins with "string"

  - The last search criterion gets stored. It may be used for a
    Refind and as a search criterion for scripts while using the Restore
    Find Request option of Enter Find Mode or Perform Find. While
    defining a script, the last performed find gets used. Changes can be
    done by performing a new find, open & close the edit script dialog and
    accept the replacement of Find Requests.

  - As indicated above, not more than one restored find is possible
    per script. Additional finds may be used by defining additional
    scripts and calling them from within the first script.

  - The search criterion of a script may be displayed by using the
    Refind command after performing the script.


5.2 Perform scripted find

  Sounds to be obvious, but the find command will be performed by the
  script command 'Perform Find [...]'.

  Example script to find values matching the content of Field_A:

  Copy [Field_A, select entire content]
  Enter Find Mode [No Pause, Don't restore find request]
  Paste [Field_A, select entire content]
  Perform Find [Don't restore find request]

  The omit command itself is not a selectable script option. However,
  as usual, there's a workaround:

  - Perform any omit find, e.g. enter find mode, paste "a" to field Name,
    click omit, perform find.

  - Define a script "find omit":
    Enter find mode[restore]
    Cut[select entire contents, "Name"]

  That's all. Whenever you call this subscript, the omit box gets checked
  in find mode.


5.3 No matching records found

  If no matching records were found, a dialog gets displayed:
  no records match this request:
  - "modify find" will return to the find dialog
  - "cancel" will omit the find and select ALL records

  Performing an unsuccessful find in a script will not select zero
  matching records but all - that's really annoying for printouts, 
  exports, deleting records etc.

  A workaround is to create a dummy record and to add an additional dummy 
  search criterion, e.g.:

  Copy [Field_A, select entire content]
  New Record/Request
  Go to Field [Field_A]
  Paste Literal ["dummy"]
  Enter Find Mode [No Pause, Don't restore find request]
  Paste [Field_A, select entire content]
  New Record/Request
  Go to Field [Field_A]
  Paste Literal ["dummy"]
  Perform Find [Don't restore find request]

  This script will find all matching records and the dummy record, or,
  if no matching records were found, at least the dummy record.

  To exclude the dummy record (that is the last of all, and all<10000):

  Go to Record/Request [10000, Perform without dialog]
  Delete Record/Request [Perform without dialog]

  Another solution is to detect if only the dummy record was found:

  Go to Record/Request [10000, Perform without dialog]
  Go to Previous Record/Request [Exit script after last]

  This script jumps to the last record, tries to go back to the previous
  one and exits if the last (dummy) record is the one and only. Thus you
  may use a kind of an

    if(dummy is only record found,
       exit/return to main script,
       perform further part of script)
       
  Tip: A smimilar structure may be used as conditional script!

  Some further alternatives that may be faster, more helpful, less secure:

  - To create and delete the dummy record is not necessary if a dummy
    record was kept all the time. It's less secure since someone might
    modify or delete it by mistake. I'd recommend to make a permanent dummy 
    record with additional help information and omit it (take it as record 
    one and omit the first) when other fields were found. 

  - Create and delete a dummy record will increase the serial record
    number. To omit this, don't create a dummy record but paste the
    dummy value to a certain dummy field. Warning: take care not to
    omit a matching record while omitting the dummy.


5.4 Find on multiple fields

  Multiple finds may be performed. Logical AND search may be achieved by
  adding criterions to multiple fields. Logical OR search may be achieved
  by creating new requests. Find details in the next subsection.

  Sometimes a find shall be performed on the occurrence of a criterion IN
  ANY OF several fields.

  A scripted solution is to copy the criterion,
  ...
  Enter Find Mode [No pause, Don't restore find request]
  Paste [Field 1]
  New Record/Request
  Paste [Field 2]
  New Record/Request
  Paste [Field 3]
  ...
  Perform Find [Don't restore find request]
  ...


  Another solution is to concatenate the fields to a single search field

  SearchField = Field 1 & ", " & Field 2 & ", " & Field 3

  The "," are just for aesthetic purposes. This find is faster to perform
  but will increase the memory usage of the database and slow down imports.


5.5 Find with AND / OR / NOT

  In order to use search by multiple criterions according to a logical AND,
  OR and NOT, you may use:
  - multiple words in a single field (equals Word1 AND Word2), 
  - multiple fields (equals Field1 AND Field2), 
  - multiple requests (equals Field1 OR Field2) and 
  - the omit command (equals NOT Field).

  It's not possible to find Field1 AND (NOT Field2). The logical
  equivalent, according to deMorgans law is NOT ((NOT Field1) OR Field2),
  or speaking in FMPro: enter find mode, paste literal to Field1, mark
  omit, create new request, paste literal to Field2, perform find, find omitted.

  Problems were reported that find Field1 OR (NOT Field2) may get
  different results than (NOT Field2) OR Field1!


5.6 Find on a subset

  Assuming that the subset was created by a previous find, the manual
  solution is not to select the Find command (cmd-F) but the Refind
  command (cmd-R). You may use AND / OR / NOT and multiple search
  criterions as described above.

  The scripted solution works similar. As refind you may use the find
  criterions from the last find before creating/editing the script. It
  is accessable by the restore request option. For multiple searches see
  the sections above.

  Sometimes the subset was created manually, or it is not possible to
  perform the desired find by multiple searches in a single step. The
  solution is to use a mark field: (unmark all, perform find,) mark found
  set, perform next find on mark and new criterion.


------------------------------

Subject: 6.1	Miscellaneous tips

6.1 Removing password

  Contact Claris. They can do it for you, but it may take some time (> 2
  weeks). They have a form for you to fill out.

  The actual release is quite save against hackers, but successful cracks
  were reported.
  
  Passwords for FMPro 2.0 sometimes can be removed by the utility
  MasterKey.
  
  
6.2 Go to last record

  Go To Record 2147483647 will take you to the last record since this is 
  the maximum number of records possible in an FM Pro file.
  (From Michael Singer's book)
  
  Any other number higher than the maximum number of records will do as
  well.
  
  When you open the database, you will get not the record you edited
  last, but the first of the records found. Creating a script "go 
  to last" that is autoexecuted while opening the database will put
  you to the last of this records. Including a "select all" step may
  put you to the last new record, while otherwise the sort order is still
  maintained.


------------------------------

Subject: 7	Documenting

7.1 Documenting scripts

  Scripts may be printed, including all parameters and options set.

  See Print2Pict


7.2 Printing Index Fields

  The Index shows all words of an entry, e.g. "a b c" as "a ", "b "
  and "c ". The separation is detected by delimiter characters as blank
  and punctuation. Non-separation may be forced by using option-space in
  spite of space (see section 3).
  
  The Index itself is not printable. Workarounds are:

* export all text, open a text editor with spelling capabilities and
  create a dictionary with all words,

* export all text, convert all blanks to Carriage Returns, thus creating
  a list of all words, import, use strategy to remove all duplicates,

* To print the index of a particular field, create a new layout,
  selecting the columnar report option. Select the field that you wish
  to print the index of.

  Double click on the body part and make it a sub summary when sorted on
  the field in question. Now sort the database on that field and print
  from this layout. (from tscott@metz.une.edu.au (Timothy Scott))

* If you want to export just the index of the field, create a new field
  of type summary.
  Sort the database on the field you want to export. Select the field
  you want to export and deselect the others. Now select your summary
  field just by clicking on the field name. You now get an extra option
  "Summarise By..." - click on this button, tick to the left hand side
  of the field name, click on OK and then untick the new field (if you
  want to) that FMPro wishes to export.
  (from tscott@metz.une.edu.au (Timothy Scott))
  

------------------------------

Subject: 8	Copying Layouts

  First a tip to select all objects of a certain type:

  In layout mode you can select objects by type. First select one object
  of the type you want, for example, click on a field. Then press
  Command-Option-A to select ALL the fields on your layout.
  (from FMUG at MIT)

  Now some other tips:
  (1) While in layout mode you can hit the ENTER key and the tool palette 
      will toggle between the arrow tool and the last chosen object tool.
  (2) Using the DUPLICATE command will offset the duplicated object by 6 
      pixels to the right and 6 pixels down. Using the ARROW keys you can 
      type 7 left and 7 up to create a highlight or offset of the original 
      object.
  (3) Using the OPTION key on Mac or the ALT key on the PC will allow you 
      to drag copy a selection. Hold the SHIFT and OPTION or ALT keys and 
      it will constrain the copy while you drag.
  (4) Locking your background objects will allow you to drag select your 
      foreground objects.
  (5) Once a button is created, simply duplicate it and double click to 
      assign it another function. You donÕt have to go to the Define 
      Button... menu item.
  (from Matt Petrowsky and its FMPro online user magazine / ISO)



8.1 Is it possible to copy a layout from one database to another?

  No, but it is possible to copy any picture information, fields and
  buttons to other databases.

  Open Layout mode, select, copy, go to other database, paste.

  Fields will be copied only if a field with identical names is already
  defined in both databases.

  The link of scripts to buttons will be copied only if there is a
  script with identical names in both databases.
  

8.2 Is it possible to copy a record or list of records to other
    applications?

* If no field is selected, the copy command will copy the current
  record to the clipboard. The clipboard includes all fields, in order
  of creation, as tab-delimited text without styles. 
  
  If you press option while doing this, all selected records will be 
  copied.

* Open Preview and Copy.

  The records are copied as they are displayed to a PICT. They can be
  pasted to and modified by other drawing tools.

* To copy text info only, see Print2Pict.


------------------------------

Subject: 9	Useful tools

  This section is still at work. Please join your experience.

  Most of the recommended tools are available at the usual umich
  and info-mac sites and its mirrors. If you want any special tool
  included in this list, please provide the appropriate information.
  I reserve to include only tools that I consider as useful.

9.1 Print2Pict

  Print2Pict is a chooser extension. Instead of printing to a real device,
  the output is directed to a file. Different file formats are available.
  The most important are TEXT and PICT.

  URL: under construction

9.2 Acid Jazz etc.

  tools for fax, phone calls, etc.

  URL: under construction

9.3 BBEdit Lite

  Shareware text editor; powerful find / replace, suitable for handling
  repeating fields (ASCII-29 dilemma)

  URL: under construction

9.4 Ram Disk

  Use a Ram Disk for import / export - it might be much faster.

  URL: under construction

9.5 HTML extension

  available

  URL: under construction

9.6 Mail from within FMP

  available as AppleScript library
  
  You will need e.g. the "TCP/IP scripting additions" extension
  The script "emailer" will show a possible example.
  
  <ftp://nic.switch.ch//mirror/umich-mac/util/script/
  tcpipscriptingadd1.12.cpt.hqx>


9.7 Mail to FMP

  MailProcessor converts mailbox files to tab-delimited text that may get
  imported into FMP. The version I tried was slow, noninuitive and of poor
  performance.

  MacPerl was recommended to write a scriptable conversion utility, put 
  none is known up to now.

  Stefan SchŸtt (stefan@mouseup.pp.fi) wrote the consequent AppleScript:
  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  tell application "Eudora 1.5.1"
        set many to (get number of message of mailbox 1)
        -- (comment from the Author: mailbox 1 is the In box)
  end tell
  repeat with i from 1 to many
        tell application "Eudora 1.5.1"
                set day to word 3 of (get date of message i of mailbox1)
                --this will get only the short date of the message.
                set send to (get sender of message i of mailbox 1)
                set sub to (get subject of message i of mailbox 1)
                set bod to (get body of message i of mailbox 1)
                --delete message i of mailbox 1 -- This one is optional
        end tell
        set lista to {day} & {send} & {sub} & {bod}
        tell application "FileMaker Pro SDK"
                Create Record With Data lista
        end tell
  end repeat

  In the FMPRO database you need the following fields: Date, Sender,
  Subject and Body. To be sure it will succeed, I think you should create
  the fields in this order. If your database for Eudora mails is the
  frontmost window in FMPRO when you launch the script, then you don't
  have to specify the name of the database.
  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


------------------------------

Subject: 10	Special templates

10.1 Templates for collecting CDs

A Box of Rain Database
Allison's CD DB
Audiofile 1.01
CD Catalog (replaced by The CD Database)
CD Club
CD Directory
CD Manager
CD Tracker PRO (replaced by Audiofile 1.01)
CDelux
CD-Lib1.0
CDatabase
CDBankE
Music Store 1.2
The CD Database 1.3
Klassik1.0
CDLite
CDLite Classical
CD Coyote (helper appl.)


------------------------------

Subject: 11	About

My private top ten.
Written by Martin Trautmann,
traut@iht0.iht.e-technik.th-darmstadt.de, Germany

Please give any corrections, feedback, comments, improvements, requests
for additions or deletions or whatever you think might help to me!!!

The actual FAQ might be found at:

<ftp://rtfm.mit.edu//pub/usenet/comp.sys.mac.databases/
[FAQ]_FileMaker_Pro_-_database_for_Macintosh_and_Windows>
<ftp://ftp.uni-paderborn.de//pub/FAQ/comp.sys.mac.databases/
[FAQ]_FileMaker_Pro_-_database_for_Macintosh_and_Windows>

<http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/databases/
filemaker-pro/faq/faq.html>
<http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet-faqs/bygroup/
comp/sys/mac/databases/top.html>

and the other FAQ sites that hold news.answers and comp.answers.


Version history:
1.8 Go to last record, Changes by Bill Swagerty (Claris Corp.), 22.08.95
1.7 Script omit find, Script find on subset, New rumours on FMPro 3.0, Tips 
    on layout, 15.08.95, 22.08.95 to Claris
1.6 New internet sites, layout select all object, 08.08.95, 08.08.95 to
    faq
1.5 Changed Section tools, extended section list, added subsection find on
    multiple fields, approved for news.answers, 07.08.95 to
    comp.sys.mac.databases,comp.answers,news.answers (faq)
1.4 Changed listserv address, added hidden fields, section find,
    31.07.95, 31.07.95 to c.s.m.d
1.3 Added Subject sectionning, 05.07.95, 17.07.95 to FMPRO-L
1.2 Added Field formats and index values, 16.06.95, 03.07.95 to c.s.m.d
1.1 Correction of some spelling mistakes, 08.06.95, 08.06.95 to c.s.m.d
1.0 First release, 15.05.95, posted 16.05.95 to comp.sys.mac.databases,
    mailing list FMPRO-L, Claris

All comments without any warranty - please tell me if I missed any legal
aspects. Std. disclaimer, std. trade marks, std. copyright, no commercial
distribution without my permission, ...