Script Steps Reference

Table Of Contents
Miscellaneous script steps
F
ILEMAKER SCRIPT STEPS REFERENCE 139
Options
Click Specify to display the “Send DDE Execute” Options dialog box, where you can set the
following options:
Service name is the name of the application that executes the commands. Refer to the
documentation of the application you specify for the valid service name. You can enter the
service name directly as text or click Specify to create the service name from a calculation.
Topic is a filename or text string that describes the topic that the application executes the
commands on. Refer to the documentation of the application specified in the Service Name
for valid topics. You can enter the topic name directly as text or click Specify to create the
topic name from a calculation. For more information, see
Creating file paths.
Commands are a calculated value or text string that specifies what the application does.
Refer to the documentation of the application specified in the Service Name for valid
commands and formats. You can enter the commands directly as text or click Specify to
create the commands from a calculation.
Compatibility
This script step is:
not supported in web publishing
not supported in a FileMaker Server scheduled script
Description
FileMaker Pro sends DDE execute commands, but does not receive them.
Because DDE is a Windows feature, if you run a script containing a Send DDE execute
script step on a Mac OS based computer, the script step is ignored. (An error code is
generated, which can be captured with the
Get(LastError) function.)
When a FileMaker Pro script first establishes a DDE connection, the connection stays open
to execute subsequent script steps for the same service name and topic. If the script
includes another DDE Execute script step using a different service name or topic,
FileMaker
Pro closes the current connection and opens another with the new service name
and topic. All open connections close when the script is completed.
Examples
The following script opens a URL in Internet Explorer. (Internet Explorer must be open when this
step executes.)
Send DDE Execute [Service Name: "iexplore"; Topic: "WWW_OpenURL";
Commands: "www.filemaker.com"]
Perform AppleScript (Mac OS)
Purpose
Sends AppleScript commands to another application.
Format
Perform AppleScript [“<applescript text>”]