User manual

10-2 FileMaker Pro User’s Guide
• importing data from the same source
• dialing phone numbers
You can perform additional scripts, called subscripts, within a script.
Subscripts make it easy to break a complex task into small tasks. For
example, you can find customers with a balance due with one script,
and then print form letters requesting payment with another script.
The first script contains a command that performs the second script
(the subscript). If a subscript is in a different file, it’s called an
external script.
With FileMaker Pro, you can:
• define a script that pauses to let you do unscripted tasks, like
entering data. When you resume the script, FileMaker Pro performs
the remaining script commands.
• save settings, like find requests and sort orders, in a script.
• print the commands and settings that make up a script. (See
chapter 4, “Previewing and printing information,” for additional
information on printing from FileMaker Pro.)
• define passwords that prevent other users from defining or
changing scripts. (See “Defining passwords,” on page 9-1.)
• perform a startup script, a script that runs when you open a
FileMaker Pro file. For example, a startup script can switch to a data
entry layout whenever you open a customer order database.
FileMaker Pro can also perform a shutdown script every time you
close a file. (See “Setting document preferences,” on page 12-5.)
• send Internet mail using a separate email client (this requires an
email account).
• launch Web browser software and have it display a specified URL
(Web address—this requires an account with an Internet service
provider).
The files you work with may already have scripts and buttons that
you can use. For example, the template files included with
FileMaker Pro have buttons that make using the file easier.
To Do this
Perform a script from the Choose the script name from the Script menu.
Script menu
Perform a script from the Choose Script menu > ScriptMaker. Select the script
Define Scripts dialog box name, and then click Perform.
Perform a script using a Type the keyboard shortcut that’s listed next to the
keyboard shortcut script in the Script menu. (See “Listing scripts in
the Scripts menu,” on page 12-11.)
Perform a script from a Switch to a layout that contains a button for the
button script. In Browse or Find mode, click the button.
Perform a script when In the Document Preferences dialog box, set the
opening or closing a option to perform a startup or shutdown script. See
FileMaker Pro file “Setting document preferences,” on page 12-5.
Continue a script after it Click Continue in the status area, or press Enter or
pauses Return. If you switch layouts while a script is
paused and then continue the script, the remaining
script steps occur in the new layout.
Stop a paused script Click Cancel in the status area, switch to another
mode, close the active window, or quit
FileMaker Pro.
Stop a script (except when Press Esc (Windows) or Command+Period
it is paused) (Mac OS), hide or close the active window, or exit
out of FileMaker Pro. If the script contains a Close
or Toggle Window step that hides the active
window, FileMaker Pro stops the current script and
returns to the script that called it (if there is one).
Note You can’t stop a script that contains the Allow User Abort
[Off] step.
For a description of the various types of scripts you can perform, see
“About ScriptMaker steps,” on page 12-6.