Filemaker Pro Lesson

Script Writing:

Creating Script Modules and calling Subscripts

This exercise requires the file Registrations3.fp7.

Often a series of actions in a script are needed to perform other procedures as well. It is often most efficient to create script modules that can be called as subscripts within other scripts. For example, we created a script to find and sort a list of names of past participants for the report "Past Participant List". We may also wish to send a particular form letter to past participants, email them as a group, or produce another report to analyze their current event choice with an event they selected in the past. All of these tasks would require finding participants from a particular time period with the field Past Participant = "Y" and probably sorting them by last name.

Rather than adding the list of actions to perform this task in every script where this subset of participants is needed, it is more efficient to create one script to perform the find and sort then call the script as a subscript within other scripts.

1. Using the sample file Registrations3.fp7, select Scriptmaker. Choose the script "Prepare Past Participant List" and click "Duplicate".

2. Change the name to "Find and Sort List of Past Participants" and click "Rename" then click "Edit".

3. Delete the script step "Go to Layout". Click OK and leave all find and sort functions as is.

4. Now select the script "Prepare Past Participant List" and click Edit.

5. Delete all actions below the script step "Go to Layout". Then, from the list of actions on the left, select "Perform Script" and choose the script "Find and Sort List of Past Participants" from the specify drop-down list.

6. Click OK.

If you have an RSS feed that would be of interest
to faculty and students at the College of Education
please contact Mary Harrsch.

Last updated: 12/28/2004