This is a quick helper for those of you who wish to maintain tables on your WWW pages. An html editor may be great at handling text and tags, but is not the correct tool for storing data. A tool like FileMaker Pro is ideal for both storing data and building the proper html tags for a proper WWW table.
This file will allow you to selectively build tables from a large database without adding bulky calculation or affecting normal performance - it works even while the file is being shared.
If bulk, file size and performance are not a problem, you may just want to include the calculated example fields shown in the accompanying Table.fm file. You can export your table directly then selecting the single calculated field to export.
This solution has two files Table.fm is an example data file. You can use your own data file and hook scripts into the second included "helper" file called wwwTable.fm. It consists of only one record with 3 fields and 5 main scripts to build your table for you. It ends with the table on the clipboard ready to paste into your html editor of choice.
I will call your data file Main and this file Helper in the following example. To use wwwTable.fm with your Main file instead of the example file (Table.fm) you must build only two scripts in your Main file. Lets call your scripts Build Table and Row Loop. There are examples in Table.fm to guide the way.
The following scripts in wwwTable.fm are called from your Main file - perform script(external) steps:
Start Table
-------
Start Row
---
Add Field to Row
---
End Row
--------
End Table (and copy to clipboard)
The only difficult part is to make your Main filed loop through a script that calls itself over and over again, going to a new record each time until all of the records have been processed and the script halts. Assuming your Main file has three fields called First, Last, and Phone, your script would look like this:
Script Name = Build Table
...
Perform Script (external) ╥Start Table╙
Perform Script ╥Row Loop╙
Perform Script (external) ╥End Table╙
______________________________________________
Script Name = Row Loop
...
Perform Script (external) ╥Start Row╙
Copy [First]
Perform Script (external) ╥Add Field╙
Copy [Last]
Perform Script (external) ╥Add Field╙
Copy [Phone]
Perform Script (external) ╥Add Field╙
Perform Script (external) ╥End Row╙
Go to Next Record (exit after last)
Perform Script Row Loop
____________________________________________
That is all there is to it. If these scripts look like something you do not want to know anything about there are several hundred FileMaker Developers anxious to help you automate your table generation for you. If I am not available or you would like support closer to home, visit www.claris.com to see the list of CSA (Claris Solutions Alliance) Members by state with our email addresses.
This is really easy enough that you can do it yourself!
Enjoy wwwTable.fm and easy html table maintenance, a freeware solution ⌐ 1995 by Joel M Bowers & Associates all rights reserved.
You may modify this file for your own use, but please do not upload or share a modified copy.
Joel Bowers
Limitation of Remedies and Damages. In no event will Joel M Bowers and Associates (JMBA) or any of its licensors be liable to you for any consequential, incidental, indirect or special damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information and the like), whether foreseeable or unforeseeable, arising out of the use of or inability to use the Software or accompanying written materials, regardless of the basis of the claim and even if Company or a Company representative has been advised of the possibility of such damage. Company's and its licensor's liability to you for direct damages for any cause whatsoever, and regardless of the form of the action, will be limited to the greater of [$0.02] or the money paid for the Software that caused the damages.
