You’re new to FileMaker, so let’s go first to the basic of what Scriptmaker is.
It isn’t a computer language like BASIC, Pascal or C/C++.
Scriptmaker is basically a macro generator. What’s a macro ?
It’s a sequence of steps that run in a linear fashion to automate a process that would otherwise be performed manually.
What you get with Scriptmaker, that you don’t get with other macro languages, is a dynamic environment. Once finished, you can end up with many scripts that create a feature set.
One script can call another script, which can, in turn, call yet another script. You can even use parameters in scripts.
Scripts can also make logical decisions (If statements) and perform repetitive tasks, we call that looping statements)
Scripting is what makes a database solution equivalent to a piece of software.
So, in the truest sense, you are programming when creating functional scripts.
Try first those steps:
This whole thing can be ‘automatic’ with a wizard in FileMaker.
First make a search for the date range, do this first manually on the date field, to have a found set of records.
Layout > New Layout/report > Show record from yourTable, give layout a name > Columnar/List report + Next > (Watch the sample view at the right side), report with grouped data, include subtotals (watch color mark in the sample view) + include Grand Totals + next > Specify Fields (make a choice for the fields you want on the report) + next > Organize record by category (click on fields you want and watch color tack in right sample) + next > sort records (make choice and sort order) + next > specify subtotals + next etc etc. until you reach the last window with Create a script for this report. Click for Create a script and give the script a descriptive name + next > view the report in preview mode + finish.
Look at your layout, go to scriptmaker, navigate to your last script and edit it.
Here you have all the scriptsteps.
An other way to do searches with scripts is to redirect the user to a ‘search screen’, let them fill in the data and perform several scripts to find the data.
This is more work, but you have to do this just once for a table and you can copy this to every other table in the solution.
With those script you will have a nearly bulletproof searchsystem and there will be nearly no chance that the user is left in a screen with f.i. 0 records and no way out of it.
This is longer to explain, so if you want that, feel free.
Search scripts are very difficult to explain without visible example. There are too many 'after search' items to deal with.
It’s not allowed to give email addresses on this forum nor attache sample files, so if you need more info, go to
and send a mail. This way we could exchange samplefiles.
