Class Rfm::Layout
In: lib/rfm_command.rb
Parent: Object

The Layout object represents a single FileMaker Pro layout. You use it to interact with records in FileMaker. All access to FileMaker data is done through a layout, and this layout determins which table you actually hit (since every layout is explicitly associated with a particular table — see FileMakers Layout->Layout Setup dialog box). You never specify table information directly in RFM.

Also, the layout determines which fields will be returned. If a layout contains only three fields from a large table, only those three fields are returned. If a layout includes related fields from another table, they are returned as well. And if the layout includes portals, all data in the portals is returned (see Record::portal for details).

As such, you can significantly improve performance by limiting what you put on the layout.

Using Layouts

The Layout object is where you get most of your work done. It includes methods for all FileMaker actions:

  • Layout::all
  • Layout::any
  • Layout::find
  • Layout::edit
  • Layout::create
  • Layout::delete

Running Scripts

In FileMaker, execution of a script must accompany another action. For example, to run a script called _Remove Duplicates_ with a found set that includes everybody named Bill, do this: 

  myLayout.find({"First Name" => "Bill"}, :post_script => "Remove Duplicates")

Controlling When the Script Runs

When you perform an action in FileMaker, it always executes in this order:

  1. Perform any find
  2. Sort the records
  3. Return the results

You can control when in the process the script runs. Each of these options is available:

  • post_script tells FileMaker to run the script after finding and sorting
  • pre_find_script tells FileMaker to run the script before finding
  • pre_sort_script tells FileMaker to run the script before sorting, but after finding

Passing Parameters to a Script

If you want to pass a parameter to the script, use the options above, but supply an array value instead of a single string. For example: 

  myLayout.find({"First Name" => "Bill"}, :post_script => ["Remove Duplicates", 10])

This sample runs the script called "Remove Duplicates" and passes it the value +10+ as its script parameter.

Common Options

Most of the methods on the Layout object accept an optional hash of options to manipulate the action. For example, when you perform a find, you will typiclaly get back all matching records. If you want to limit the number of records returned, you can do this: 

  myLayout.find({"First Name" => "Bill"}, :max_records => 100)

The +:max_records+ option tells FileMaker to limit the number of records returned.

This is the complete list of available options:

  • max_records tells FileMaker how many records to return
  • skip_records tells FileMaker how many records in the found set to skip, before returning results; this is typically combined with max_records to "page" through records
  • sort_field tells FileMaker to sort the records by the specified field
  • sort_order can be desc (descending) or asc (ascending) and determines the order of the sort when sort_field is specified
  • post_script tells FileMaker to perform a script after carrying out the action; you can pass the script name, or a two-element array, with the script name first, then the script parameter
  • pre_find_script is like post_script except the script runs before any find is performed
  • pre_sort_script is like pre_find_script except the script runs after any find and before any sort
  • response_layout tells FileMaker to switch layouts before producing the response; this is useful when you need a field on a layout to perform a find, edit, or create, but you want to improve performance by not including the field in the result
  • logical_operator can be and or or and tells FileMaker how to process multiple fields in a find request
  • modification_id lets you pass in the modification id from a Record object with the request; when you do, the action will fail if the record was modified in FileMaker after it was retrieved by RFM but before the action was run

Attributes

The Layout object has a few useful attributes:

  • name is the name of the layout
  • field_controls is a hash of FieldControl objects, with the field names as keys. FieldControl’s tell you about the field on the layout: how is it formatted and what value list is assigned

Note: It is possible to put the same field on a layout more than once. When this is the case, the value in field_controls for that field is an array with one element representing each instance of the field.

  • value_lists is a hash of arrays. The keys are value list names, and the values in the hash are arrays containing the actual value list items. value_lists will include every value list that is attached to any field on the layout

Methods

all   any   create   delete   edit   field_controls   find   new   value_lists  

Attributes

db  [R] 
name  [R] 

Public Class methods

new(name, db)

Initialize a layout object. You never really need to do this. Instead, just do this: 

  myServer = Rfm::Server.new(...)
  myDatabase = myServer["Customers"]
  myLayout = myDatabase["Details"]

This sample code gets a layout object representing the Details layout in the Customers database on the FileMaker server.

In case it isn’t obvious, this is more easily expressed this way: 

  myServer = Rfm::Server.new(...)
  myLayout = myServer["Customers"]["Details"]

Public Instance methods

all(options = {})

Returns a ResultSet object containing _every record_ in the table associated with this layout.

any(options = {})

Returns a ResultSet containing a single random record from the table associated with this layout.

create(values, options = {})

Creates a new record in the table associated with this layout. Pass field data as a hash in the values parameter. Returns the newly created record in a RecordSet. You can use the returned record to, ie, discover the values in auto-enter fields (like serial numbers).

For example: 

  result = myLayout.create({"First Name" => "Jerry", "Last Name" => "Robin"})
  id = result[0]["ID"]

The above code adds a new record with first name Jerry and last name Robin. It then puts the value from the ID field (a serial number) into a ruby variable called id.

delete(recid, options = {})

Deletes the record with the specified internal recid. Returns a ResultSet with the deleted record.

For example: 

  recid = myLayout.find({"First Name" => "Bill"})[0].record_id
  myLayout.delete(recid)

The above code finds every record with Bill in the First Name field, then deletes the first one.

edit(recid, values, options = {})

Updates the contents of the record whose internal recid is specified. Send in a hash of new data in the values parameter. Returns a RecordSet containing the modified record. For example: 

  recid = myLayout.find({"First Name" => "Bill"})[0].record_id
  myLayout.edit(recid, {"First Name" => "Steve"})

The above code would find the first record with Bill in the First Name field and change the first name to Steve.

find(hash_or_recid, options = {})

Finds a record. Typically you will pass in a hash of field names and values. For example: 

  myLayout.find({"First Name" => "Bill"})

Values in the hash work just like value in FileMaker’s Find mode. You can use any special symbols (+==+, +…+, +>+, etc…).

If you pass anything other than a hash as the first parameter, it is converted to a string and assumed to be FileMaker’s internal id for a record (the recid).

[Validate]