Just wondering if there are any solutions to "retraining" page setup 
scripts for a user with a runtime file.  

I have a database that I am thinking of converting to a FM5 runtime and 
giving away.  This DB mostly performs text manipulations and has a wide 
variety of printouts, some landscape and some portrait format.  Every 
printing script calls a page setup subscript either "print vertical" or 
"print horizontal."  If I have a problem now with the full FMPro 
version, I can just retrain those two scripts and everything is fine. 
But I have to open the scipts to do that.  Can you even open scipts with 
the runtime version?

We all know how tricky FMPRo can be with scripted page setups when going 
cross platform or even after installing a new printer.  I suppose the 
simplest way around this problem would be to "perform" the page setup 
"with dialog" for every printout and a display a message something like: 
"please choose portrait format in the following dialog."  But it sure is 
a clunky solution.  

Is there something I'm missing?  In other words, do any of you have 
another solution to this problem or a method for "retraining" the page 
setups by the end user...especially with a runtime file?

Thanks,

Bill

-- 

Take out the invalid if replying by email

In article <maslin-D35916.12595907092004@nntp.msstate.edu>, William
Maslin <maslin@cvm.msstate.edu.invalid> wrote:

> Just wondering if there are any solutions to "retraining" page setup 
> scripts for a user with a runtime file.  
> 
> I have a database that I am thinking of converting to a FM5 runtime and 
> giving away.  This DB mostly performs text manipulations and has a wide 
> variety of printouts, some landscape and some portrait format.  Every 
> printing script calls a page setup subscript either "print vertical" or 
> "print horizontal."  If I have a problem now with the full FMPro 
> version, I can just retrain those two scripts and everything is fine. 
> But I have to open the scipts to do that.  Can you even open scipts with 
> the runtime version?

No, the runtime application doesn't have any ability to open scripts -
ScriptMaker is one of the things that has been chopped out to make the
cut-down version of FileMaker that the runtime application really is.




> We all know how tricky FMPRo can be with scripted page setups when going 
> cross platform or even after installing a new printer.  I suppose the 
> simplest way around this problem would be to "perform" the page setup 
> "with dialog" for every printout and a display a message something like: 
> "please choose portrait format in the following dialog."  But it sure is 
> a clunky solution.  
> 
> Is there something I'm missing?  In other words, do any of you have 
> another solution to this problem or a method for "retraining" the page 
> setups by the end user...especially with a runtime file?

Th only way you can "retrain" the Page Setup in the runtime data file
is to open up that data file in a full copy of FileMaker and "retrain"
it there {insert images of William with chair and whip "retraining"
vicious scripts in a cage}.  ;o)

To get around this you have to ALWAYS display the Page Setup window
before the Print window. That way the user can reset the Page Setup
themselves before each print, but it does look a little clumsy.

This of course means that releasing a solution in a proper commercial
or shareware/freeware manner is impossible, unless it only ever uses
the default Portrait Letter sized printouts. To have other page setups
working properly you HAVE to know what printer and operating system the
end-user has and "retrain" the Page Setup scripts to match.

Unfortunately the problem here is NOT FileMaker's fault, but is due to
the complete lack of standardisation of Printer Driver software.  :o(




Helpful Harry                   
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships  ;o)

Helpful Harry <helpful_harry@nom.de.plume.com> wrote:

> In article <maslin-D35916.12595907092004@nntp.msstate.edu>, William
> Maslin <maslin@cvm.msstate.edu.invalid> wrote:
> 
> > Just wondering if there are any solutions to "retraining" page setup
> > scripts for a user with a runtime file.
> 
> Th only way you can "retrain" the Page Setup in the runtime data file
> is to open up that data file in a full copy of FileMaker and "retrain"
> it there.
>

And even if this were possible, I would not let the end user have access
to Scriptmaker.
I carry around a USB memory stick with a full copy of Filemaker for
these occasions.  
-- 
Hans Rijnbout
Utrecht, Netherlands