[FX.php List] Is there an FMTableNames()?

[Jonathan Schwartz]

The data separation model....or at least my attempt at creating 
one...has been a self-learned evolution.

I would love to have a thread to discuss the how's and why's.

Here's my story:

I have on multi-function php page that I use with all my solutions. 
It provides:
	- Multi-field Search Form
	- Display Listing
	- Bi-rectional Sorting (only single sort field right now)
	- First/Next/Prev/Last  page navigation
	- Display Detail
	- Edit record
	- Add record
	- Delete record
	- Multi-table/Multi-file navigation
	- Download to Excel.

The single page, the source of which germinated from Steve Winter's 
generous help 2 years ago, was a solution to the problem of having 
separate pages for each of the various functions listed above.  A 
single page, while much more complex, keeps the work down.

By using variables throughout the page, defining everything:  FM 
file, layout, field list, field formatting, field alignment, etc, 
etc..., the one file can serve solution.

My first attempt at this was to create a separate variables page for 
each solution. It is much like the familiar server_data file we all 
use, except that this has 50 variables to serve the multi-function 
page.

Afer that, I decided to join the separate solution variable pages and 
keep everything in one single variable page, using if statements to 
select the correct set of 50 variables.

This works great, except that the job of editing the solution 
involved editing row after row of arrays in the variables page in 
BBedit.

So, off I went to the next step: committing the variables to a single 
FMP "variable" database. When the solution starts up, it queries the 
database for the needed variable values. It then writes the arrays 
out to temporary variables. The multi-function page uses those 
temporary arrays. This last step allows me to define the data in 
FM...a much easier process.

The next challenge, I had to manually add the fieldnames into the 
database. I did that for the first solution. Then, I realized that FM 
could do it for me.  By using the FMDBNames, FMLayouts and mining the 
FMFinf query for filed names, I am building the ability for my system 
to interrogate all the files on my server and populate itself with 
every field on every (web-related) layout.

The last step: webifying the access to the variables database so that 
I or an authorized user can completely redesign the multi-function 
page (within reason), having the benefit of adding , moving or 
removing data fields...because these have all been previously defined 
in the variable database.

Phew!

So, ggt, that's why I need to identify the Table name.  for a given 
solution, my variables database lists a field, a layout, a table and 
a file to uniquely identify the right record(s).

Now, you would be correct to say that a layout alone should be 
sufficient (without the Table Name) because layout names should be 
unique, but FMP allows duplicate layout names.

So, that's the way I did it.

How do yo do it?

J




At 2:01 AM +0200 8/4/08, Gjermund Gusland Thorsen wrote:
>I always user data separation, however there are usually several
>instances of each table,
>however FileMaker always makes the first instance of a table as a 
>layout too....
>
>g
>g
>t
>

-- 
Jonathan Schwartz
Exit 445 Group
jonathan at exit445.com
http://www.exit445.com
415-370-5011