Exporting to tab-delimitted text format, if the fields being exported
had filemaker's "return" character in it, I'd like that to show up when
I open the exported file in a text-editing app., such as Mac's TextEdit.

In other words, I want to see the text feed down to the next line.

I tried every option in the export order dialog box.... no matter what,
it seems that Filemaker's return characters are not included in the
exported file. Only the carriage return that is inserted to designate
the end of one record makes it into the exported file. I realize that
there would be value in that behavior if I were trying to maintain the
integrity of the records.... but I'm not.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Greg

In article <greg-32C8C5.17371520032007 (AT) bubbleator (DOT) drizzle.com>,
Greg Dember <greg (AT) artocratic (DOT) com> wrote:

an internal return character. Use your favorite text editor to change
it to a "real" return (0x0d or ctrl-m).

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3
7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

In article <tomstiller-19F403.23144820032007 (AT) comcast (DOT) dca.giganews.com>,
Tom Stiller <tomstiller (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote:

Obviously you can't export a real Return character since that's what
almost always delimts each record, so FileMaker replaces them and as
Tom says you then have to re-replace them.

Using a just a text editor may make it impossible to find the Vertical
Tab that FileMaker uses, so instead you might want to customise the
replacement yourself to something that's easier to find / replace in
other applications.

Create a new Calculation field (or fields - one for each export field
that needs to have Return characters inside it). This field simply
copies the existing field and replaces the Return Characters with
something else easily distinguishable.
eg.
MyField_Export Calculation, Text Result, Unstored
= Substitute (MyField, "P", "[RET]")

where the 'P' is really the Return character (the backwards 'P') on one
of the buttons in the Define Calculation window.

This will keep your original field within FileMaker and give you a copy
with all the Returns replaced by [RET] - assuming your original text
doesn't contain this word of course.

You can then export this field instead of the original and then in the
other application performa Find / Replace to replace all the [RET]
words with a proper Return (you may need to copy a Return in
application before open its Find / Replace window, and then paste it
into the Replace field).


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

In article <greg-32C8C5.17371520032007 (AT) bubbleator (DOT) drizzle.com>,
Greg Dember <greg (AT) artocratic (DOT) com> wrote:

Hey -- Thanks Tom and Harry. Bad news: I couldn't use your ideas to
find/replace the vertical tab or a substituted character, because I
can't count on my users to do that.

Good news: I discovered the "Export Field Content" script step. Using
the Export Field Content step, Filemaker keeps the return characters as
return characters. I'm only exporting one field per record.... but
this one field contains a bunch of text that needs to appear a certain
way, and needs to use the return characters for structure. Then I
concatenate this field together across all records with a loop. Then I
Export Field Contents for just that one grand field.

Works great.

In article <greg-0548E5.22333320032007 (AT) bubbleator (DOT) drizzle.com>, Greg
Dember <greg (AT) artocratic (DOT) com> wrote:

It's good you found another way that works. )

If all the users are on Macs, then another possibility could be to use
the substituted field and then run an AppleScript (or "Automator") to
automatically open the export file, perform a Find / Replace and
re-save the file for them.

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