After years away from FM I was extremely impressed with what seemed to
be incredible potential with FMP7. I had a number of projects to build
and I decided to try it.

First thing that smacked me in the face was when I tried to use the
"Set" scripts. There's no way to define the selection or omission
criteria from a field on a layout. It can only be done by entering in a
singular value into the script. WTF!? What's the purpose of that?!?!?
Why bother? It smells as if they couldnt finish it in time for release.

After a simple but stupid work around I get smacked yet again with the
Max function. I thought I got it working... but my complex script
simply would not work as expected. I looked deeper only to find that
the Max function did not. when I built a very simple sample just to test
the function by itself it only returned tha value seen by the pointer
and does not look at the values across records. BROKEN!

I'm going to try the update, but I really don't see how I can trust a
full up project to FMP7 after this.

andychn wrote:
Ok... I ran the updater... MAX still does not work.

I made a simple, db. One field, set as number. i then enter a number of
records with data. Then another table with a form layout and one field
which I set to numeric and global. The script sets the global field on
the second layout to the max of the single field on the first layout. I
go to the first layout and run the script. Does not work. It only
returns the value that the pointer on the first layout is sitting on.

andychn wrote:
Just as you always could in prior versions, create a script that enters
find mode (no restoration of prior settings) and then use the Set Field
step to set your criteria on the fly, and then Perform Find (no
restoration). Use New Request to add an additional request and Omit
Request to omit whatever criteria you've set with Set Field on that request.

This behavior is absolutely no different then it was in prior versions.
The max() function works on a field in a record, a field across
multiple records, or a group of fields in one or multiple records. If
you don't specify a relationship, then it is working on only the current
record. If you specify a relationship, then it is working on the group
of related records.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg (818) 883-2846
FM Pro Solutions Los Angeles, California

FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance

In article <119t3k49dnuc423 (AT) corp (DOT) supernews.com>, Howard Schlossberg
<howard (AT) antispahm (DOT) fmprosolutions.com> wrote:

Ahh, the joys of the Internet. People who complain without thinking,
reading the manual or asking a question. (

Just as an addition, almost ALL the functions work this way: Max, Min,
Sum, etc. If you want the Max of all records or all records in a
certain subset, then you need to use a Relationship or a Summary Field.

In fact even the functions in Excel (not sure about Access) work this
way - if you give them only one cell it won't work as "expected", but
give it a range of cells and it works "properly".



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

I have been developing since before relatioanal .fp3 came out and I
admit I did not warm up to it immediately. As I banged on the .fp7
anvil of experiment, I quickly came to revere the power of v7.

My favorite feature is the ability write recursive functions. This has
opened a huge door. I can now nest relations within themselves and
still parse and print data, to a depth without limit.

In second place, I love the abillity to create records through indirect
distant relatonships which automatically generate records by key in the
intermediate tables.

Don't forget, you can always wite your own 'max' function.

Give it a chance.

- jeanpaul