FM 8.5

If one changes table name or field names or value list names will any
of these changes affect the relationships, calculations or look ups?
Is Filemaker tracking these names through a discreet numbering system
or is it strictly recognizing the name?

Thanks

On 7/26/2010 9:23 AM, Buckbuck wrote:
FileMaker uses internal IDs to track fields, tables, etc. It will only
effect things if the literal field name has been used as part of a
calculation. Functions such as GetField() might use literal text of a
field name as a function parameter. Or there might be an If[] statement
in a script that tests, for example, that get(activefieldname) =
"FirstName". These will break if the field and/or table names are changed.

But generally speaking, most people who haven't had a professional
developer will probably never have used any of these questionable
functions and so should likely not run into any problems after changing
table, table occurence or field names.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg
FM Professional Solutions, Inc. Los Angeles

FileMaker Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Business Alliance

On 2010-07-26 09:23:45 -0700, Buckbuck <buck.matthew74 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> said:

Changing the name of any FM object will propagate that change
throughout the solution, in scripts, relationships, calculations, etc,

EXCEPT when the name is hardcoded into a script step or calc such as

If ( Get(ActiveFieldName) = "TableName::MyFieldName") etc.

In that case, the name inside the quotes will not change.

FM stores a hidden ID for each object in a solution, and refers to them
that way, not by name. When an object is referred to by name, FM
translates to the hidden ID, then back, so that the propagation of
changes can happen as described above.
--
Lynn Allen
--
www.semiotics.com
Member FBA
FM 10 Certified Developer