Top 5 Custom Functions<\/h2>
I realize that not everyone\u2019s definition of the Top 5<\/em> custom functions will be the same. My top five custom functions are those that I use in multiple databases to save time, or simply those that I use often.<\/p> When dealing with multi-platform solutions, it is imperative to track which platform the end user is on. I don’t know about you, but I tend to forget which numbers pertain to which system platform, hence why I use this custom function frequently. Instead of constantly using Get(SystemPlatform) and memorizing which number belongs to which platform, you can simply create a custom function that returns the platform. Once doing so, your script process is clearer to read and also quicker to implement.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n\n <\/p> FilterValues returns a text result containing only the values that were passed as filterValues, whereas this custom function is quite the opposite. Many times I have found myself needing to remove a specific value from a value list, which is when the RemoveValue custom function comes in handy.<\/p> listofValues<\/strong> – value list Example:<\/strong> Returns:<\/strong> Custom Function Definition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Year (Get(CurrentDate)) – I’m sure many of us have found ourselves needing the age of a person in a record and this custom function does this and calculates the age.<\/p> Birthdate<\/strong> \u2013 date of birth field you will be using to check age<\/p> Have you ever found yourself needing a specific format for a phone number or perhaps you have to mask out credit cards and just display the last 4 digits? This custom function allows you to do both. You insert the pattern and it will output the format you desire. <\/p> Explanation of Parameters:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n direction<\/strong> \u2013 LTR (left to right) or RTL (right to left) Example:<\/strong><\/p> Patternize ( “LTR” ; “###-###-####” ; “#” ; “7183233333” ; 0 ) 718-323-3333 This function will determine in a boolean manner whether or not a script is running on the FileMaker Server.<\/strong><\/p> The majority of all Filemaker developers have a OnOpen script for their solution. When running scripts on the server, we usually don\u2019t need to run the OnOpen script. To bypass this instead of creating an if statement and writing out the code we can simply call this custom function.<\/p> If you’d like to play around with these versatile functions, check out our demo file:<\/p> What is a custom function? Custom FileMaker functions are functions defined by the developer that can be reused anywhere in the database file in which they are created.\u00a0As developers, we can find ourselves evaluating a calculation multiple times, which is a great sign to use a custom function. A great resource for custom functions is …<\/p>\nSysPlatform<\/h3>
Custom Function Definition<\/strong><\/h6>
Let ( [\nsystem = Get ( SystemPlatform ) ;\nplatform = Case ( \n\t\tsystem = 1 ; \"Mac\" ; \n\t\tsystem = -2 ; \"Win\" ; \n\t\tsystem = 3 ; \"iOS\" ; \n\t\tsystem = 4 ; \"Web\" ; \n\t\t\/\/defaultResult \n\t\t\"N\/A\"\n\t\t)\n] ; \n\nplatform\n\n)<\/code><\/code><\/pre>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.directimpactsolutions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/sysPlatform.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>RemoveValue ( listOfValues ; value )<\/h3>
Custom Function Definition<\/strong><\/h6>
\/*\nCUSTOM FUNCTION: RemoveValue(listOfValues; value)\nby Debi Fuchs of Aptworks Consulting, debi@aptworks.com\nSpeedily (and with no recursion or cleanup of empty values) remove all instances of a value from a list. (For cleanup try custom function CullNulls)\ne.g. RemoveValue(\"\u00b69\u00b62\u00b64\u00b68\u00b68\u00b6\u00b67\u00b6\u00b68\u00b69\u00b6\u00b6\"; \"8\") -> \"\u00b69\u00b62\u00b64\u00b6\u00b67\u00b6\u00b69\u00b6\u00b6\"\nLAST MODIFIED: 28-AUG-2018 by Debi Fuchs of Aptworks Consulting\n*\/\n\nLet(\n s = \"##*aaa*##\"; \/\/very unlikely string\n Case(\n \/\/Check if unlikely string rears its head\n Position( listOfValues; s; 0; 1 );\n \/\/If so, simulate an out-of-range error.\n Evaluate( \"Factorial( -1 )\" ); \n \/\/Check if value itself contains a paragraph return\n Position( value; \u00b6; 0; 1 );\n \/\/If so, simulate an out-of-range error.\n Evaluate( \"Factorial( -1 )\" ); \n \/\/ Otherwise, proceed to get rid of nulls\n Substitute(\n s & listOfValues & s;\n [ \"\u00b6\"; s & \u00b6 & s ];\n [ s & value & s & \u00b6; \"\" ];\n [ \u00b6 & s & value & s; \"\" ];\n [ s & value & s; \"\" ];\n [ s; \"\" ]\n )\n )\n)<\/code><\/code><\/pre>Explanation of Parameters:<\/h5>
value<\/strong> – value to remove<\/p>
RemoveValue ( “Green”&\u00b6&”Red”&\u00b6&”Red”&\u00b6&”Purple” ; “Red” )<\/p>
Green
Purple<\/p>Age(Birthdate)<\/h3>
Year (BirthDate) –
(
Get (CurrentDate) < Date (
Month (BirthDate);
Day (BirthDate);
Year (Get(CurrentDate))
)
)<\/p><\/div>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.directimpactsolutions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/age-1-edited-1.png\")
<\/figure><\/div><\/div>Patternize ( direction ; pattern ; replaceChar ; value ; pad? )<\/h3>
![\"patternize\"](\"https:\/\/www.directimpactsolutions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/number.jpeg\")
<\/figure>
pattern<\/strong> \u2013 format you desire
replaceChar <\/strong>– Character in that pattern I want replaced with data
value <\/strong>\u2013 data that is passed
pad?<\/strong> \u2013 0 \u2013 I don\u2019t want to include the rest of the pattern once I run out of data<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/h5>
Patternize ( “LTR” ; “###-###-#### x ###” ; “#” ; “7183233333343” ; 0 )
Patternize ( “RTL” ; “xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-####” ; “#” ; “5288105898105340” ; 0 )<\/p>
718-323-3333 x 343
xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-5340<\/p>IsServer<\/h3>
Custom Function Definition<\/h6>
PatternCount( Get( ApplicationVersion ); \"Server\" ) > <\/strong><\/code><\/pre>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.directimpactsolutions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/server.png\")
<\/figure>