Import Folder of Documents into Container field via script

Question

Im running Filemaker Server 19 and FileMaker 19 client

I have an app that manages Document Templates, ie Word documents

Each Document Template master record contains information about that template, plus connects to a Document Samples table that contains one Word document (the template) and one PDF document (an output of the template file when used , a bit like mail merge).

We've recently had an update to the system I support (not a Filemaker system) and many hundreds of the Word templates have been updated. If I have to do one or two in a session it's pretty simple to drag the latest version of each template to the Container field; but recently I've been having to do 10s/100s of Document updates very quickly to get them into our system. I've put copies of all the Word documents into a folder on my Mac. They all have a unique name and a unique template id in the format of 1234doctemplate01. So, the 1234 equates to my Document template ID in my database and the filename is also mirrored in a 'Template Name' field in the database.

So, my question is how to build a Script to go through the database one record at a time and, for each, to check the Mac folder and see if there's matching document name and, if there is, to paste/copy it into the appropriate Container field

Can anyone advise, please? Further detail available if this isn't too clear

Answer 1

I would do something slightly different:

Import all the files in the folder into a new table (see https://help.claris.com/en/pro-help/content/importing-folder.html) and create a relationship between this table and your existing table, based on matching template ID or name.

Then you can loop over the records in either table and if a match is found, replace the data in the existing container. Or perhaps you could make this a permanent structure, where the file is stored in a related record.

Doing it the way you have proposed would be awkward using only Filemaker's built-in tools (and outright impossible if the folder is not somewhere within the Documents folder). It might be somewhat easier if you use a plugin (e.g. BaseElements) to read the folder's contents.

Answer 2

You can use base element plugin to select multiple files in a folder with

BE_FileSelectDialog 

or check if a file exist with

BE_FileExists

and then looping over the list to insert every file into a container via

set field ["your_container" ; BE_FileImport ( $file )]