< prev
main
next >

Calendar Solution Documentation



Section 7: Developer Access (cont'd)

Section 7.3: Developer Access, Task.fp5

Task.fp5 (a.k.a. Task, Task module, Task file) - The Task file stores all information related to all calendar events.

Fields - All fields in Task that allow user interaction begin with '
tk.' prefixes. All other fields in this file are developer fields, which each begin with a 'z', and are therefore sorted to the bottom of the field definitions list. A full description of the purpose of every field in this file is not provided in this manual. The developer should take the time to look at the scripts, layouts and fields in all of the files to which he has access, familiarizing himself with the programming and determining the intent behind the programming. Scripts are well commented, when needed, and all programming is well-organized for the benefit of developers who employ this solution.

Those fields which are integral to the solution, or whose components or usage may be complex for the moderately experienced developer, will be described in detail in this manual. For more information on developer fields and naming conventions, see the
Preface for Section 7.

Relationships - There are a great many relationships in the Calendar module, most of which are tied to the Task file. The majority of these relationships are tied to two multi-line key fields in the Task file:
zk.tk.due.date.c and zk.tk.due.time.date.c. The field zk.tk.due.date.c relates to the corresponding day in the Month view of the calendar. Since the Calendar's Month view only lists appointments and tasks by day, not time, the zk.tk.due.date.c field does not store any time information. zk.tk.due.date.c stores the date, the user to whom the event belongs, and each of the five filters available in the preferences section of the calendar.

In addition to storing all of the information available in
zk.tk.due.date.c, the field zk.tk.due.time.date.c stores the event's time information. This makes the current event available to the Week and Day views in the calendar, which display appointments by time as well as date.

Following is a breakdown of the components of the first line of the
zk.tk.due.time.date.c field, as seen when viewing that field's specification in FileMaker's Define Fields dialog. The components of zk.tk.due.date.c are identical, except that the leading time data is omitted:

zc.tk.timeBegin.c & "| " & zc.tk.dateBegin.c & "| " & zc.filter.a.c & "| " & zc.filter.b.c & "| " & zc.filter.c.c & "| " & zc.filter.d.c & "| " & zc.filter.e.c & "¶"

...and so on. Every combination of filters utilized in the Calendar must be anticipated so the relationship between Calendar and Task will not break down when a Calendar user employs filters. The rest of the calculation specifies every combination of filters the Calendar user might have selected at any one time. Following is a description of each of the components of this calculation:

Component

Description

zc.tk.timeBegin.c

the starting time for the event

"| "

data separator, also known as a delimiter; separates the components of the key field.

zc.tk.dateBegin.c

the date of the event

zc.filter.a.c
zc.filter.b.c
zc.filter.c.c
zc.filter.d.c
zc.filter.e.c

There are five filters by which users may filter events in the Calendar. Each filter designation is based on a calculation, which allows the developer to customize the filters by replacing the fields that are currently in the filters with those fields of his choosing. Full developer access is required in order to do so, since the primary key fields in Calendar.fp5 must also be altered.



Value Lists - The user value list available when viewing/filtering events in Month, Week, and Day view in the Calendar is named
task.f~tk.whoDo. As its name indicates, this value list is built from the field tk.whoDo in Task.fp5. Both developer access levels (Levels 3 & 4) allow defining value lists in the Calendar file, enabling the developer to populate these lists from values in any file desired. You may redefine this value list to display data from a file of your choosing, or change its properties to accommodate your particular situation.

Navigation - Clicking the Event List navigation button in the Calendar button bar executes a script in the Calendar, which in turn calls a script in the Task file. Because Standard Access (Level 3) does not allow access to ScriptMaker in Calendar.fp5, navigating to your own users/people database will require modifying the script
nav.tk.list in the Task module.

To do so, add to the
nav.tk.list script in Task a subscript which calls a script in your chosen database. Employing this method dictates that the Task file will need to remain in your solution, as the navigation script in Task will be accessed every time the Event List button is clicked in the Calendar. Full Developer access (Level 4) negates the need for this workaround, since that level grants access to ScriptMaker in Calendar.fp5.

To achieve return navigation to the Calendar from your own task file, import the script
navx.cal.curView[xsub calendar] from the Task file into the file of your choosing.

< prev
main
next >

AppleScript - Links
Copyright 1998-2003 davedowling.com, All Rights Reserved.