Triggering Scripts

There are six ways to initiate ”or "perform" ”scripts:

• By selecting them via the S cripts menu

• By opening the Scripts Dialog, selecting a script, and clicking Per f orm

• By calling them from another FileMaker script (within the same file or externally)

• By calling them from an external Web source

• By attaching them to a layout element, which a user then clicks

• By attaching them to the startup or shutdown routines in the file preferences dialog

FileMaker Pro lacks most procedural triggers ”functions that fire automatically when certain events, such as creating or editing a record, occur. (An exception is that you may configure a file to run a specific script when the file is opened or closed.) For a script to be performed, the user needs to click something. Scripts can be attached to layout objects, so that they are triggered by a user clicking on the object, or they can be activated directly from the Scripts menu, if you've chosen to make particular scripts visible there. There are other ways to call scripts externally through Web publishing as well.

To call scripts externally through Instant Web Publishing, see Chapter 21, "Instant Web Publishing," p. 605 .