Datagrace

Yes, they are also helpful. I'll call this problem solved.

Thank you. That kinda works-- the help system is now installed, but runs as a separate app; there's no VW Help folder. Searching from the Help menu or using What's This still don't work, but I can open the Help app and find what I want.

Thank you. I have added that info to my sig.

Designer 2013 on OS 10.9.5, clicking on Help/Vectorworks Help returns an error message: 'An error occurred while opening the help system. The VW Help folder may be missing or contain invalid data. Please contact technical support for assistance.' The VW Help folder exists, at the same level as all the other folders within VW 2013. Seeing this on 2 boxes. The Search-- the one where you enter a string and an animation points to the menu or tool item-- works. John Weinshel

Do you mean VW is on one box, Filemaker is on another, and Filemaker is local, i.e., not hosted from Filemaker Server? If so, that is expected behavior. A local Filemaker client will connect only to an ODBC source on the same box. John Weinshel Associate Member, Filemaker Business Alliance Certified for Filemaker 13

Filemaker can save files as a 'runtime', a self-contained system that does not require the Filemaker application. Runtime data files typically use the .usr suffix. Runtimes are created using the developer version of Filemaker, Filemaker Pro Advanced. Advanced allows the runtime to be saved with a variety of security and viewing formats-- completely locked down, fairly open, or kiosk--, and with a suffix of the developer's choosing. .usr files can usually be opened with the Filemaker Pro application by manually changing the suffix. Do so with a copy, so as to not endanger the original. If the files were created with any version of Filemaker from 7 through 11, the suffix would be .fp7; for Filemaker 12, .fmp12. To re-cap, if the files were created with Filemaker Pro Advanced 11, change '.usr' to .fp7' and open with FIlemaker 11; for a file created with FMPA 12, change '.usr' to 'fmp12' and open with Filemaker Pro (or Pro Advanced) 12. My memory is that the original Plant Database was built in Filemaker 9, which is about 5 years old.

That is correct. Bento does not support ODBC at this time.

Although I used Minicad profesionally for many years, I changed professions about ten years ago, have forgotten most of what I knew, and modern VW has changed dramatically. While a beginner's class is likely to still be a little below my skill level, I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with either the workshop, the trainer, or company-supplied trainers in general? http://www.nemetschek.net/training/beg_seminar.php This would be in Portland, OR July 27-28. I live about three hours away, so the class would cost me travel and lodging, in addition to lost work time (I am a self-employed Filemaker developer) and the enrollment fee. Willing to spend the money for the value, but not for someone walking me through the user's manual. Thank you. John Weinshel Datagrace Associate Member, Filemaker Business Alliance Vashon Island, WA

I guess I'm not getting how the VS would know when the file was done being written. I'm new to modern day VW and don't know what its scripting language can do. But I'm assuming it can script an import, if it knows the file path and can test for its existence. Perhaps it can loop through a test for the file, and then run the import a few seconds after the test returns true. Can VS make an ActiveX call? It's a little archaic, but Filemaker can receive them and run a script; my memory is that the script name is one of the few parameters it will accept that way. Looks like exploring how the plant database works will teach me more.

Thanks, Brudgers. Is AS the only way to call a VW method externally? I'm confused because you first say it doesn't work with anythimg on the Windows side, but you then refer to 'the right external application'. Does that mean that an actual compiled app, independent of OS, might be able to make calls to VW? Or are the only exposed objects those in the AS library (I've only got VW installed on XP, so I don't have a way to look)? So are you picturing a process started on the VW side? User pushes a button that starts a VS that calls the external app that collects the data and either pushes or pulls it back into VW, but only after waiting for it to be exported to a text/XML/Excel file?

Hi Markus, ODBC isn't an automated process; it just provides an application agnostic method of sharing data between applications. I'm not sure that it would offer any advantage over text or Excel imports, but, in any event, I'm not seeing a way to use ODBC with VW. Am I missing something? No hits in Help, in either Search or the Index. It's surprising to me that such sophisticated software wouldn't offer an ODBC driver, or at least be able to use another driver for import, which is what you'd want to do. It looks like the only way to automate anything inside the VW environment is to use its scripting language. I've just glanced at it, and, while it appears to be fairly robust, it also looks like there's a lot to learn. But maybe that's more than you really need. What do you mean by 'automate this step in some way'? A VW script, or an external scripting or programming language, would need an event to trigger the import routine. What would that event be? A change on the Filemaker side? That would get really complicated, requiring a Filemaker script that would call a VW script, which is probably not possible. Maybe VW scripts can be called externally, by VBS/Applescript or some other scripting language. An alternative would be a chron--a VW script run at a regular interval (assuming VW scripts have such a function). If, however, VW offered an ODBC driver, it might be possible to script the data entry in Filemaker and, as part of that script, push the data into VW via ODBC, assuming that driver made the worksheet accessible. Not hard from the Filemaker side, but I'm not seeing the driver.

Hi Markus, Can you say a little more about what you mean by 'bring fields...into a VW document'? Where would you be bringing them? What are you trying to accomplish? I am a professional Filemaker developer who has barely used VW since its MiniCad days (I used to design and build custom hardwood furniture). I know little about VW's data capabilities-- you all on this list can help me there--, but I can tell you what Filemaker can and cannot do. I see VW can import data arrays into worksheets, and any version of Filemaker (or most any database, for that matter) can save or export data as arrays, or grids-- text, .dif, tab delimited, etc. Does that do you any good? Although Filemaker can act as an ODBC data source (either from its server or from its client, on either platform, although it's a little easier to set up on Windows), I'm not seeing how VW can talk to an ODBC data source. I'm leaving aside non-native (to VW) methods; in other words, all kinds of things might be possible in scripting languages (Applescript on the Mac or VBS on Windows), depending on what objects VW exposes, or even in a proper programming language. What I am not seeing is any way to get imported data to modify VB objects. In other words, it appears to me that you can attach data to parts of a VW file, but is there any way to make that data change that part? John Weinshel Datagrace Vashon Island, WA Certified for Filemaker 10