SystemText is designed to help you comprehend and document complex files. This tool pulls all the information for a file together into a single record. From there you can annotate and format the information as you like, then print an attractive report with all the salient information for the file in one place. This is especially useful for writing programmer's documentation at the end of a project. SystemText can also generate text lists that can be cut and pasted into other word processing documents. Even without the ability to annotate the gathered text, SystemText is the fastest way to print out comprehensive lists of fields, relationships, layouts, scripts and value lists; many of which are not even printable from within Filemaker itself. SystemText is intuitive enough that you can just use it and figure it out, but here's the full documentation for reference's sake.
General Layout Notes
SystemText breaks down a file's information into 6 types, each with its own layout. These layouts are: File Info, Fields, Relationships, Layouts, Scripts and Value Lists. They are accessible by clicking on the blue buttons at the top of each layout, one for each type of data. Each type of data can be updated seperately by clicking on the "Update _____" button on that particular layout. Additionally, each type of data can be printed in its own report by clicking on the "Print _____" button on that particular layout. SystemText can also compile all the information for a data type into a return-seperated list of text by clicking on the "Generate Text" button on that layout.
On each layout, with the exception of File Info, the data is listed in portals. As in most tools in LitheFM, these portals can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. This will cause the data in the portal to sort, and the portal will display a graphical highlight showing which column is the sort criteria. Clicking on the "*" header will return the portal to its original order.
Each row in a portal displays a small icon which resembles a sticky note. Clicking on this icon will allow you to enter notes for that item in the large field on the right hand side of the layout. In the case of fields, layouts and value lists, this will also display some other information for the item - field calculations, fields on the layout and value list items respectively - in the large field in the lower right corner of the layout. The SystemText reports are designed to accomodate up to a page of notes per item, we find that usually a few lines is sufficient.
There is a dark strip with text at the bottom of each layout. This text tells you who entered and last modified the current record and when, and gives you feedback on the found set.
General Layout Buttons
(Layout Buttons): The blue buttons to navigate to each data type's layout are located at the top of each screen, clicking on a button will take you to that layout, and that button will highlight in grey.
(Arrow Buttons): At the right end of the layout buttons are two buttons labelled with arrows that allow you to scroll between records. As in all tools in LitheFM, holding the option key while you click on these buttons will take you to the first or last record in the found set rather than the previous or next records in the found set.
"Update (___)": Each layout has some version of this button labelled with that datatype (e.g. "Update Fields"). Clicking on this button will delete the current entries (including notes), then query the file and build a new listing of the data for that layout. Holding the option key down while you click this button will suppress the dialog confirming you intention if there is already data in the portal.
"Generate Text": Clicking on this button will generate a return seperated list of the data in the layout's portal. The text will be generated according to the current sort order of the portal. The text thus generated is also subject to the preferences set for reports on the file info layout (see "File Info" below for more information). Holding the option key down while you click this button will suppress the dialog confirming you intention if there is already data in the text field.
"Print (____)": This button prints a report for just the information on the current layout. The information in the report will be sorted the same as the current portal sort, and is subject to the preferences set for reports on the file info layout. Printing reports brings up the standard print dialog, at which time you can cancel the printing if you choose. You can bypass the print dialog by holding down the option key while you click this button.
"Hide": Just for convenience, this button hides the windows for the SystemText and SystemText Data files.
"Close": This button closes both the SystemText and SystemText Data files, but does not quit the Filemaker application.
File Info Layout
The file info layout is where most of the functionality lies in SystemText. This is where you build and delete records, perform finds, set preferences and do record-wide updates and printing. The basic file info consists of the following fields:
"File Name" - Be sure to enter the file name correctly or SystemText will be unable to function on that record.
"System Name" - Enter the name of the larger system of which this file is part. Helps with finds.
"Location" - Where is this file stored? The full path is gotten via Applescript during the "Update File Info" process.
"File Size" - The size, in K, of the current file, gotten via Applescript.
"Multi-User" - The file sharing status of the file, gotten via Applescript.
"Created" - The creation date of the file, gotten via Applescript.
"File Description" - A field where you can enter a general description of the file, can be included on the printouts.
"# of Records" - How many records (total) are currently in the file, gotten via Applescript.
Summary Fields - These fields tell you how many of each type of data are associated with this file.
This layout also has a portal where you can enter groups, passwords and access notes for convenient storage, enter these directly into the portal fields. This information is printed as part of the file info and SystemText reports. Like all portals in the Toolkit, this one can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. Doing so will cause the portal to sort and a graphical highlight to display showing the sort criteria.
Finally, this layout provides space where you can set the preferences for report printouts and text generation formating. See the sections below for more on these options.
File Info Buttons:
"Update File Info": This will update the file location, size, multi-user status, creation date and record count for the current file.
"Open File": Clicking this button will cause Applescript to open the file for you, assuming it is still at the location specified by the path in the "Location" field.
"Print File Info": This will print a report for just the file info, subject to the preference to print the file description.
"Clear Access": Clicking on this button will delete all access privilage information which has been entered. Holding down the option key while you click this button will suppress the dialog prompting you to confirm you intention.
"New Record": Click on this button to begin the process of entering a new file. This will create a new record and put the cursor in the "File Name" field. This is the only way you should enter new records, as it properly enters and updates all unique identifiers.
"Capture SystemText": This button will query the file capture all the relevant data using a combination of Filemaker functions and Applescript. You can bypass the dialogs by holding down the option key for the duration of this process.
"Find": Use this button to perform a find based on any criteria you enter on the File Info layout. If multiple matching records are found, SystemText will display a list screen showing the records sorted by file name. Click on a row to return to the file info layout for that record. Notice that when you click on this button, the caption changes to "Browse" if you wish to cancel the find, simply click on this button again to return to Browse mode.
"Delete Record": Clicking on this button will delete the curent record. As in all tools in the LitheFM Toolkit, hold down the option key while clicking this button to suppress the dialog verifying your intention.
"Print Full Report": Use this button to print a complete report for all the data types for the current file record. This is really just like going to each layout and clicking on the "Print ___" button. Each data type begins on its own page. All portal sorts and report preferences apply. You can suppress the print dialogs by holding down the option key for the duration of this process.
"Hide": Just for convenience, this button hides the windows for the SystemText and SystemText Data files.
"Close": This button closes both the SystemText and SystemText Data files, but does not quit the Filemaker application.
Report and Text Generation Preferences
There are a number of preferences you can set on the file info layout. Check the box next to each preference you would like to be enabled. All of these preferences are global and therefore apply to all records, so be sure to check your preferences before you begin printing.
"Include File Description": If this preference is enabled the file description will be included on the file info report. The report is structured to allow for a file description of approximately a page.
"Include Field Notes": If this preference is enabled, the any notes you have entered about a particular field will be included on the printout or in the text that is generated on the fields layout.
"Include Relationship Notes": If this preference is enabled, the any notes you have entered about a particular relationship will be included on the printout or in the text that is generated on the relationship layout.
"Include Layout Notes": If this preference is enabled, the any notes you have entered about a particular layout will be included on the printout or in the text that is generated on the layout layout.
"Include Script Notes": If this preference is enabled, the any notes you have entered about a particular script will be included on the printout or in the text that is generated on the script layout.
"Include Value List Notes": If this preference is enabled, the any notes you have entered about a particular value list will be included on the printout or in the text that is generated on the value list layout.
"Format Item Name": This preference applies only to text generation. You can use this option to format the text that is generated by specifying the characters you would like to see on either side of the item name. For instance, if you wanted a blank line between each field in the text, and you wanted to put the field name on its own line above the field type, you could check this option and enter a return in each of the boxes that surround "name". Or, if you wanted to preface each relationship name with "##" you would enable this option and just enter those characters - without the quotes - in the box before "name". Play with it, you'll get the hang of it.
"Preface Notes With": Much like the above option, but applies to the notes for any given data type. Enter any characters here (including a carriage return) that you would like to appear before an item's note in the text generated.
Item Orders
SystemText builds its records based on several different orders. Fields and relationships are built in creation order, layouts are built in the order in which they appear in the file, scripts are built in the order they appear in ScriptMaker and value lists are built in the order in which they appear in the "Define Value Lists" box.
