Yes, I believe you can do what you are trying to do. Your secretary
is very fortunate to have an employer who is looking to keep things as
simple as possible. I have been hesitant to answer this question
because I do not have a copy of FileMaker here to test my answer.
However, based upon my previous experience with FileMaker and recent
research about this, I believe this will make things easy for you.
My suggestion is to use a plug-in created specifically for handling
files. I have found two developers of these plug-ins, Waves in Motion
and Troi. They are comparably priced (around $49) and either can be
downloaded for a trial before you commit to a purchase. The
alternative is to write scripts to accomplish your tasks, which would
be hard enough if you were using a Macintosh and even more difficult
using Windows. (Historically, FileMaker began as a Macintosh
application and it has taken some time for its Windows features to
mature, particularly scripting.) From what I have read, it sounds
like a plug-in would be required for some of the functions you are
requesting, regardless of operating system.
You can download and read about the Waves In Motion "oAzium FileTools"
plug-in here:
http://wmotion.com/filetools.html
I am recommending "oAzium FileTools" because it has support for a
feature you have requested that, unfortunately, the Troi plug-in does
not appear to support.
Namely, it allows you to launch a referenced file in the appropriate
application (for example, open a Word document in Word, Excel file in
Excel, etc.). It will also allow you to bring up a "File Open" dialog
box for a given directory and retrieve attributes about a file.
The "oAzium FileTools" plug-in has a number of powerful features, but,
luckily I believe you can do everything you want by focusing on these
commands. (You can read about these in the PDF manual provided with
the demo):
OzFi-Execute, OzFi-GetAttribute
For comparison, you may want to read about the Troi file plug-in.
However, it's FAQ document indicates that it cannot open a referenced
Word document, so that would seem to disqualify it. Also, the
documentation began mentioning a number of Macintosh-only features
that made me increasingly uncomfortable given your Windows XP
requirements.
http://www.troi.com/software/fileplugin.html
Search Terms: FileMaker Pro Plug file folder
://www.google.com/search?q=FileMaker+Pro+Plug+file+folder
I hope you find this information useful and easy to understand.
However, if anything remains unclear, please do not hesitate to ask
for a clarification. |
