Fourteen years ago, I attended my first DevCon in Phoenix, and it was a pleasure to return this summer and recall old times (or young times, as it were). I learned a lot, caught up with longtime friends, and even had the opportunity to present a session myself called “How Scripts Think.”
View my entire session on YouTube here.
Fundamental Concepts of Script Logic
My topic was decision-making in FileMaker scripts: the fundamental concepts of script logic and a strategy for outlining decisions in your own scripts. Here’s what I covered:
- Learning the basics: logical script steps, functions, and variables
- Creating workflow diagrams
- Outlining your script using comments
- Building your logical structure
- Filling in your actions
- Testing your script with the Script Debugger and Data Viewer
I put together a demo file that illustrates my process for building logical scripts, including some examples I didn’t have time to present as well as several templates for key logical structures. That file is available here.
It’s one of my favorite challenges to put together clear and approachable training materials that use concrete, everyday examples to introduce abstract concepts. I was especially excited about my central example this year: following a recipe to make chocolate-chip cookies.
Since I try to create as many of my own presentation images as possible, that meant conducting a big photo shoot in my kitchen while baking a bunch of cookies. And then eating them one after another, compulsively, as I sat at my desk working hard on this talk.
I hope you’ll take the time to view the video and let me know whether my examples made sense to you, or if they just left you feeling hungry. And perhaps you can advise me: the next time I give a session, should I switch to leafy greens — or cheesecake?
This presentation was very helpful for this nonprogrammer to wrap her head around scripting. Thank you!