Confusing variable with quotes problem from FileMaker

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
,
#1

I have a color picker script in FileMaker I use to choose color using Apple’s color picker. The problem I’m having is getting the current color into the color panel using the following:

Tell Application "FileMaker Pro Advanced"
__Tell database "ArtSMARTY"
____set myCurrentColor to cellValue of cell "color_rgb16" of table "Inventory"
__End Tell
End Tell

Choose color default color myCurrentColor

…

This gives me an -1700 error and it says something like “{65353,0,0}” is invalid.

I know it’s a problem with the quotes because I’ve tried testing with an arbitrary color value excluding quotes and it worked. Does anyone know how to solve this? I obviously need to use something else to extract the variable from a fileMaker database.

Model: Macbook intel core duo (black with 2 gigs RAM)
AppleScript: current?
Browser: Firefox 2.0.0.11
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.5)

#2

Hi,

if you get a string from the cell (not a list with three numeric variables), try this:


tell application "FileMaker Pro Advanced"
	tell database "ArtSMARTY"
		set myCurrentColor to cellValue of cell "color_rgb16" of table "Inventory"
	end tell
end tell

set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, ","}
set myCurrentColor to text items of text 2 thru -2 of myCurrentColor
set text item delimiters to TID

choose color default color myCurrentColor
#3

I’m sorry that doesn’t seem to work. The problem I’m having is getting the value returned from the database to escape the quotes. The FileMaker cell will return something like “{65300, 0, 0}” but I’m needing it to be changed to {65300, 0, 0} in order for Applescript to use it as a 16 bit color. I’ve tried using the cell variable without quotes but that doesn’t work either.

I have everything in this color picker solution working except being able to bring up the last picked color. I created a custom FileMaker function to parse the 16 bit colors into their 8 bit equivalents. I’ll post it all up here as soon as I figure out how to get the previous color to input into Apple’s color picker. It’s using FileMaker 8.5 Advanced and I’m showing a color swatch by changing the font color of a dingbat using the custom 16bit - 8bit function. Obviously my strengths lie more in FileMaker than Applescript.

#4

Actually I think I know what to do…I’m going to use a calculated applescript…DUH! I feel like an idiot. I’ll post it all here once its finished. I’m so stupid.

#5

OK I got it. Here is the calulated script I ended up with:

"set myColor to choose color default color {" & Inventory::color_rgb16 & "}¶
set colorstring to my getstring(myColor)¶
¶
on getstring(theColor)¶
	set cs to \"\"¶
	repeat with c from 1 to 3¶
		set cs to cs & (item c of theColor) as string¶
		if c < 3 then¶
			set cs to cs & \",\"¶
		else¶
		end if¶
	end repeat¶
	return cs¶
end getstring¶
¶
tell application \"FileMaker Pro Advanced\"¶
	tell database \"ArtSMARTY\"¶
		set cellValue of cell \"z_glob_color\" of table \"Inventory\" to colorstring¶
		do script \"Inventory_Parse_Color\"¶
	end tell¶
end tell"

I created a custom filemaker function to change the 16bit color value to 8bit:

Parameters:
Color16bit
ColorChanRGB

Let([
RChan = Round (
Left (
Color16bit ;
(Position (Color16bit; “,”; 1; 1) - 1)
) * .99609375 / 256
;0);

GChan = Round (
Middle (
Color16bit ;
Position (Color16bit; “,” ; 1; 1) +1;
(Position (Color16bit; “,” ; 1; 2) - Position (Color16bit; “,” ; 1; 1) - 1)
) * .99609375 / 256
;0);

BChan = Round (
Right (
Color16bit;
Length (Color16bit) - Position (Color16bit; “,” ; 1; 2)
) * .99609375 / 256
;0)
];
Case (
ColorChanRGB = “R”; RChan;
ColorChanRGB = “G”; GChan;
ColorChanRGB = “B”; BChan;
))

Formula use: RGB16to8 ( color_rgb16 ; “R” ); RGB16to8 ( color_rgb16 ; “G” ); RGB16to8 ( color_rgb16 ; “B” )

I created a calculation field called “display_color” that looks like this:
TextColor ( “$$$$$$$” ; RGB ( RGB16to8 ( color_rgb16 ; “R” ); RGB16to8 ( color_rgb16 ; “G” ); RGB16to8 ( color_rgb16 ; “B” ) ) )

I then used a dingbat font to display the color as a swatch. In the parse script, it simply takes the value from the global field “z_glob_color” and sets it as “color_rgb16” for that record followed by a window refresh. This wouldn’t be as difficult if I was using FileMaker 9.0 because I could use conditional formatting, but I’m not going to spend $300 to upgrade from 8.5 to 9.0 for a couple of new features I would actually use. In the color picker script, if the value for “color_rgb16” is blank (no auto-entry values), then I call a native applescript that is basically the same as the one above without the default color selection.