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FileMaker Pro Custom Functions

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ParseData ( theText ; theStartTag ; theEndTag ; theOccurance)

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Average rating: 3.1 (24 votes)
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Hal Gumbert, MacFL
http://www.macfl.com

Extracts text based on a start tag, end tag, and occurance.

Sample Input:

ParseData ( $thePaymentEmail ; "¶Amount: " ; "¶" ; 1 )

Sample Output:

$30.00

// ParseData ( theText; theStartTag; theEndTag; theOccurance) // // Extract the text between two strings. // // Parameters: // theText = the text to parse // theStartTag = the string that comes before the text to extract // theEndTag = the string that comes after the text to extract // theOccurance = the instance of the text to extract // // Return Value: // the instance of text found in theText beween theStartTag and theEndTag based on theOccurance // Let ( [ theStartPos = Position ( theText ; theStartTag ; 1 ; theOccurance ) ; theResult = Case ( // ------------------------------ // If theStartTag was not found, return an empty string. theStartPos = 0 ; "" ; // ------------------------------ // ------------------------------ // If theStartTag was found, get the string we are looking for. theStartPos > 0 ; Let ( [ theStartPos = theStartPos + Length ( theStartTag ) ; theEndPos = Position ( theText ; theEndTag ; theStartPos ; 1 ) ; theLengthToKeep = theEndPos - theStartPos; theResult = Middle ( theText ; theStartPos ; theLengthToKeep ) ] ; theResult ) // ------------------------------ ) // End case ] ; theResult )
Then copy & paste into FileMaker Advanced's Edit Custom Function window.

Click here to copy To Clip Manager if you have myFMbutler's Clip Manager installed

Description:

This is great for extracting text within other text. It's especially good for extracting text from forms that are emailed. For example:

If a variable $thePaymentEmail contains:
From: foo@bar.com
To: foo@bar.com
Subject: Payment Info
Amount: $30.00
Payment Type: Discover
Item: Rockem Sockem Robot
Item: Godzilla Figurine
Order Date: 20060909

ParseData ( $thePaymentEmail ; "¶Amount: " ; "¶" ; 1 ) will return '$30.00'.

ParseData ( $thePaymentEmail ; "¶Item: " ; "¶" ; 1 ) will return 'Rockem Sockem Robot'.

ParseData ( $thePaymentEmail ; "¶Item: " ; "¶" ; 2 ) will return 'Godzilla Figurine'.

Note: these functions are not guaranteed or supported by BrianDunning.com. Please contact the individual developer with any questions or problems.

This is my Custom Function and I want to edit it

Discuss:

Is it possible to get an example file ? I am trying to extract data from the stock price from "http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=" & Stock::Ticker_Symbol to get the latest stock price into a FileMaker field. I have created a test file, but was unable to get it to work. My email address is carlstarus@msn.com
I would greatly appreciate your help.
Thank you and Regards,
Carl

Carl Riedel, Croydon, United Kingdom
October 01, 2009 2:44pm

This function saved me a lot of time parsing HTML pages to extract information and insert into FileMaker fields. Realy useful and easy to use. Once understood, this is beautifuly simple.

Carl Riedel, Croydon, UK
November 30, 2009 7:38am

Thanks!
It works well, although when I tried to use it as a script trigger it failed to find the value.
Oddly, the trigger method works fine if I leave script debugger on. FYI I found this on a script example in the MIT scraping.pdf, so it is likely the script needs a tweak.

Karen, USA
March 01, 2011 2:20pm

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