FillProperties ( PropertyList ; PropertyValues ; Separator ; Blanks )

Populates a full property list from a potentially incomplete list of values

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Peter Vinogradov - Show more from this author

Sample input:

FillProperties ( LIST_AllJobs ; LIST_Employees ; ": " ; "NONE LISTED" )

Sample output:

Director: Bob
Business Manager: NONE LISTED
Secretary: Steve

(where LIST_AllJobs = "Director¶Business Manager¶Secretary" and
LIST_Employees = "Director=Bob¶Secretary=Steve")

Function definition: (Copy & paste into FileMaker's Edit Custom Function window)

/* FillProperties (PropertyList ; PropertyValues ; Separator ; Blanks )

submitted by Peter Vinogradov

Presents a full list of properties (propertylist)  with corresponding values taken from a separate list (propertyvalues) and displays them in the format:

PropertySEPARATORValue

Requires  the TrimReturns function (Kieren MacMillan) and the getbetween function ( Koen Van Hulle)
 These can be found at www.briandunning.com

UPDATED 7/4/06 - rewritten as a recursive formula for simplicity ( earlier version also stripped formatting of source parameters, which was undesirable )
*/

Let (
[
PVals = PropertyValues & "¶" ; // insure CR after propertyvalues
Current = LeftValues (PropertyList ; 1 );
Remaining = RightValues (propertyList ; ValueCount(propertylist) - 1);
CurrentEquals = TrimReturns(Current) & "=" ;
Extract = If (PatternCount (PVals; CurrentEquals) >0 ; getbetween ( PVals; CurrentEquals ; "¶" ; 1); "");
Current_Processed =  TrimReturns (Current) & Separator & If ( Extract<>"" ;  Extract ; Blanks )  & "¶"
];

TrimReturns ( If (ValueCount (Remaining) >0 ; Current_Processed & FillProperties (Remaining ; PropertyValues; Separator ; Blanks ) ; Current_Processed) )

)

Presents a full list of properties (propertylist) with corresponding values taken from a separate list (propertyvalues) and displays them in the format:

PropertySEPARATORValue (or Blanks if no value)

Requires the TrimReturns function (Kieren MacMillan) and the getbetween function ( Koen Van Hulle)
These can be found at www.briandunning.com

UPDATED 7/4/06 - rewritten as a recursive formula for simplicity ( earlier version also stripped formatting of source parameters, which was undesirable)

From a solution where people are connected to institutions by specific job titles in a simple junction table. I needed a report that shows, for each institution, what person occupies each job, with blanks next to unoccupied jobs (or where data is incomplete). Rather than create a few dozen calculation or lookup fields to represent all the jobs, I use this formula to generate that section of the report. The lists that go into the formula can be dynamically generated from other data. The formula can be adapted to show something for missing values (see comments in formula)

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

FillProperties ( PropertyList ; PropertyValues ; Separator ; Blanks )

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