Class: Rfm::Database

Inherits:
Object
  • Object
show all
Defined in:
lib/rfm/database.rb

Overview

The Database object represents a single FileMaker Pro database. When you retrieve a Database object from a server, its account name and password are set to the account name and password you used when initializing the Server object. You can override this of course:

myDatabase = myServer["Customers"]
myDatabase. = "foo"
myDatabase.password = "bar"

Accessing Layouts

All interaction with FileMaker happens through a Layout object. You can get a Layout object from the Database object like this:

myLayout = myDatabase["Details"]

This code gets the Layout object representing the layout called Details in the database.

Note: RFM does not talk to the server when you retrieve a Layout object in this way. Instead, it simply assumes you know what you’re talking about. If the layout you specify does not exist, you will get no error at this point. Instead, you’ll get an error when you use the Layout object methods to talk to FileMaker. This makes debugging a little less convenient, but it would introduce too much overhead to hit the server at this point.

The Database object has a layout attribute that provides alternate access to Layout objects. It acts like a hash of Layout objects, one for each accessible layout in the database. So, for example, you can do this if you want to print out a list of all layouts:

myDatabase.layout.each {|layout|
  puts layout.name
}

The Database::layout attribute is actually a LayoutFactory object, although it subclasses hash, so it should work in all the ways you expect. Note, though, that it is completely empty until the first time you attempt to access its elements. At that (lazy) point, it hits FileMaker, loads in the list of layouts, and constructs a Layout object for each one. In other words, it incurrs no overhead until you use it.

Accessing Scripts

If for some reason you need to enumerate the scripts in a database, you can do so:

myDatabase.script.each {|script|
  puts script.name
}

The Database::script attribute is actually a ScriptFactory object, although it subclasses hash, so it should work in all the ways you expect. Note, though, that it is completely empty until the first time you attempt to access its elements. At that (lazy) point, it hits FileMaker, loads in the list of scripts, and constructs a Script object for each one. In other words, it incurrs no overhead until you use it.

Note: You don’t need a Script object to run a script (see the Layout object instead).

Attributes

In addition to the layout attribute, Server has a few other useful attributes:

  • server is the Server object this database comes from

  • name is the name of this database

  • state is a hash of all server options used to initialize this server

Instance Attribute Summary collapse

Instance Method Summary collapse

Constructor Details

#initialize(name, server) ⇒ Database

Initialize a database object. You never really need to do this. Instead, just do this:

myServer = Rfm::Server.new(...)
myDatabase = myServer["Customers"]

This sample code gets a database object representing the Customers database on the FileMaker server.



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# File 'lib/rfm/database.rb', line 68

def initialize(name, server)
  @name = name
  @server = server
  @account_name = server.state[:account_name] or ""
  @password = server.state[:password] or ""
  @layout = Rfm::Factory::LayoutFactory.new(server, self)
  @script = Rfm::Factory::ScriptFactory.new(server, self)
end

Instance Attribute Details

#account_name ⇒ Object

Returns the value of attribute account_name.



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# File 'lib/rfm/database.rb', line 77

def 
  @account_name
end

#layout ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the value of attribute layout.



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# File 'lib/rfm/database.rb', line 77

def layout
  @layout
end

#name ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the value of attribute name.



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# File 'lib/rfm/database.rb', line 77

def name
  @name
end

#password ⇒ Object

Returns the value of attribute password.



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# File 'lib/rfm/database.rb', line 77

def password
  @password
end

#script ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the value of attribute script.



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# File 'lib/rfm/database.rb', line 77

def script
  @script
end

#server ⇒ Object (readonly)

Returns the value of attribute server.



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# File 'lib/rfm/database.rb', line 77

def server
  @server
end

Instance Method Details

#[](layout_name) ⇒ Object

Access the Layout object representing a layout in this database. For example:

myDatabase['Details']

would return a Layout object representing the Details layout in the database.

Note: RFM never talks to the server until you perform an action. The Layout object returned is created on the fly and assumed to refer to a valid layout, but you will get no error at this point if the layout you specify doesn’t exist. Instead, you’ll receive an error when you actually try to perform some action it.



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# File 'lib/rfm/database.rb', line 91

def [](layout_name)
  self.layout[layout_name]
end