Search Results for 'script'

[Brent S]

Hi Sam,

Thank you for the help and feedback. I am getting close to getting it to work, but still a bit shaky in terms of my understanding of things. But first things first, let me answer your questions:

Curious for feedback, were any of them helpful?

Yes. Absolutely! Thank you for making them. The original “Creating a Licensing Database” was great. One of the other videos on Scripting (Deep Dive) helped me make sense of the fld-hash codes, as I had no idea how Daniel had come up with that until I watched your video.

What was not helpful and what would improve it?
I like when videos can compress content in 5-10 minutes. Better to break up videos into smaller digestible chunks and not to try to cover too many topics (IMHO)

What was helpful and how was it helpful?

I really like how you went through the Javascript Code line by line to explain how the computer is interpreting the code.

I had thought about doing another simple intro one on the next few snippets which includes functions but haven’t done it. I tried another video on some other topics but wasn’t happy with how it turned out.

This would be very helpful. For me, an example where you had two very simple forms and you wanted to use a particular Snippet like “Set Field Value”. Ideally the video would explain what you are trying to do, why you are trying to do it, write the code and run the Snippet, show the effect that it had. Ideally the length of the video would be approximate 5 min. For a beginner like me I need to see a very basic version of something working so that I can alter it for my own use. Once I get the simple version working, hopefully then I can build on that for things that are more complex.

There is your feedback : ). And thanks again for making the videos.

Now, a small request for additional help…..

I have not been able to debug the script that I have to get it to work. I am wondering if you can help me vastly simplify the script just to doing one or two things instead of about 4 things at the same time. Basically I would like to start over. So, as I said, I only have two forms. One is my main database called “Contracts” which has thousands of unique PDF’s attached in a file attachment field. The second form (which I named csv) is a sub-list of those PDFs (about 1200 of 36000) that I want to tag with the the word “vaccine”.

Therefore, I need a script that will take my small list of 1200 pdfs, find the corresponding/matching file in the larger Contracts database, and insert an entry “vaccine” into the field “Agreement Keywords”. Seems like this should be simple.

If I can just accomplish that then I can change the code later to take action in other fields.

Key information

The location of the field I need to access in the contracts database:
var pdffilepath_7_id = ‘fld-3ea77ccc18604174b722ece105965c44’;
var agreement_keywords_id = ‘fld-a2126cbe512646e9ba144fb5a90b06dc’;

The location of the data in the csv database:
var keyword_id = ‘fld-53de1c4c633a4da6a4d0213158b5ef0a’;
var pdf_id = ‘fld-0cbd22a473cd4c58aa1dc47341a7157b’;

I think this ability to have scripts auto-populate fields is critically important to anyone like me that has a massive database of documents that are unstructured and need to be tagged and categorized within Tapforms.

Thanks,
Brent

[Brendan]

Hello Winfried,

The Table field is only available to the form that you put it on.

If what you need is a Shopping List form that links to ingredients, then you’ll have to create a separate Ingredients form that you link to from your Shopping List form AND from your Recipes form.

Or alternatively, skip the Shopping List form and just have your Recipes form and an Ingredients form. Then just visit the Ingredients form whenever you want to go shopping. Put your Checkmark field as your first field in the form and when you do that, on iOS, you’ll see a checkmark button to the left of the ingredient name. Tapping on it will check it on or off. Also, if you sort by the Checkmark field then you could have all the unchecked items at the top and all the checked items at the bottom. So as soon as you’ve bought an ingredient, tap on the checkmark and it will move down to the list of checked items.

But then you’d want to have a way of resetting all of the checkmark fields back to unchecked before you go on your next shopping excursion. The only way to do this is to either manually uncheck the items you want to buy, or write a Form Script that un-checks them all for you in one go.

Thanks!

Brendan

[Sam Moffatt]

A few more questions if I may. I have tried to figure things out by watching some of Sam’s videos etc., but I am a little stuck.

Curious for feedback, were any of them helpful? What was not helpful and what would improve it? What was helpful and how was it helpful? I had thought about doing another simple intro one on the next few snippets which includes functions but haven’t done it. I tried another video on some other topics but wasn’t happy with how it turned out.

So first, from my reading it looks like I need to use a “Form Level Script” as opposed to a “Field Level Script” as I am updating existing records.

I think my rule of thumb is that field scripts are meant to act on the contents of the record as those contents change whilst form scripts are more one off or bulk action changes. You can use them somewhat interchangeably and the question is do you want this thing to run all of the time or is it something you want to control when it runs?

I only have two forms, my main database and the cvs data I want to input. Is it correct that I must place the Form Level Script in my main database and not in the cvs form? (That seems to be the only way I can get the correct fld-hash numbers that I need into the script).

While it might not be intuitive you can access any form and any field from scripts (fields or forms) in any form within a document. The editor won’t show you the fields that aren’t directly linked to the form that you’re in but you can use the editor to go to other forms and get their field ID’s. You can also get the field ID from below the description box in the field editor UI.

You can use the code button to wrap your code with backticks (e.g. `code here`) to make it a little easier to read (also ran it through a formatter since the post didn’t have any indentation):

function addKeyword(rec, kw_id, kw) {

	var keywords = rec.getFieldValue(kw_id);

	if (keywords == undefined || keywords == "") {
		rec.setFieldValue(kw_id, kw);
	} else {
		rec.setFieldValue(kw_id, keywords + ',' + kw);
	}
}

function Update_Records() {

	var csvForm = document.getFormNamed("csv");
	var ContractsForm = document.getFormNamed("Contracts");

	// Contracts
	var pdffilepath_7_id = 'fld-3ea77ccc18604174b722ece105965c44';
	var license_category_id = 'fld-d63ab1856e554efebe62b9f1826c388d';
	var license_subcategory_id = 'fld-f0c47c7e6ad244fe955e2c24cb448590';
	var agreement_keywords_id = 'fld-a2126cbe512646e9ba144fb5a90b06dc';

	// get csv field Ids
	var pdffilepath_7 = cvsForm.getFieldNamed('PDF').getId();
	var license_category = cvsForm.getFieldNamed('Category').getId(); var license_subcategory = cvsForm.getFieldNamed('Subcategory').getId();
	var agreement_keywords = cvsForm.getFieldNamed('Keyword').getId();

	// Loop over all csv entries
	// So this tells my Contracts database to look at the cvs form?
	for (entry of cvsForm.getRecords()) {

		// get pdf file name
		// is it looking for another fld-hash here?
		var pdfName = entry.getFieldValue(csvPdf_id);

		// replace spaces with underscores
		pdfName = pdfName.replace('/ /g', '_');
		console.log("Processing: " + pdfName);

		// Loop over all LICENSEdb records
		for (Contracts of Contracts.getRecords()) {

			// this assumes that there is only one PDF per Contract
			// where have I defined (pdf_id) before? Do I need to ?
			var filename = Contract.getFieldValue(pdf_id)[0].filename;

			if (pdfName == filename) {
				console.log("Found match: " + filename);

				// Update Contracts record
				addsubcategory(Contracts, subcategory_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvKeyword_id));

				// Update Contracts record
				addKeyword(Contracts, keyword_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvSubcategory_id));

				// Set category
				Contracts.setFieldValue(category_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvCategory_id))

				break;
			}
		}
	}
	document.saveAllChanges();

	return 'done';
}

Update_Records();

First thing I noticed when I put it through a formatter was that there seemed to be a missing bracket, I’ve added an extra one before the document.saveAllChanges() line and everything balanced out. I used Visual Studio Code to reformat it but I also found an online JavaScript beautifier as well.

Next, much of the script makes sense to me, and other parts seem somewhat circular. Could you look what I have done and see where I messed up? …because I think I did a good job on that : )

I need the script to look up each record that aligns with the PDF file name in the cvs file, and then update the records in the main database form called “Contracts”

Now I see you added an extra call:

addsubcategory (Contracts, subcategory_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvKeyword_id));

What this change is doing is trying to call a function here called addsubcategory but that function doesn’t exist. I think you’re trying to copy the addKeyword line for a new field and if you look at the very top of the script there is a function addKeyword which defines or creates the function. If what you’re trying to do is create a comma separated list of sub categories but in a different field, then I don’t think you need to do a new function, I think you can just call addKeyword with the sub category field ID:

addKeyword (Contracts, subcategory_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvKeyword_id));

Try fixing the curly braces and changing addsubcategory over to addkeyword as above and see if that gets you a little closer.

[Max Heart]

Sam, you are amazing. Just watched your video on the Script Manager. Thank you so much for all your work.
Best, Max

[Brent S]

Hi Daniel,

A few more questions if I may. I have tried to figure things out by watching some of Sam’s videos etc., but I am a little stuck.

So first, from my reading it looks like I need to use a “Form Level Script” as opposed to a “Field Level Script” as I am updating existing records.

I only have two forms, my main database and the cvs data I want to input. Is it correct that I must place the Form Level Script in my main database and not in the cvs form? (That seems to be the only way I can get the correct fld-hash numbers that I need into the script).

Next, much of the script makes sense to me, and other parts seem somewhat circular. Could you look what I have done and see where I messed up? …because I think I did a good job on that : )

I need the script to look up each record that aligns with the PDF file name in the cvs file, and then update the records in the main database form called “Contracts”

I have attached a few screen shots in case that helps with context.

Thanks again.
Brent

——————-

function addKeyword(rec, kw_id, kw) {

var keywords = rec.getFieldValue(kw_id);

if (keywords == undefined || keywords == “”){
rec.setFieldValue(kw_id, kw);
} else {
rec.setFieldValue(kw_id, keywords + ‘,’ + kw);
}
}

function Update_Records() {

var csvForm = document.getFormNamed(“csv”);
var ContractsForm = document.getFormNamed(“Contracts”);

// Contracts
var pdffilepath_7_id = ‘fld-3ea77ccc18604174b722ece105965c44’;
var license_category_id = ‘fld-d63ab1856e554efebe62b9f1826c388d’;
var license_subcategory_id = ‘fld-f0c47c7e6ad244fe955e2c24cb448590’;
var agreement_keywords_id = ‘fld-a2126cbe512646e9ba144fb5a90b06dc’;

// get csv field Ids
var pdffilepath_7 = cvsForm.getFieldNamed(‘PDF’).getId();
var license_category = cvsForm.getFieldNamed(‘Category’).getId(); var license_subcategory = cvsForm.getFieldNamed(‘Subcategory’).getId();
var agreement_keywords = cvsForm.getFieldNamed(‘Keyword’).getId();

// Loop over all csv entries
// So this tells my Contracts database to look at the cvs form?
for (entry of cvsForm.getRecords()){

// get pdf file name
// is it looking for another fld-hash here?
var pdfName = entry.getFieldValue(csvPdf_id);

// replace spaces with underscores
pdfName = pdfName.replace(‘/ /g’, ‘_’);
console.log(“Processing: ” + pdfName);

// Loop over all LICENSEdb records
for (Contracts of Contracts.getRecords()){

// this assumes that there is only one PDF per Contract
// where have I defined (pdf_id) before? Do I need to ?
var filename = Contract.getFieldValue(pdf_id)[0].filename;

if (pdfName == filename){
console.log(“Found match: ” + filename);

// Update Contracts record
addsubcategory (Contracts, subcategory_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvKeyword_id));

// Update Contracts record
addKeyword(Contracts, keyword_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvSubcategory_id));

// Set category
Contracts .setFieldValue(category_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvCategory_id))

break;
}

}
document.saveAllChanges();

return ‘done’;
}

Update_Records();

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[Sam Moffatt]

I turned this into a video on using a link to form to create the link and scripts (both form and field) to copy the values.

[Sam Moffatt]

I think the link to form field is probably the way to do part of it but you also want to intentionally duplicate data which is where I’d leverage a script.

For your link to form, create it in the “address” form and link back to your “service report” form. If you create a 1:M, in the “service report” form it’ll give you the option to select only a single address. Downside as you’ve noted is that it’s a link and if you delete it, it’s gone. Additionally if you update it, the historic nature of the service address is gone (if you could avoid updating that’d be the best option but that is it’s own data modelling problem).

The next step would be to create a script that looks at the link to form field and copies the data out from it. There are a couple of hints on how to do it and you can do it either as a form script (explicit copy) or a field script might work (implicit copy). There are some trade offs each way though a form script is a little easier to get started with I feel.

[Sam Moffatt]

One of the workarounds I have for this is to leverage the built-in Apache web server and PHP which then handles the connections. It also makes it a little easier to work and debug because I can develop outside of Tap Forms and when I’m done, hook into Tap Forms. It gives me a lot more flexibility in coding as well because I have an entire PHP ecosystem to leverage. This allows hybrid functionality. It only really works on my own network or computer (depending on how I’ve done the scripts) but if that fits your use case it’s a great way to be able to handle more functionality in making web requests.

[Daniel Leu]

You can do this with scripts. I posted this a while a go https://www.tapforms.com/forums/topic/creating-emails-from-tapforms/

Cheers, Daniel

---
See https://lab.danielleu.com/tapformspro/ for scripts and tips&tricks

[musicskidder]

Thanks Dan, I suppose I can print a sheet of labels and make an entry manually. The ease of juggling so many records would then be to scan the tapes and have a search bring up the record that matches.

I have been looking at Pasamio’s barcode script video. It is a beginning…

Thank you,
Stan

[Daniel Leu]

Looking at the API example:

curl -sS \
  "https://${dc}.api.mailchimp.com/3.0/ping" \
  --user "<code>anystring</code>:${apikey}"

I don’t think Tap Forms can work with the Mailchimp API as user authentication is not supported with the current Tap Forms Javascript API :(

Cheers, Daniel

---
See https://lab.danielleu.com/tapformspro/ for scripts and tips&tricks

[Paul Wirth]

Hi folks,

I have a Tap Forms database where I track client info. Clients are also in my Mailchimp email list. I’d like to be able to have my Tap Forms database update itself with any changes (unsubscribes, new subscribers, email address changes, etc) on Mailchimp, and vice versa using their API.

If anyone’s done this already, or something similar, I’d be grateful for any pointers. I have a beginner-level acquaintance with javascript—mostly in the sense that I am sometimes able to tweak existing scripts to do what I want. I’m not at all familiar with working with an API, however.

Grateful for any help!

[Brent S]

Thank you Daniel! This is great. I am glad to know this is possible. It is going to take me a little bit of time to figure out scripting, but you have given me a great start.

My database is actually not a recipe database. That was just a simple example to illustrate the problem I have which is a lot more complex. Your answer will help me generate a solution.

The documents (readable PDF’s) I am dealing with are unstructured contracts and each are about 30 pages long, and yes each has its own unique file name. I do have them all in HTML too, but I think that might be a bit much to have that much text in Tap Forms?

So, just circling back to the one part of the solution, where I have a pick list with four choices, in my example, “Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert” your code is as follows:

// Set category
recipe.setFieldValue(category_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvCategory_id))

If I understand you correctly, I would put the word “Dessert” as one of the entries in the CSV file under “Category” and then this will overwrite it in the Pick List?

Anyhow. Thanks again!

[Daniel Leu]

You can import a csv file into a separate form and then use a script to process all records and update your reference records accordingly. Then you can assign values of meal choices accordingly and update your keywords field as well.

But this seems to be a rather tedious job if you want to update all 50k food recipes in your Tap Forms database this way. I would start with looking into software that converts your PDFs into text files. Then you can add the content of your text files into fields inside Tap Forms. These fields are searchable, which makes it much easier to categorize your recipes. But yeah, it might be a challenge to convert your PDFs, specially if they were scanned and the quality is poor.

But if you want to go the CSV route, I would create a spreadsheet with columns for PDF, Category, and Keyword. Here is my example:

function addKeyword(rec, kw_id, kw){
	var keywords = rec.getFieldValue(kw_id);
	
	if (keywords == undefined || keywords == ""){
		rec.setFieldValue(kw_id, kw);
	} else {
		rec.setFieldValue(kw_id, keywords + ',' + kw);
	}
}

function Update_Records() {

	var cvsForm = document.getFormNamed("csv");
	var recipesForm = document.getFormNamed("Recipes");
	
	// recipes
	var category_id = 'fld-9828d73d445a4746a8dba4c0dac89716';
	var keyword_id = 'fld-073ee12d29174c2eb64f7cf91f5bb383';
	var pdf_id = 'fld-e870153bd0a647c9823ca998c213d1fd';

	
	// get csv field Ids
	var csvPdf_id = cvsForm.getFieldNamed('PDF').getId();
	var csvCategory_id = cvsForm.getFieldNamed('Category').getId();	var csvKeyword_id = cvsForm.getFieldNamed('Keyword').getId();	
	// Loop over all csv entries
	for (entry of cvsForm.getRecords()){
		// get pdf file name
		var pdfName = entry.getFieldValue(csvPdf_id);
		// replace spaces with underscores
		pdfName = pdfName.replace('/ /g', '_');
		console.log("Processing: " + pdfName);
		
		// Loop over all recipes records
		for (recipe of recipesForm.getRecords()){
			// this assumes that there is only one PDF per recipe!
			var filename = recipe.getFieldValue(pdf_id)[0].filename;
			
			if (pdfName == filename){
				console.log("Found match: " + filename);
				
				// Update recipe record
				addKeyword(recipe, keyword_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvKeyword_id));
				
				// Set category
				recipe.setFieldValue(category_id, entry.getFieldValue(csvCategory_id))
			
				break;
			}
		
		}
		document.saveAllChanges();
	
	}
	
	return 'done';
}

Update_Records();

The first row of my spreadsheet are the field labels: PDF, Category, Keyword. They are used to create the field names when creating a new form called csv upon importing your csv. The script is part of your Recipes form.

This script assumes that the keywords are comma separated. Keywords are added to your record if new ones are found. The category field is overwritten!

In order for the script to work, you need to update category_id, keyword_id, and pdf_id according to your recipes form.

Hope this helps! Happy cooking!

Cheers, Daniel

---
See https://lab.danielleu.com/tapformspro/ for scripts and tips&tricks

[Brent S]

Hi Everyone. I am new to scripting, so want to see if this is possible. Imagine the following situation. You have 50,000 food recipes all in PDF form input into the Tap Forms Database, each PDF with a unique file name and in a field where it is a “File Attachment”. So, there are then 50,000 records in the db. Many fields have been added to the database, but are empty until you manually go in and populate them. Is it possible to use scripts to help populate the data?

For example, lets say outside TapForms you use Spotlight on the iMac to identify 60 PDF’s (recipes) that contained the words “Gummy Bear”. You make an Excel File (.csv) with those 60 unique file names. Can you now write a script that would reference those file names in a .csv file, find/look up the specific records in tapforms where those files are attached and then do two things:

a) choose a picklist field that already exists, and choose one of the presets. For example, if this was a list of meal choices like “Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert” the script would make it choose “Dessert” for each of those 60 records, but not any other records in the database

b) If you had a textfile field named KEYWORDS then have it add the term “Gummy Bear” to the list of keywords again just for those 60 records

If this is possible then I can see how scripting could help me and others categorize a very large database that would take a very long time to categorize manually. Any direction on what a script might look like would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks,
Brent