Re: Palm Desktop scripting support
Re: Palm Desktop scripting support
- Subject: Re: Palm Desktop scripting support
- From: "Jason W. Bruce" <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 14:35:04 -0500
Great news, Chris!!
I would be more than happy to rewrite all of my Palm Desktop
scripts. Currently, I use the Palm Desktop as a conduit between a FileMaker
relational database and my handheld. I have a nightly script which
transfers new records from FMP to the Palm Desktop. I place each FMP
record's unique id in a corresponding custom field for each address in the
Palm Desktop.
When I'm out of the office and add or modify a record on the
handheld, I place the new or modified record in a category called "Update."
I then have a saved view in the Palm Desktop which filters addresses by the
category "Update." After I sync, I have a script which finds all modified
records in the Palm Desktop using the Akua Sweets' Puppet Menu command to
choose the "Update" saved view from the Palm Desktop's menu. One at a time,
I then update my FMP database by retrieving the unique FileMaker ID from the
addresses' custom field and finding the corresponding record in FMP.
Going in the opposite direction, I have a saved view on the Palm
Desktop which shows all addresses and sorts them according to the unique
FileMaker ID which I've placed in their custom field. I then have an
AppleScript which retrieves all records which were created or modified in
FMP each day, uses Akua Sweets' puppet menu command to invoke the saved view
which shows and sorts by custom field all addresses in the Palm Desktop,
uses a binary search on the custom field to identify the corresponding Palm
addresses, and then updates or creates a new address as required.
I also use Palm memos to store relational records from FMP. For
each FMP record which has a portal (or sub-form), I create a single Palm
memo which contains the data in tab separated text form. When I add a
related record to my FMP database, I have a nightly script which uses a
binary search on the Palm memo's title field, and updates it with the new
information. I realize there are now handheld databases which have conduits
which do all of this better (i.e., JFile, FileMaker Mobile, and HandBase),
but I wrote these scripts before those products came out.
The bottom line for me, however, is that the Palm Desktop doesn't
really allow AppleScript to manipulate records directly -- as far as I can
tell. If it does, I haven't figured it out. I would love, for example, to
have the ability to query the Palm Desktop directly from AppleScript and to
get back all at once all records which match certain conditions,
particularly modification dates. I would also love to see similar abilities
in other parts of the Palm Desktop, like the ability to return all
appointments on particular days without the need to cycle through each day
and build a list. It would also be great to be able to manipulate the saved
views via AppleScript without the need for an osax -- or some of the other
methods which exist. Right now, the date and text restriction commands
don't seem to work.
With respect to other forums which discuss Palm Desktop scripting,
the Claris Organizer list (hosted by www.blueworld.com) use to discuss it a
bit but is not to my knowledge very active. The only other forum I know of
that discusses the Palm Desktop on the Mac (but not scripting in particular)
is the Missing Sync Talk Digest <email@hidden>. I'm sure
you already know this, but Missing Sync is a product which allows the Sony
Clie to sync to the Palm Desktop on the Mac.
One final question. In the past, I have reached an apparent
internal limit in the number of addresses I could store in the Palm Desktop.
With multiple fields in each address filled, I was unable to open the User
Data file once it reached more than about 2500 addresses -- though I could
get the data out in other ways. I've temporarily solved the problem by
filling fewer fields in each address. In searching the Claris Organizer
list, I saw that this has apparently been an issue for some time. If this
is a bug, is there any way of getting this fixed?
Chris, thanks for your continued support and participation.
Judging by the explosion of software for the Palm and the myriad hardware
makers who are now manufacturing handheld devices and cellphones, it has
become quite clear to me that Palm has made the right strategic decision by
choosing to license its operating system -- it is a direct analog to
Windows -- with the platform being handhelds as opposed to PC's. With this
focus, enhancing the robustness of the Palm Desktop on the Mac can only pay
off handsomely for the company. Keep up the good work.
Jason Bruce
>
Message: 10
>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 19:48:28 -0700
>
Subject: Palm Desktop scripting support
>
From: Chris Page <email@hidden>
>
To: AppleScript Users <email@hidden>
>
>
DISCLAIMER: I'm not making any promises, but...
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Scripting Palm Desktop is officially unsupported currently, and as
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anyone who tried to write a script has probably discovered, it has
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"issues". No promises, but if we were to start supporting scripting
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officially, it would be simplest if we could resolve the issues
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while not guaranteeing compatibility with existing scripts. What
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this means is that any existing scripts may or may not work with a
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future version of Palm Desktop, and may or may not require
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rewriting to some degree. The question is whether compatibility is
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important, and to what degree.
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If you use the existing scripting support, please let me know
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either privately or on the list (if you think it's appropriate), at
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least roughly what you use it for, and whether you'd be willing to
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have to update or rewrite your scripts to get better support in the
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future. More specifically, it would help to know which events,
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classes, and properties you depend on.
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And please let me know of any specific problems or shortcomings
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that you would like to see addressed.
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Again, I can make no official promises about what might happen in a
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future version of Palm Desktop, and I may not respond to your
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messages, but your feedback is important and I do read everything.
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--
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Chris Page - Mac OS Lead, Palm Desktop - Palm, Inc.
>
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P.S. Please let me know privately if there are any other lists or
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forums where Palm Desktop scripting is discussed that you think I
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should be reading.
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