passing info back
passing info back
- Subject: passing info back
- From: Wesley Furgiuele <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 23:23:14 -0500
I am new to AppleScripting and would like to know if I seem to be
heading in the right direction. I'm not only asking if it is doable,
but if it is a reasonable approach. Being new to AppleScript, getting
it to be a participant in a web-based transaction is very vague to me
right now.
My apologies if this is just too vague. Thanks in advance!
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QUESTIONS:
- I seem to be having problems executing AppleScripts from PHP using
the exec() function. Does anyone have any experience with this? I have
them saved as script text with Unix line endings. It works directly
from the command line, but not from the PHP script. I don't know if
it's just a problem with the user under which the web server is
running, or if it's something else.
- For basic formatting and copy/paste, is it better to write Excel
macros and have the AppleScript launch those macros, or can I just use
AppleScript reliably to access and manipulate the spreadsheet contents?
- I'm returning status (error) info by writing to a text file and then
having PHP read that file -- is there a more direct way to communicate?
-----
-----
BACKGROUND:
This is the description of the reporting process I would like to
automate. It starts with getting raw data from external sources. Those
sources are then imported into FileMaker where the data is both stored
(archived) and calculated. A PDF of the report based on the new data is
then generated for review. If all is good, the data is exported from
FileMaker, opened in Excel, and then formatted (just text formatting
and borders -- no additional calculations). Although the data begins
and ends in Excel format, FileMaker was an easier way for us to go for
both archiving and providing some sort of structured interface for the
procedure.
However, right now, this is all done manually. There are scripts in
FileMaker to handle import/print/export. The formatting in Excel is
done by hand. The report is based on a list of 400 records.
So, what I would like to do is build a web interface (the people who
need these reports are on Windows 2000). Someone receives the raw data
in Excel format. She would then upload the spreadsheets via a web
interface (she's on W2K). After the file has been uploaded, an
AppleScript would be triggered that would examine the format of the
Excel spreadsheet. The status of the validation (looking for correct
column headings, basically) would be written to a text file that would
then be included in the PHP file. The user would receive notification.
If the spreadsheet(s) passed validation, then an AppleScript would be
triggered to import the data into FileMaker, run the reports, print,
and make available a PDF of the file. If the PDF passes the user's
inspection, then she could continue, which would trigger an AppleScript
that would export the data from FileMaker, import it into Excel, format
the spreadsheet, and save and deliver the Excel version of the report.
----
Thanks for any feedback.
Wes
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