Chapter 6
Debugging, analyzing, and optimizing files
The FileMaker Pro Advanced features explained in this chapter are:
1 the Script Debugger for systematic testing and debugging of
FileMaker scripts
1 the Data Viewer for monitoring fields, variables, and calculations
1 the Disable script step feature for testing portions of a script
1 the Database Design Report feature for publishing comprehensive
documentation on database schema and options
1 the File Maintenance features for compacting the size of database
files and improving their performance
Debugging and troubleshooting scripts
With FileMaker Pro Advanced, you can:
1 step through scripts one step at a time
1 view and track sub-scripts
1 monitor fields, variables, and calculations
1 disable script steps
Stepping through scripts
Use the Script Debugger to step through scripts in FileMaker
databases. The Script Debugger enables you to execute your scripts
step-by-step to view issues that may arise as the script is performed.
The Script Debugger recognizes the privileges attached to each script.
A script will only appear in the Script Debugger if you have editing
privileges for the script and the access privileges for the script are set
to Modifiable.
If a script with access privileges set to Modifiable performs a script
with Executable Only access, the Executable Only script will perform
in its entirety without showing its steps in the Script Debugger. If an
Executable Only script performs a script with privileges set to
Modifiable, only the steps in the Modifiable script will appear in the
Script Debugger. For more information about script privileges and
running scripts with full access, see Help.
To run scripts in debug mode, select Tools menu > Debug Scripts.
Tip To enable the Script Debugger from the Define Scripts dialog
box, press Shift and click the Perform button. To disable the Script
Debugger, press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac
OS) and click the
Perform button. For more information on keyboard shortcuts, see
Help.
Script Debugger window
