Reactor Implementation Guide

Tags

HistoryEdited Oct 22, 2010 4:36 PM by Craig Saunders…

The Basics: Helpful Information

Web Viewer Settings

In Layout mode, draw a Web Viewer in the position and size you want your BlackBox control to appear. Normally you will set the Web Viewer Line width to “None”.

Put the Reactor BlackBox function, with its parameters changed to contain your field names (or other relevant data), in the Web Address box. In the Web Viewer setup dialog, tick just the first box at the bottom of the dialog:

Field Names

Many of the functions require literal field names (i.e. the field name in quotes) as one or more of the parameters: these are distinctly different from just the fields themselves. In essence Reactor needs to know the name of the field so that the BlackBox control can interact with that field. Therefore you have to pass the field name in quotes and it needs to be the fully qualified Table Occurrence::FieldName form.

Given that you need to pass field names as literal text, you have a choice, either:

  • Plan on never changing your field names, to avoid breaking your Reactor controls (and any custom web publishing for that matter); OR
  • if the solution is for FileMaker 10 or greater only, you can use the GetFieldName() function to avoid the problem above. GetFieldName() automatically returns up-to-date names of fields, so if you change any, it will cope. This is definitely the “best practice” as it means you can change field names in your database without breaking your Reactor controls.

Readability and Comments

Splitting the parameters out over separate lines, and attaching a comment to each line makes for more readable code, and will remind you what each parameter is for. For example:

GanttChart (

GetFieldName ( GanttChart Bars::Start ) ; // start
GetFieldName ( GanttChart Bars::Duration ) ; // duration
GetFieldName ( GanttChart Bars::Color ) // barColor

State

Many Reactor controls have a status parameter which allows you to disable the control (dim it) or even hide it completely. At this time the controls that support the status parameter include Button, PopupMenu, PopupMenuField, LiveField and Slider.

The status parameter is simply literal text “Enabled”, “Disabled” or “Hidden” which can be calculated based on any condition. This is a great way to do validation: the button can be disabled until the data entry is valid at which point the button enables. The record doesn’t have to be committed for these calculations to work - it’s live as the user tabs from field to field. Of course you could abstract and centralise the conditional calculation to a custom function.

If you leave the status parameter out or blank it’ll default to Enabled.

Background Color

The Web Viewer is not transparent, so you are given a choice of background color to avoid a clash with your layout colors. White is the default and many of the common color words are recognised: e.g. Blue, Black, Brown, Green, Gray, Purple, Red etc (all of the CSS color names, which are supported by all major browsers). Alternatively you can denote a color by its RGB values: e.g. “RGB( 255, 0, 0 )” or hex value e.g. “#FF0000”. On a Mac, you can use the utility “DigitalColor Meter” (Applications /Utilities/ DigitalColor Meter) to sample a color on a screen and determine its makeup as an RGB value. To use this application, hover over the color you wish to sample, and note its RGB values.

The following are all equivalent:

  • Slider ( "Home::Slider" ; "enabled" ; "RGB( 23, 139, 23)" )
  • Slider ( "Home::Slider" ; "enabled" ; "#008000" )
  • Slider ( "Home::Slider" ; "enabled" ; "green" )

The third syntax cannot be used in color parameters other than Background colors.

Note that FileMaker’s own fill color for the Web Viewer cannot be seen in Browse mode, only in Layout mode.

Record Locking Issues

It is possible for Reactor to get stuck (record locked) while trying to update a value, if the record is not committed. This can happen if you are editing a record within the FileMaker layout itself, without the record having been committed, then try to use a control which affects that record.

If the control has trouble writing back to the field, Reactor will try to run a script called "FR_Commit Record", so you need to add a script called that, as shown below. You may need to add a second step to this script to give focus back to the Web Viewer, since the commit record step will take focus away from the Web Viewer.

Picture 2.png


FileMaker 10 Web Viewer Click problem

Usually if there is content inside the Web Viewer such as a button or field, a single click is enough to activate the field or button. Using FileMaker 10, there is sometimes a problem with the Web Viewer requiring an additional click to 'activate' the web viewer.

This has been found to occur when a script navigates away from the layout with the Web Viewer and does some processing by looping through a series of records and then returns to the original layout. To avoid this happening, your script should open a fresh window for work on the other layouts, or to display your web viewer.

This problem can occur even without the reactor plugin installed.

Comments

/groups/docs/search/index.rss?sort=modifiedDate&sortDirection=reverse&tag=blackboxlist/groups/docs/search/?sort=modifiedDate&sortDirection=reverse&tag=blackboxBlackBox ControlsCustomTagSidebarCustomTagSidebar?sort=modifiedDate&sortDirection=reverse&tag=blackbox0/groups/docs/sidebar/CustomTagSidebarmodifiedDate5CustomTagSidebarreverseblackboxBlackBox Controlscustom/groups/docs/search/index.rss?tag=hotlist/groups/docs/search/?tag=hotWhat’s HotHotListHot!?tag=hot9/groups/docs/sidebar/HotListadded a to version number for consistency.samSam Sehnert2012-01-16 00:15:15+00:002012-01-16 00:15:15updated11wendyWendy Wethey2012-01-12 22:05:22+00:002012-01-12 22:05:22updated10wendyWendy Wethey2012-01-12 20:40:54+00:002012-01-12 20:40:54updated9wendyWendy Wethey2012-01-12 20:00:23+00:002012-01-12 20:00:23updated8wendyWendy Wethey2012-01-12 20:00:04+00:002012-01-12 20:00:04updated7craigCraig Saunders2012-01-11 09:24:57+00:002012-01-11 09:24:57updated6Added tag - release notescraigCraig Saunders2012-01-11 09:24:50+00:002012-01-11 09:24:50addTag5Removed tag - delcraigCraig Saunders2012-01-11 09:24:47+00:002012-01-11 09:24:47removeTag4Added tag - delcraigCraig Saunders2012-01-11 09:24:40+00:002012-01-11 09:24:40addTag3Added tag - hotcraigCraig Saunders2012-01-11 09:24:33+00:002012-01-11 09:24:33addTag2First createdcraigCraig Saunders2012-01-11 09:16:25+00:002012-01-11 09:16:25created1wiki2012-01-16T00:15:15+00:00groups/docs/wiki/d40e1FalseRelease Notes for v3.5.8a/groups/docs/wiki/d40e1/Release_Notes_for_v358a.htmlSam Sehnert11 updatesRelease Notes for v3.5.8a Reactor v3.5.8a incorporates a bunch of tweaks and fixes along with a couple of new features. The installer for Mac OS X Lion now works under non...Falsesam2012-01-16T00:15:15+00:00added applying anchorsamSam Sehnert2012-01-16 00:08:46+00:002012-01-16 00:08:46updated21samSam Sehnert2012-01-16 00:08:16+00:002012-01-16 00:08:16updated20punctuationsamSam Sehnert2012-01-16 00:05:18+00:002012-01-16 00:05:18updated19Updated imagesamSam Sehnert2012-01-16 00:04:31+00:002012-01-16 00:04:31updated18samSam Sehnert2012-01-16 00:03:01+00:002012-01-16 00:03:01updated17samSam Sehnert2012-01-16 00:02:18+00:002012-01-16 00:02:18updated16Refined instructionssamSam Sehnert2012-01-15 23:14:10+00:002012-01-15 23:14:10updated15Added tag - troubleshootingsamSam Sehnert2011-06-27 02:23:28+00:002011-06-27 02:23:28addTag14Removed tag - blackbox managementsamSam Sehnert2011-06-27 02:23:25+00:002011-06-27 02:23:25removeTag13Added tag - blackbox managementsamSam Sehnert2011-06-27 02:23:24+00:002011-06-27 02:23:24addTag12Removed tag - debugsamSam Sehnert2011-06-27 02:23:23+00:002011-06-27 02:23:23removeTag11Added tag - customizationsamSam Sehnert2011-06-27 01:40:54+00:002011-06-27 01:40:54addTag10samSam Sehnert2010-09-30 23:27:31+00:002010-09-30 23:27:31updated9Added tag - hotsamSam Sehnert2010-08-16 05:12:06+00:002010-08-16 05:12:06addTag8Removed tag - advancedsamSam Sehnert2010-08-16 05:12:03+00:002010-08-16 05:12:03removeTag7Added tag - advancedsamSam Sehnert2010-08-16 05:12:01+00:002010-08-16 05:12:01addTag6samSam Sehnert2010-08-16 03:54:43+00:002010-08-16 03:54:43updated5Added tag - debugsamSam Sehnert2010-08-08 22:32:01+00:002010-08-08 22:32:01addTag4Added tag - overridesamSam Sehnert2010-08-08 22:31:54+00:002010-08-08 22:31:54addTag3Added override manager description.samSam Sehnert2010-08-08 22:30:38+00:002010-08-08 22:30:38updated2First additionsamSam Sehnert2010-08-08 22:15:13+00:002010-08-08 22:15:13created1wiki2012-01-16T00:08:46+00:00groups/docs/wiki/f072fFalseOverride Manager/groups/docs/wiki/f072f/Override_Manager.htmlSam Sehnert21 updatesOverride Manager The Override Manager is a useful tool available in all BlackBoxes which support overrides. It will list all available overrides, and help you und...Falsesam2012-01-16T00:08:46+00:00Added anchors for lite and advanced.samSam Sehnert2012-01-15 23:18:07+00:002012-01-15 23:18:07updated12wendyWendy Wethey2011-10-03 21:53:23+00:002011-10-03 21:53:23updated11wendyWendy Wethey2011-09-01 22:58:47+00:002011-09-01 22:58:47updated10wendyWendy Wethey2011-09-01 22:53:29+00:002011-09-01 22:53:29updated9samSam Sehnert2011-06-30 07:02:03+00:002011-06-30 07:02:03updated8samSam Sehnert2011-06-30 06:52:51+00:002011-06-30 06:52:51updated7samSam Sehnert2011-06-30 05:25:13+00:002011-06-30 05:25:13updated6Added links through to lite blackbox pages.samSam Sehnert2011-06-30 04:49:43+00:002011-06-30 04:49:43updated5Added quick descriptions, but still need to link through to pages.samSam Sehnert2011-06-30 02:23:37+00:002011-06-30 02:23:37updated4Added tag - blackbox managementsamSam Sehnert2011-06-30 01:33:31+00:002011-06-30 01:33:31addTag3Added tag - hotsamSam Sehnert2011-06-30 01:33:26+00:002011-06-30 01:33:26addTag2First createdsamSam Sehnert2011-06-30 00:37:46+00:002011-06-30 00:37:46created1wiki2012-01-15T23:18:07+00:00groups/docs/wiki/5f2d4FalseBuilt in BlackBoxes/groups/docs/wiki/5f2d4/Built_in_BlackBoxes.htmlSam Sehnert12 updatesBuilt in BlackBoxes Reactor comes bundled with two types of BlackBoxes. Ones that are available with the free version of Reactor, and ones that are only available w...Falsesam2012-01-15T23:18:07+00:00Added Norwegian creditssamSam Sehnert2011-12-20 21:14:49+00:002011-12-20 21:14:49updated14Added tag - overridesamSam Sehnert2011-06-27 02:12:40+00:002011-06-27 02:12:40addTag13Added german to creditssamSam Sehnert2011-04-19 22:00:52+00:002011-04-19 22:00:52updated12Added italian localization creditssamSam Sehnert2011-04-17 22:59:47+00:002011-04-17 22:59:47updated11samSam Sehnert2011-04-15 08:30:13+00:002011-04-15 08:30:13updated10samSam Sehnert2011-04-15 08:29:54+00:002011-04-15 08:29:54updated9fix typo in sp of SwedishcraigCraig Saunders2011-04-15 02:19:30+00:002011-04-15 02:19:30updated8samSam Sehnert2011-04-15 00:44:15+00:002011-04-15 00:44:15updated7Added first documentationsamSam Sehnert2011-04-15 00:43:32+00:002011-04-15 00:43:32updated6Added tag - customizationsamSam Sehnert2011-04-15 00:09:51+00:002011-04-15 00:09:51addTag5Added tag - languagesamSam Sehnert2011-04-15 00:09:41+00:002011-04-15 00:09:41addTag4Added tag - localizationsamSam Sehnert2011-04-15 00:09:39+00:002011-04-15 00:09:39addTag3Added tag - hotsamSam Sehnert2011-04-15 00:09:31+00:002011-04-15 00:09:31addTag2First createdsamSam Sehnert2011-04-15 00:05:20+00:002011-04-15 00:05:20created1wiki2011-12-20T21:14:49+00:00groups/docs/wiki/088b5FalseBlackBox Localization/groups/docs/wiki/088b5/BlackBox_Localization.htmlSam Sehnert14 updatesBlackBox Localization We've developed a standard localization file for use with our BlackBoxes, which covers the most commonly used error messages, labels and date for...Falsesam2011-12-20T21:14:49+00:00removed beta message.samSam Sehnert2010-02-02 10:06:44+00:002010-02-02 10:06:44updated46Added tag - gantt chartwendyWendy Wethey2009-12-01 01:31:38+00:002009-12-01 01:31:38addTag45Removed tag - unfinishedwendyWendy Wethey2009-12-01 01:31:29+00:002009-12-01 01:31:29removeTag44wendyWendy Wethey2009-12-01 01:02:43+00:002009-12-01 01:02:43updated43wendyWendy Wethey2009-12-01 01:01:07+00:002009-12-01 01:01:07updated42wendyWendy Wethey2009-12-01 00:58:30+00:002009-12-01 00:58:30updated41wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:26:36+00:002009-11-30 23:26:36updated40wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:25:37+00:002009-11-30 23:25:37updated39wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:06:25+00:002009-11-30 23:06:25updated38wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:06:05+00:002009-11-30 23:06:05updated37wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:04:55+00:002009-11-30 23:04:55updated36wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:03:12+00:002009-11-30 23:03:12updated35wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:02:09+00:002009-11-30 23:02:09updated34wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:01:36+00:002009-11-30 23:01:36updated33wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-30 23:00:25+00:002009-11-30 23:00:25updated32added filter field name note.samSam Sehnert2009-11-30 02:34:32+00:002009-11-30 02:34:32updated31wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-24 01:49:03+00:002009-11-24 01:49:03updated30wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-24 01:30:28+00:002009-11-24 01:30:28updated29wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-24 01:29:47+00:002009-11-24 01:29:47updated28wendyWendy Wethey2009-11-24 01:15:57+00:002009-11-24 01:15:57updated27wendyWendy Wethey2009-10-27 04:03:11+00:002009-10-27 04:03:11updated26wendyWendy Wethey2009-10-27 03:40:10+00:002009-10-27 03:40:10updated25wendyWendy Wethey2009-10-27 03:18:03+00:002009-10-27 03:18:03updated24Final Beta notessamSam Sehnert2009-10-15 21:34:58+00:002009-10-15 21:34:58updated23craigCraig Saunders2009-10-14 09:13:14+00:002009-10-14 09:13:14updated22samSam Sehnert2009-09-15 01:57:58+00:002009-09-15 01:57:58updated21samSam Sehnert2009-09-15 01:56:58+00:002009-09-15 01:56:58updated20samSam Sehnert2009-09-15 01:56:21+00:002009-09-15 01:56:21updated19Added tag - unfinishedsamSam Sehnert2009-09-15 01:56:15+00:002009-09-15 01:56:15addTag18samSam Sehnert2009-09-15 01:44:00+00:002009-09-15 01:44:00updated17Added tag - betasamSam Sehnert2009-09-09 00:44:10+00:002009-09-09 00:44:10addTag16samSam Sehnert2009-09-09 00:44:01+00:002009-09-09 00:44:01updated15craigCraig Saunders2009-09-04 09:52:55+00:002009-09-04 09:52:55updated14added beta notessamSam Sehnert2009-09-04 04:21:58+00:002009-09-04 04:21:58updated13Added tag - extendedwendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 04:19:53+00:002009-09-04 04:19:53addTag12Added tag - blackboxwendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 04:19:27+00:002009-09-04 04:19:27addTag11wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 04:15:08+00:002009-09-04 04:15:08updated10wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 04:10:54+00:002009-09-04 04:10:54updated9wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 04:07:22+00:002009-09-04 04:07:22updated8wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 04:02:54+00:002009-09-04 04:02:54updated7wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 03:59:54+00:002009-09-04 03:59:54updated6wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 03:56:55+00:002009-09-04 03:56:55updated5wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 03:53:54+00:002009-09-04 03:53:54updated4wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 03:50:54+00:002009-09-04 03:50:54updated3wendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 03:48:53+00:002009-09-04 03:48:53updated2First additionwendyWendy Wethey2009-09-04 03:45:53+00:002009-09-04 03:45:53created1wiki2011-10-10T23:25:34+00:00groups/docs/wiki/9c8ccFalseGanttChartPro/groups/docs/wiki/9c8cc/GanttChartPro.htmlWendy Wethey46 updatesGanttChartPro GanttChartPro is a complete overhaul of the GanttChartLite. It enables tasks to be viewed from a resource (e.g. person, room) pers...Falsewendy2011-10-10T23:25:34+00:00hot/groups/docs/search/index.rss?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcomelist/groups/docs/search/?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcomeRecent ChangesRecentChangesListUpdates?sort=modifiedDate&kind=all&sortDirection=reverse&excludePages=wiki/welcome0/groups/docs/sidebar/RecentChangesListmodifiedDateallRecent ChangesRecentChangesListUpdateswiki/welcomeNo recent changes.reverse5search