Here's a simple example of how the "Import Records" command works in a script. Let's say we have 2 tables, A and B. Here are the fields in A:
Here are the fields in B:
And here's an "Import Records" step in a script intended to import the former into the latter:
Now we add a couple of fields to Table A:
They're numbered alphabetically ahead of the previous ones, so we move them into position at the top of the field list. But here's how they show up in the script's import-mapping dialog:
They're added at the bottom, so they don't screw up the previously established matchups.
But now suppose we don't add new fields but rather delete one, specifically A13:
This causes the script to re-aim some of the Table A fields at different Table B fields:
This is what we referred to in grade school as Not A Good Thing.
Isn't there some way to wave a warning flag before this happens, the same way we're alerted when getting set to delete a field that it will break a relationship? I don't mean just a generic "This field appears in Script X", I mean a much more specific "YOU BOZO, YOU'LL COMPLETELY SCREW UP THE "IMPORT RECORDS" COMMAND OF ALL THE FIELDS BELOW THIS ONE IN THE FIELD LIST!!!"
Or, better yet, just make the matchups "sticky", so that deleting a field from the list on the left has no effect at all on the mapping onto the fields at the right. The import-mapping dialog could have something like "<<field missing>>" on the left, where one used to be.
I agree Richard, by Filemaker's standards this import field mapping is a bit clunky and hasn't been updated for as long as I can remember.
Besides locking a particular mapping set, and maybe naming it for later recall like stored finds, I would like to be able to turn that 'stickiness' on and off for each individual join so I don't lose an 'exception' if I need to revert to 'matching names'.
I would love to be able to group select and group edit the joins to turn the import for all fields or a group of fields on or off.
I would like to be able to sort the fields alpha/numeric/field type.
I would like the match fields on the right to be available in a popup menu, preferably only eligible options included. In large tables it is clunky and a pain to scroll and drag a long way to look for the field you want that is a long way away in a large table, then to go hunting for the field that it replaced.