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FM.InsertRecordTSV

Inserts records based on tab/return separated text.

Component Version macOS Windows Linux Server iOS SDK
FM FMSQL 5.3 ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
MBS( "FM.InsertRecordTSV"; InsertFileName; InsertTableName; FieldNames; Text { ; FieldName...; FieldValue... } )   More

Parameters

Parameter Description Example Flags
InsertFileName The file name of where the insert table is inside. Can be empty to look for the table in all files. Get(FileName)
InsertTableName The name of the table to insert record into.
Can be ID of table, so we lookup name by ID.
Can be result of GetFieldName() function as we remove field name automatically.		 "Assets"
FieldNames A list of field names for the insert.
Empty entries in the list are ignored.

Can be ID of field, so we lookup name by ID.
Can be result of GetFieldName() function as we remove table name automatically.		 "Model"
Text The text to import in TSV format. This means tab character between fields and newline character for new records "Bob Miller 12345 New York"
FieldName... Additional field to set with the import.
Can be ID of field, so we lookup name by ID.
Can be result of GetFieldName() function as we remove table name automatically.		 "Model" Optional
FieldValue... A field value to use for setting the field in the parameter before.
Data type of parameter must match the data type of the field.		 "Test" Optional

Result

Returns number or error.

Description

Inserts records based on tab/return separated text.
This function allows for easy importing of text to create a lot of records.
Filename parameters can be empty.
Use FM.ExecuteSQL.LastErrorMessage and FM.ExecuteSQL.LastError to see error message.

Reports an error if field name list doesn't match column count of the query result. Since version 8.2 we can fill text, number, time, timestamp and date fields and let FileMaker convert the values with your current locale.

Returns number of records added.

For XML, please check XML.Import function. For splitting values with delimiter into a list, please use QuickList.New which also works with comma, tab, newline or other characters.

With plugin version 6.2 or newer you can pass one pair of field name and value for each extra field you like to set in the new records. e.g. a reference ID.

With plugin version 7.2 or later, you can specify fields and table via IDs and the plugin will lookup them for you at runtime. Table IDs and table names must be unique across all open files for this to work correctly.

With plugin version 8.4 or newer, you can use GetFieldName() function to query field names and the plugin removes the table prefix with :: in the field name before passing it to SQL engine.

Version 11.1 does handle backslashes inside quotes for \r and \n for returns and \t for tabs. You can use \\ for backslash.

This function uses our field type cache from the Audit functions to determinate the type of a field. If you change a field type, you may restart FileMaker or use Audit.ClearCaches to clear it.

This function takes variable number of parameters. Pass as much parameters as needed separated by the semicolon in FileMaker.
Please repeat FieldName and FieldValue parameters as often as you need.

Examples

Import records from text:

Delete All Records [No dialog]
Set Variable [$fields; Value:"FirstName¶LastName¶City"]
Set Variable [$r; Value:MBS("FM.InsertRecordTSV"; ""; "Contacts"; $fields; Import::ImportText)]

Import some contacts with passing import ID/timestamp:

MBS( "FM.InsertRecordTSV"; "Contacts.fmp12"; "Contacts"; "FirstName¶LastName¶City"; $tsv; "ImportID"; $importID; "ImportDate"; Get(CurrentHostTimeStamp))

See also

Release notes

Example Databases

Blog Entries

This function checks for a license.

Created 8th September 2015, last changed 29th January 2023


FM.InsertRecordQueryIgnoreDuplicates - FM.InsertSetUpdateProgressDialog