Dynamic field targeting with Set Field by Name

Expert

Use Set Field by Name to write to a field whose name is computed at runtime, enabling generic scripts that work across multiple fields.

What you'll learn

How Set Field by Name differs from Set Field
How to construct the fully-qualified field name expression
How to loop through a list of fields and set each one dynamically

Set Field by Name accepts a text expression that resolves to a fully qualified field name (TableName::FieldName) at runtime. This lets one script step replace a family of nearly identical Set Field steps and is essential for building generic, reusable scripts.

1/3

Basic usage

The first argument is a text expression that evaluates to "TableOccurrenceName::FieldName". The second argument is the value to set.

FileMaker Script

Set Variable [ $fieldName ; Value: "Contacts::LastName" ]
Set Field by Name [ $fieldName ; "Smith" ]

Returning structured data from sub-scripts Loop optimization and found-set traversal