Dealing with the 255-field limit

Question

Hello,
In one of my AW DB — a file with which I keep track of my student records, like grades and absences — I have 3 x 60 fields to count the absences, in each of the trimesters and the number of 50-minute class could be close to 60.
The classes fields are labelled: '01', '02', ..., '60'; '2.01', '2.02', ..., '2.60' and '3.01', '3.02', ..., '3.60'.
The value fields of each of those fields are: “ “, “.” and “f”. The default is “.”.
The way for counting the absences of the 1st trimester, using 3 fields, i.e., the number of “f” is:
T1_Faltas1=
COUNT2("f",'01','02','03','04','05','06','07','08','09','10','11','12','13','14' ,'15','16','17','18','19','20','21','22','23','24','25','26','27','28','29','30' )
T1_Faltas2=
COUNT2("f",'31','32','33','34','35','36','37','38','39','40','41','42','43','44' ,'45','46','47','48','49','50', '51','52','53','54','55','56','57','58','59','60')
T1_F=
IF(OR('Situação1'="Regular",'Situação1'="Incluído"),'T1Faltas.1'+'T1Faltas.2',"")
This has been functioning well for some years.
The problem appeared now, because I am going to teach classes to 5th and 6th year of another State School and those grades have 5 Math classes a week — instead of 4 classes. Then, I would need around 15+ classes fields for each trimester.
But the real situation is that I can not create those extra fields because my DB has a limit of 255 fields and I already reached that number of fields.
I can resolve this by using a single class field for a day that has 2 classes, and the options would be: “ “, “..”, “ff”, “.f”, “f.”
Note: the option of a “ ” empty space or a double empty space are for the students that left that group; the options “.f”, “f.” are for students that were in one of the two classes of a day and the option “ff” is for the ones that were absents in both classes of a given day.
The problem would be to count the absences: I know how to do it, using a lot of fields — but the limitation of fields is the big problem — and I am writing you to get a better solution.
If I could create more fields, I would do the following for each of the trimester, say T.1:
1)T1f1=
COUNT2("f",'01','02','03','04','05','06','07','08','09','10','11','12','13','14' ,'15','16','17','18','19','20','21','22','23','24','25','26','27','28','29','30' )
2)T1f2=
COUNT2("f",'31','32','33','34','35','36','37','38','39','40','41','42','43','44' ,'45','46','47','48','49','50', '51','52','53','54','55','56','57','58','59','60')
3)T1.f1=
COUNT2(".f",'01','02','03','04','05','06','07','08','09','10','11','12','13','14 ','15','16','17','18','19','20','21','22','23','24','25','26','27','28','29','30 ')
4)T1.f2=
COUNT2(".f",'31','32','33','34','35','36','37','38','39','40','41','42','43','44 ','45','46','47','48','49','50', '51','52','53','54','55','56','57','58','59','60')
5)T1f.1=
COUNT2("f.",'01','02','03','04','05','06','07','08','09','10','11','12','13','14 ','15','16','17','18','19','20','21','22','23','24','25','26','27','28','29','30 ')
6)T1f.2=
COUNT2("f.",'31','32','33','34','35','36','37','38','39','40','41','42','43','44 ','45','46','47','48','49','50', '51','52','53','54','55','56','57','58','59','60')
7)T1ff1=
COUNT2("ff",'01','02','03','04','05','06','07','08','09','10','11','12','13','14 ','15','16','17','18','19','20','21','22','23','24','25','26','27','28','29','30 ')
8)T1ff2=
COUNT2("ff",'31','32','33','34','35','36','37','38','39','40','41','42','43','44 ','45','46','47','48','49','50', '51','52','53','54','55','56','57','58','59','60')
At each trimester end, the total of absences would be something like this:
9)T1_F=
IF(OR('Situação1'="Regular",'Situação1'="Incluído"),'T1f_1’T1_f_2+T1_.f_1+T1_.f_2+T1_f._1+T1_f._2+2T1_ff_12T1_ff2,"")
So, using 9 fields — instead of 3 — for each trimester, I could do the task.
Maybe I can stay with this solution — depending on how many days that I will have 2 classes — using only one field — but I would like to see if I can come with a solution that counts the absences using less fields, say just counts how many ‘ f ‘ each student has.
Any help will be appreciated,
Jorge Lucas, the guy from Rio Grande do Sul

Answer 1

Yvan The Terrible,
I am not surprised that you were able to write this script for me; it did not completely solve the task but it did an important portion. This is not the first time you wrote a script for me.
Seeing the result, I thought that one could rewrite it the other way around, i.e.: with the fields and the field types of a given DB, one could write a script to build a new AW DB, with those fields. Of course, the first script to get those fields and field types should be deeper to extract the formulas of Calculations Fields and the options for the Value List Fields.
Since I have 180 Value List fields with exactly the same options, it would be very much easier to have those in a SS module, before recreate — or just create — the DB. Besides those, there are a number of calculations fields, that are pretty much alike, with some adaptations. It would be very easy to redesign the DB.
I am not asking you to do this, but I would not doubt that it is possible.
The only thing that would consume time would be designing the layouts, unless one could be able to do this given, at least, the sizes of the fields (imagine that you have the sizes of most of the fields, say 60, inserted in a customized layout, instead of 1 inch width!); this would be really difficult, but here one question is too important, in order to recreate an DB file:
*+Is there a way to import a layout from a DB file to another DB file with the same fields of this very layout?+*
About the origins of AW and FMP: several years ago I pass some time playing at the FMP 3.0; after I saw the version 6.0 and later the version 9.0 — +it looks like some time I will see the FileMaker Pro 12.+
I remember perfectly well that the creation of the fields in the FMP 3.0 was very much similar to ClarisWorks. After, I was able — seeing the templates — to create a relational DB with 6 to 8 files in the FMP 6.0. Of course, like Barry said, the learning curve is steeper.
But I felt at home.
It surprises me that both you, Yvan — on this forum — and Barry — on a direct message — said that they were created by different teams. My guess is that one copied the other.
Thanks for your time!
Best regards,
Jorge Lucas (the guy from Rio Grande do Sul)
P.S.: +if I ever grew up — I am only 55 — I wanna be like you: a terrific expert in building AppleScript scripts.+
Message was edited by: Jorge Lucas
Message was edited by: Jorge Lucas