Importing documents from another program

Hello Mr. Meyer,

By default, gFM-Business does not contain a function for importing billing documents. As part of an open license, such a function could of course be integrated directly into the software so that it can also be called up directly from gFM-Business.

Thanks to the basis of Claris FileMaker Pro, such a function could also be implemented in all other versions as an external FileMaker module. You could program the import of your files in a new FileMaker database, which is then connected directly to the data tables from gFM-Business and creates the documents in gFM-Business. The programming of such a module could be carried out either by yourself, by any FileMaker developer or by us.

Hello Mr. Schall,

Thank you for your prompt reply. I already have my own FileMaker database that does the import and then writes the data to a print layout. So I can then connect the existing database to your software and create a document from the data in gFM Business?

VG Chris Meyer

So I can then connect the existing database to your software and create a document in gFM Business from the data?

Yes, exactly. In your database, you can add the file "gFMw_Faktura.fmp12" as an external data source and then include the desired document tables, e.g. "Orders" and "Order items", in the relationship graph of your file.

You can now program a script that creates a new document master data record and the item data records directly in the gFM Business tables after importing your file.

If you want to generate a new document ID in gFM-Business from your database, you can also create the file "gFM_Business.fmp12" as an external data source and then execute the script "ts.generate_number_range" with the parameters "order_id" and the client ID (default: 1) from the file "gFM_Business.fmp12". The script then returns the new document ID as the script result, which you can then insert into the document and item table.

Hello Mr. Schall,

That's great, thank you very much for your tips! I've actually already managed to create an order document from my FileMaker database in gFM Business. The external data sources and relationships were really easy and quick to do!

So far I have imported everything into one position, but if I separate the lines in my database, I can also create several positions by filling the "_fk_Bestellung_ID" in the position table in each additional position, right?

And if I create a second client because I want to use it with another company in the near future, can I simply enter the other client number when creating a document ID and then get a number for the second client?

VG Chris Meyer

Hello Mr. Meyer,

Yes, exactly, if you create several items for a document, the field "_fk_Bestellung_ID" (or equivalent for other document types) must be filled with the document ID in all item data records.

Correct, you control the client in the script "ts.generate_number_range" with the second parameter. 

Hello Mr. Schall,

Thank you very much for the prompt tips, with the help of which my database can now actually create an order directly in the invoice module of gFM-Business. I have now also extended the function for orders so that I can also continue to manage an order as an order, which worked just as well.

Thanks for the tip about the client, I'll use that when the time comes.

VG Chris Meyer