Repeating Events

Can I Create Repeating Events in DayBack?

Yes, you can make both multi-day events and repeating events.

Multi-Day Appointments

To create appointments that span more than one day, simply enter an end date for the event. For more information, see Event Duration.

Repeating Appointments

The following short video will show you how to create repeating events...

https://youtu.be/cymyhu8aco8

You can select from any number of repeating options; the options visible when you click "continue" will be used to create new repetitions of the event you're on... so complete the event before creating repetitions. Each repetition is its own, unique record in your calendar so you can edit them individually, adjusting dates or statuses as needed.

I can't seem to create repeating events past 2029, is there a limit?

Yes. To prevent the accidental creation of millions of records, the calendar's repeating events script has a both a date limit and a number-of-repetitions limit. You can change both of these but they default to a date limit of no repetitions past Jan 1 2030 and a limit of 500 repetitions per event.

Change these by altering the first two variables declared in the script "Build Repetition List ( Repeat_StartDate ; Repeat_Rule )"

How do repetitions work and how can I manipulate them?

Here are some details about how we handle repetitions...

Each repetition in the calendar is its own event record. These records are all tied together with a shared event id in the field "SampleEvents::DBk_Repeating_id". You can script a find on this field to bring all the repetitions of an event into the found set.

Once repetitions are created, the individual events can be edited, moved or deleted without affecting other events in the repetition.

If you want to change all the repetitions of an event at the same time, click "repeat" from the "Action-View Event" layout. You'll be offered an option to see the repetitions of that event in a list and you can there use the Replace Field Contents command from FileMaker's Records menu to apply changes across the found set. (Put your cursor in the field you wish to edit- and perhaps make your edit- before selecting "Replace Field Contents" from FileMaker's Records menu.)

Note that in order for the "repeat" button to work you either need to arrive at the "Action-View Event" layout from the calendar, as we show in our video above, or run the script "Load Source's FileMaker Fields ( Number )" after your arrive, passing in the Source Number for the table you're on (probably "1", unless you've set up multiple sources).

How can I make all repeating events refresh?

If you'd like the newly created repeated events to show in the calendar immediately upon closing the Event Detail window, you can instruct the calendar to do a full refresh when repeating events are created.

First, we'll want to set a new variable in the "Continue Repeating Events Window - Make events" script just before the line "Show Custom Dialog ["Repeating Events: Done";..." like this:

Set Variable [$$sc_FullRefresh; Value: True]

Next, we'll check for this variable in the "Close Event Window & Refresh Calendar script" and do a full refresh if its value is true by adding the highlighted lines in the screenshot below:

Now when creating repeat events, the calendar will do a full refresh, showing all the new events, upon closing the event window.

What if creating repetitions fails to complete?

If you're unable to complete the process of creating event repetitions as if FileMaker is stuck or in an endless loop, there are 2 issues this could be related to.

If your date format does not line up with US date formats, your DayBack file will need to be cloned in order to correct the date format settings of the file. Details and instructions for cloning the file can be found in our Date Formats documentation here.

The following note is for versions of DayBack prior to 9.97 where this was fixed.

If the date format is not an issue, making the following change to the "Continue Repeating Events Window - Make Events" script should resolve the issue.

Add a Set Variable step right above the the Perform Script [ "Build Repetition List..." ] step, setting the variable $date with the value GetField ( $$sc_FieldForDateStart ). Then, modify the parameter of that Perform Script step, replacing GetField ( $$sc_FieldForDateStart ) with $date. This should allow the script to properly handle differences in date format for creating repetitions.