The inability to search within your scripts to locate code is a major omission in FileMaker. I know of no other programming environment where the developer can’t search for his/her code! The good news is there’s a fast, free and easy workaround. Namely, print your scripts to PDF then do the search there.
To build the PDF go into Manage Scripts and select all scripts (Command-A on Mac). Then simply print these scripts as a PDF.
I use this technique all the time to quickly locate fields, variables, comments and code routines, especially before contemplating making schema changes. Thanks to Jason Young for turning me on to this over a year ago. It’s a huge time-saver for which I can’t do without.
Is there a free equivalent for Windows?
I’m a Mac user who’s been using the technique you described for quite awhile but I’m now forced to use Windows for a project and have been missing the technique/feature.
Try CutePDF on Windows.
A far better way is to use Base Elements by Goya Pty Ltd, I swear by this product. It takes your xml DDR report and turns it into a fully releational database letting you search for basically anything, not just scripts.
The thing about Base Elements and similar products is that they can take a long time to parse the XML DDR in order to make your code searchable. That’s why I emphasized quick and easy (not to mention “free”) in this article and yes this technique as stated is specific to scripts. If you’re in rapid development and changing scripts frequently, it’s much faster to use this technique than to use Base Elements to find code within scripts.