Yes, there is a way to acocmplish what you want.
Assuming that you are importing text files (literally, files ending in .txt), you can use the Import Folder... command to obtain the list of 80 files that must be imported. Then once you have this list you can use a script to step through each item and perform the individual import of the data in that file.
When you use the import folder command, there are actually three items available for mapping to fields: the content of the file; the file name; and the full path to the file. You do not want to import the field contents or file name, just the full file path. You'd create a new table, "ImportToDo" for example, to hold those file paths.
After you do this "Import Folder" step, you will have a table with one record per file. You then Loop through each record, using the contents of the filePath field to direct subsequent, standard, file imports.
A script off the top of my head for this would be:
Go to Layout ["ImportToDo"]
Import Records [###; Include all enclosed folders; Text files]
Go to Record [First]
Loop
Set Variable [$currFile; Value:ImportToDo::filePath]
Go to Layout ["Destination Table"]
Import Records [No Dialog; "$currFile"]
Go to Layout ["ImportToDo"]
Go to Record [Next; Exit after last]
End Loop
where ### is replaced with the folder where you usually save these 80 text files, or left blank if you wish to specify the folder each time you run the script.
I hope this helps...
p.s.: the usenet newsgroup comp.databases.filemaker is free and has a very high participation level. I'm not trying to plug another website, but I've noticed most of the FileMaker-related inquiries here either get no answer or a "use MySQL" type of answer. Good luck.
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