ISO FileMaker Magazine: FileMaker Video Tutorials, Templates, Help & More

fmSpark is a correspondence management module designed to be integrated into existing FileMaker solutions. fmSpark lets users create letters, rich emails and labels without going into layout mode or leaving FileMaker. fmSpark is developed by Proof and published and distributed by SeedCode in a first of its kind partnership... - (SeedCode)

This is an essential, time-saving middleware tool for any developer looking to integrate QuickBooks with a FileMaker or SQL databases. On average, an integration project can take anywhere from 10 to 60 hours of development to complete. With the use of 123sync, the development of an integration project can be completed in as little as an hour. For example, in under 10 minutes, SMi staff were able to integrate QuickBooks with the free trial of the FileMaker Business Productivity Kit on the first try. This leaves you with only one question to ask yourself... - (SolutionMakers)

dbdom.com, an international series of data centers specializing in dedicated server hosting solutions, is proud to announce it will be exhibiting at the FileMaker Developer Conference 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona July 13-17 held at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa. dbdom.com has been bringing enterprise class hosting to FileMaker database solutions for over 15 years and continues to innovate with the highest class of hosting platforms available... - (dbdom.com)

If you've worked with FileMaker for any length of time (5 years or more), then it's hard not to become affected by your historical knowledge of how FileMaker works. My reason for stating this is because of how data and interacting with it "might" be limited if you're taking the conventional approach within FileMaker... - (ISO FileMaker Magazine)

fmDataGuard provides solutions built with FileMaker® Pro software with the technological basis for regulatory audit trail compliance, logs all data changes, and allows for instant data rollback or quick recovery from a crash or corruption. Now through the end of July, anyone can purchase fmDataGuard at a 20% discount directly from the company... - (WorldSync, Inc.)

With hundreds of top photographers flocking to the annual Palm Springs Photo Festival, the founders needed a simple system to organize attendee registration and logistics. Problem solved with FileMaker Pro 9. “We could never have managed the number of people we served without our FileMaker barcode system. Our revenue doubled and our customer satisfaction increased and a large part of that picture was our FileMaker system,” said founder Jeff Dunas.

FileMaker, Inc. will showcase the new Bento personal database software for Mac OS X Leopard, and will also demonstrate FileMaker Pro database solutions for school superintendents and district administrators, at the 2008 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), June 30-July 2, 2008, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas in Booth Nos. 6088 and 6090... - (FileMaker Inc.)

Comm-Unity Networking Systems releases the fifth public beta of its upcoming FTPit Pro plug-in for FileMaker Pro(R).  This is a complete rewrite of the Classic FileMaker 6 FTPit plug-in for FileMaker Pro 7 and above.  With this plug-in you can transfer files to and from your computer using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) all from within FileMaker Pro.  Beta 5 brings a few bug fixes to the core plug-in as well as a brand new Server Edition of the plug-in.  The Server Edition of FTPit Pro can be used with Scheduled Scripts on FileMaker Server and/or with Web Publishing on FileMaker Server Advanced... - (Comm-Unity Networking Systems)

From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright

A READER ASKS
I need to create a calculation for creating a warning 6 months before a warranty expiry date is due. I have a field for the date of warranty expiry and have a merged field as the trigger for indicating the warning I just can't create the calculation to trigger the warning. Can you advise

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DWAYNE RESPONDS
Well, lets look at what our needed list of items before we start. We are going to need to b be able to capture the current date and compare it to the warranty date plus six months. Then we are going to need a warning field for when that date is passed. We are going to also need a way to turn the warning off or we will be in warning overload. After that, you might want to have some sort of scripted warning system.

BUILDING THE WARNING
Our warning field is going to need to deduct six months from the warranty date. For that, we are going to use the Date function and within that we will be using the month, day and year functions. The Date function allows you to take 3 parameters ( which can be a field, a calculated value, literal text or a combination thereof ) and make a proper date out of them. So we are going to subtract 6 from the month parameter and leave the others the same. Your three parameters are for the month, the day and the year.

So our calculation is going to look something like ... Date ( month ; day ; year )

will become

Date ( month(warrantydate) - 6 ; day(warrantydate) ; year(warrantydate) )

Here are some links to other posts that might be of interest in regards to this topic...
The Date Function
The Day Function
The Month Function
The Year Function

So now we can simply compare if the warning date is greater than or equal to the current date ... and ... our bypass field is not checked. Our bypass field can be used to say we have already sent the reminder, the warranty was extended, the warranty date has passed, etc... So that calculation may look something like ...

Case(
WarningBypass = "Yes", "N/A"
WarningCalculation ≥ Get(CurrentDate), "Warning",
"")

Here we test to see if the bypass is active and put a N/A in our warning field and the calculation stops. Otherwise we evaluate the next line in the Case statement to see if our warning calculation is greater than or equal to the current date. If this is the case, then our field will display the text of “warning”. If our bypass is not active and the warning date is still in the future, the field is empty.

SCRIPT TRIGGERS
Well, you can do any number of automatic, semi-automatic, manual and visual indicator processes from here. To have a script fire automatically, you will need a third party plug-in to enable FileMaker to fire off a script on its own. You can have a script that pull up the warning related records as part of the startup or shutdown process. Of course, you can have a regular button run the script as well. As far as visual indicators, conditional formatting can be use to alert the user of the impending warranty date condition.


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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.

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One of the most daunting tasks of any business is managing the exchange of critical information between business management tools and accounting software.  Solution development is typically a lengthy, expensive process.  However, for users who couple Intuit's industry leading QuickBooks accounting software with FileMaker productivity tools, Seattle-based SolutionMakers, Inc. intends to change all that.  On June 26th, SolutionMakers® launched 123sync, a solution that utilizes the FileMaker database environment to manage data integration with QuickBooks... - (SolutionMakers)

Microsoft will discontinue sales of Windows XP on June 30, 2008. If you plan to move to Windows Vista, now is the time to upgrade to Vista-compatible FileMaker 9 and take advantage of our special upgrade offer with an instant rebate!

Have you ever wondered just how compatible you are with others in the FileMaker community? Take the simple online quiz at fmgreet.com and find others in the FileMaker community you are compatible with. There are 18 questions and it only takes about 2 minutes to complete. Just press the "connect button"... - (FMWebschool)

For custom database development, FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced “has managed to offer the very best of both worlds. It offers real power, scalability and robustness alongside approachability, a clean and usable interface,” according to MacNN.com, which awards 5 Stars to FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced.

"Bento is one of those applications that's an enigma -- it's mysterious, puzzling and yet astoundingly simple at the same time. It's a personal database for regular people, not the kind of database used for big business. As you might expect from any Apple-related product, it's easy to use."

In the FileMaker Pro developer community there is a general lack of clear understanding about the need for the correct type of security in FileMaker Pro solutions.

There is too much focus on passwords and not enough focus on the protection of assets and the mitigation of adverse impacts of breaches. There is also too much focus on the creation of “custom” “security” systems and not enough focus on identifying threats and the risks of their occurring. There is too much complaining about how “hard” it is to have good security and not enough appreciation about the adverse impact of having the wrong type of security.

As a result of all this, at the upcoming FileMaker Developer Conference in Phoenix I will be conducting a special session:

Assets, Vulnerabilities, Threats, and Risks:
What Type Security Is Right For You?
Tuesday, July 15th 2008
11:15 AM to 12:30 PM
Sonoran Ballroom H

This session will feature a discussion of how to determine the right type of security for your solution. It is based on a set of circumstances specific to your individual solution, but common to all FileMaker Pro solutions.

All assets are subject to threats that can exploit vulnerabilities that, in turn, can breach their Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. The level of adverse impact of such a breach varies situation by situation as do the risks of those threats’ occurring and the prevalence of threat agents that can trigger the exploits.

Security then must focus on closing vulnerabilities, on blocking threat agents, and on mitigating adverse impact of breaches. And a great many FileMaker Pro solutions take no cognizance whatsoever of this key requirement.

So, if you are at the Develop Conference, feel free to stop by to listen, to contribute, or to debate this very important subject.

—–
Steven H. Blackwell
Platinum Member, FileMaker Business Alliance
Partner Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance (1997-2007)
FileMaker 9 Certified Developer
FileMaker 8 Certified Developer
FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
FileMaker Authorized Trainer

Hi Everyone, our June Newsletter will be released tomorrow Thursday June 26.  Our FileMaker newsletter is read by nearly 7000 FileMaker enthusiast and continues to grow!  For nearly 3 years FMWebschool has released a free newsletter filled with free sample files, book reviews, articles and discounts on 3rd party software... - (FMWebschool)

From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright

Added the custom function of insert_commas to my InBizness product and thought I’d mention it here (just in case someone else is looking for something like this).


This nifty function inserts commas before every third digit before a decimal point. Uses recursion to handle any number, including negative values and decimals. This allows me to have a calculated number in a text calculation field and still show the commas. So a calculated value of 2,000 will look that way instead of 2000.

The name of the function is insert_commas and I got it from the briandunning.com web site. The credits for uploading this function to that site are noted as Matthew Stetson, Antidote Solutions

The direct link to this custom function is ...

http://www.briandunning.com/cf/483
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.


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For more information on InBizness Money including screen shots and tutorial movies, please visit http://www.dwaynewright.com/solutions.html
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It started with a simple email from Dan Stein.  His main concern that there was no way for children and teenagers to meet at Devcon while the adults were busy attending meetings and sessions.  He asked, "Why not create a social forum for children of alike ages to find one another"? We thought, what a great idea... - (FMWebschool)

We've set up a little (unofficial) FileMaker-related community Web site that can be used for: --DevCon and other FileMaker-related discussions; --Posting FileMaker-related how-to videos, FileMaker-related audio files/podcasts, FileMaker community-related images (like photos from DevCon or developer meetings)... - (Application Architects, LLC)

Schedula Planner is a large-screen scheduling program that displays traditional side-by-side appointment grid times with fully integrated, yet completely independent, "live" action items. As such, it is ideal for planning activities and events, scheduling rooms, making appointments, entering reminders, and so on. It is the perfect scheduling program for all types of businesses and organizations. Yet it is also particularly well-suited for use by individuals, including lawyers, counselors, therapists, inspectors, educators, students, and many others... - (Life $uccess Institute)