FileMaker Fundamentals: Timesavers
Because of how the FileMaker development environment was structured, there's a lot of in and out of dialog boxes - especially when working on a smaller screen. You often head into an area like scripts or Define Database and then out of an area as you craft your masterpiece.
In previous versions of FileMaker this used to be a forced situation - and still is in various areas. At least in current versions you can have Manage Scripts (always our beloved ScriptMaker to us old schoolers) and Manage Layouts open while still interacting with various other windows.
The real key to mastering your time when working with FileMaker is moving around the application and making things happen quickly. Think of it like a professional ballet dancer who can weave and shift across the stage with a degree of elegance that makes it look effortless - and probably feels so as well.
While knowing certain shortcuts will certainly save you time, there are a few other steps you can take to achieve that level of proficiency which makes you feel like a true master.
Comments
Capslock as control ?
Hi Matt,
I didn't understand why is it useful to map de the caps lock key as the control key. Why is it moe efficient than the control key ? because the key is bigger?
Finger Travel
The control key - as normally mapped - is an awkward key to hit because of where it's at. Your pinky finger only has to move a fraction of an inch to hit the rarely used caps lock key hence it becomes more natural feeling when you change the mapping.
Added to this is that many applications rarely use the control key. When you start to map keys for menu options in FileMaker the control key mapped to caps lock becomes a much more friendly option. :) It's not for everyone though. ;)
-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor
Cheers
Thanks for the info
Fundamental series suggestion
One fundamental I don't feel like I have a good grasp of and which I'd really like to understand better is Summary fields. For example, I have a report I'm trying to build based on a Student::Ethnicity field. I need to report, for each grade level plus the school as a whole, what percentage and count of our students come from each ethnic background. So far, my attempts to get this working have yielded odd percentages and I'm not having any luck figuring out what formulas or setups are needed to get accurate summary fields into my reports.
Thanks!
--
Matthew Miller
experientia docet
Installing Macintosh Keyboard Shortcuts Enhanced in FMPA12
Good Morning Matt,
I opened the "Filemaker Shortcuts" file in fmpa12, but the applescript installed them on fmpa11. I tried to change these settings:
"set filemakerPrefs to \"~/Library/Preferences/com.filemaker.client.advanced12.plist\"";
"set fmAdvanced to \"com.filemaker.client.advanced12\"";
but it still doesn't work, and I'm afraid that's as far as my understanding will allow me to try and implement this.
Thank you for these —as well as all of your so genuinely and generously shared— really useful tips.
JPL
Need to add shortcuts as All programs for FMP12 on Mac
Hi Matt.
I have had shortcuts like these at least since since FM 10 and they work great and are real timesavers. However, after installing v12 I found that none of the previous shortcuts worked, and they were not marked in the menues either. Today i finally had time to look into this. Adding FMP 12 as a new application entry in the shortcut setup panel did not work, any new shortcuts appeared in the same listing as the old ones under 'FileMaker Pro Advanced', and they did not work or show up in v12. Maybe this is because I have lots of older FileMaker Pro Advanced versions on the same machine.
I found that the only way I could get FMP 12 to see these shortcuts was to add them to the listings for all programs on top of the panel. This works, I have yet to see if this creates any adverse effects elsewhere.
Now, if only I could find a way to add a shortcut to set tooltips. That is one menu entry I miss from v10.
P.S. I did not use your utility file, as I already had all my keys defined.
Cheers,
Andreas
Andreas, thank you!
This is very good news. It works like a charm to add the shortcuts to "All applications" in System prefs > keyboard > keyboard shortcuts. I'd postponed upgrading to FM 13 because my beloved FM11 shortcuts wouldn't work in FM12. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thanks to Matt also for providing keyboard shortcuts setup for FileMaker in the first place. It works with a demo copy of FM 13.