ISO FileMaker Magazine

When you’re designing in a small cramped space, and you’ve got a lot to put on the layout, you can always go for that native Popover button widget to store the extra info.

But when all that information needs to feel somehow connected to each other, just using a bunch of Popover buttons on the layout may not work well. In these cases, it’s best to go with an Accordion menu.

This familiar design pattern is very easy to accomplish within FileMaker and, when done right, can be a simple matter of copy and paste in order to add it to any other solution.

In this video, I showcase a robust and easy-to-use slider setup which emulates the popular Accordion menu. If you’re just not feeling the look and feel of that standard tab panel, then add this solution to your tool bag for when you need it next.

If it hasn’t happened to you yet, then it will at some point. Your FileMaker solution will simply grow and grow and you’ll be adding complex layers of security and access as you develop.

As you add that security, your users may report back that they can’t do what they’re supposed to do. Maybe they’re locked out of a given layout with a giant gray screen with the small words of “No Access”.

Ughhh! What does your user do now? Why should you even be dealing with this issue?

What you really need is to make sure and use defensive scripting strategies where it becomes a small annoyance and you’re both notified and able to investigate why the user is reporting this issue.

In this video, you’ll find a wealth of information about navigating to layouts and how to defensively code against landing on that dreaded “No Access” layout.

Most of FileMaker’s layout objects allow you to easily specify settings directly on those objects. For example, using Button Bars for the purpose of navigation means you can specify which of the multiple segments should be presented as active. Of course, your can also easily target which layout a button click should take the user to without creating a dedicated script.

The problem, however, is that FileMaker systems end up growing ever larger and the evolution process means you’re constantly making changes as you develop the system. Add a segment here, change a Perform Script there, etc.

When it comes to Button Bars, they provide a very simple way of managing multiple buttons. They allow you to use features like the Hide calc and can dynamically display their labels thanks to access to FileMaker’s calc engine.

If you end up with a growing FileMaker solution, and you’re constantly copy/pasting and having to double-click into the Button Setup HUD, then you quickly come across a pain which can easily be avoided.

This video is about decoupling references from Button Bars when using them for the purpose of navigation. If you like the features which Button Bars provide, then knowing their in’s and out’s is certainly critical know-how.

Using portals, for the purpose of record navigation, have their downsides. The most obvious of these, is the fact that portals reset when moving from one record to the next.

This can be disconcerting to the user who is familiar with user interfaces which do not "reset" your sidebar and seemingly adjust your selection.

In 2011 I showcased a solution to this problem called Portal Navigation Consistency.

With the release of FileMaker 12 and higher, the functionality previously covered had broken. Not only that, there were newer solutions made possible which allow for a less complex implementation.

Within this video, you'll not only find how to maintain the selection of your navigation portal, but methods for capturing details about the way a user is using the portals. You'll also be treated to a simple solution which will adjust your navigational portal no matter how the user navigates to the target record!

User navigation is one of the most fundamentally obvious features of any software solution. How easy this navigation is, is often a mix of the platform/device being used, the process flow, and what the developer knows about providing navigation based features within FileMaker.

As well, one of the most exhilarating things about developing a clean feature within your database is knowing it's a low-impact, high value feature. Something which makes life easier for users and adds that little bit of extra "coolness" to your solution.

That feeling of exhilaration was exactly what I felt when I implemented this technique for the first time. I know the users of the system will receive a lot of value, given they spend a lot of time jumping around within the same list view - especially just after performing a search.

While scrolling through a few records in list view is tolerable, it can quickly become a hassle when you have a lot of records to move through.

Fortunately, FileMaker provides some really nice features in List view when sorted by a sub-summary. Not only can you obviously use summary fields to show all kinds of aggregate information, but, FileMaker will keep the list sorted when taking actions like omitting records.

This technique of jumping through sub-summary list views is an excellent example of working with the data on screen. If you've not had the realization that if FileMaker can show the data, then you can access it, then this video is for you!

Helping users navigate your FileMaker solution is one of the primary objectives of any developer. When it comes to menu systems, you'll find everything from simple buttons on a layout to the complex use of portals and other FileMaker objects such as the newer Popover object. In this video and technique file, you'll find a clean implementation of Global variables which support an unlimited number of dynamic menus. These menus can be changed based on their count and functionality at anytime within any location inside the solution.

Using other FileMaker 13 specific features, such as the ability to hide objects, you can have a very flexible navigation system. It can obey your security and privilege access rules and change dynamically based on wherever the user is within your solution.

If your solution is limited on space and you desire the use of a horizontal menu system, then this Dynamic Menu System provides for a high degree of power.

At the recent annual developer's conference for FileMaker Pro, I was fully intent on showing everyone pretty much everything I knew about working in Layout mode.

But... That was crazy. There's just no way I could ever get through it all. There's so much you can do, and so many ways you can use the available tool set. So I focused on the tools we have available.

One of the areas I had wanted to spend more time with were tab panels. They really are a designer's power tool when it comes to showing only what you want to show and WHEN you want to show it.

In this video, I showcase a menu system I've used which makes for a very attractive presentation method on FileMaker Go. Of course, it can certainly be used on the desktop as well, but the essential premise of the video is to show you what's possible with tab panels - beyond using them as just standard tab panels.