ISO FileMaker Magazine

With FileMaker’s PatternCount(), Left(), Right() and Middle() functions you can certainly extract a lot of data. The functions, however, are severely limited when it comes to matching variable patterns of data.

That’s where, in the world of programming, Regular Expressions, or RegEx for short, is SUPER handy! It’s used in pretty much EVERY computing language and I don’t personally know a professional developer who can develop without it. It’s been available since the 1950’s and it’s a worthwhile tool to know for sure.

Recently, I personally reduced a complex FileMaker file from three tables and close to twenty dedicated scripts, all for parsing some data, down to one table and two scripts. Trust me, it was a crazy process where a full document of text was imported, line by line, into a FileMaker table, just so a loop could be used to walk across the data multiple times. Talk about extra network traffic just to process some data!

It was MUCH easier to simply use a RegEx pattern and directly extract the data desired and be done with it. Of course, the developer who preceded me obviously didn’t know RegEx and it’s why I’m providing this video for you. Learn it, use it and get the job done quicker when it’s the right tool for the job.

As you’re probably aware, whenever a great craftsman has a project in front of themselves, they’re likely picking from not just one tool but many. What this means, in the context of FileMaker, is that you can’t just stop with using FileMaker alone. There are many times when it makes more sense, or will net bigger benefits, when you go outside of FileMaker.

The trick is this, you don’t necessarily need to go too far outside of FileMaker to accomplish some amazing things. Right within FileMaker is the Web Viewer object with direct access to JavaScript and just a little beyond that are plug-ins which can access pretty much anything else you could ever want.

On the Macintosh, we find that we have access to a plethora of tools which can sift through data like nobody’s business. On the Windows side you’re a simple install away from having the same power.

This video is all about going outside of FileMaker in order to leverage a treasure trove of tech for parsing HTML and beyond. Watch this video if parsing anything you could ever want out of a web page is something which appeals to you.

In the world of software development, you’re basically taking things apart. Adding data here, taking away data there and remixing things. Simply put, it’s all just a matter of how the data needs to be presented to those who wish to see it.

In the first video in this series, we did the data collection and now we need to do something with that data. In most cases, you’re typically going to be parsing data if it’s not in a format ready to be stored. So, we need to parse the custom functions and their details from their source. We’d like to store them in a format which will meet our own objectives.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to parse data. When it comes to native FileMaker parsing, you’re inevitably going to be using Left(), Right(), and Middle(), functions. But, when you’re working with well structured data, such as HTML, you have to do a bit more work than just using a simple Middle() function. That’s what this video is all about.

One of the most fulfilling feelings in development is knowing you have full control over your digital destiny. Depending on who you are, this can be determined in a number of ways. So, let's focus on you, the database developer.

For a database developer, the ability to do whatever you want with data in terms of moving, extracting, merging or modifying is critical.

Without the proper knowledge of what tools can help out in certain situations, you can end up spending FAR MORE TIME doing something crazy, like copy/paste, for hours and hours.

Well, let's stop being crazy and start being sane. This all starts with knowing what's out there!

In this video, I take a look at the uber powerful jSoup Java library. Now, before you start saying, "Oh Matt, I don't want to learn Java, I want to use FileMaker." Let me respond to your unstated response by telling you that you don't need to know Java - although I would love it if you'd learn a little.

Because, honestly, a little can get you QUITE A LOT! Which is the case in this particular technique and solution.

Take a peek at the video and if you're not entirely convinced that your subscription is well worth it then let me know in the comments!