ISO FileMaker Magazine

Who doesn't need to mark subsets of records? I've rarely, if ever, worked on a solution which couldn't take advantage of simple record marking. Whether it's for creating a user based subset or simply toggling an active or favorite value.

Marking records is something which should just be standard. So, why not make it both standard and universal. Meaning, you use one single script regardless of whether you're dealing with a current found set of records or a filtered portal - and independent of a specific field.

That's what this video and technique file are all about. Universally marking records within your solution. A small collection of scripts for targeting any given Boolean field and making it so simple and easy that you don't even need to think about it. You just call the one universal utility script and call it a day. Your records are marked - or unmarked.

Looking for a smaller, and easier, FileMaker solution to manage? Then start using utility scripts and make this marking solution one of your go-to recipes.

In many situations, you'd think the easiest solution would be the best. Saving time and getting the job done quickly. This, however, just isn't the case if you're going to allow users to use a simple text field for managing keywords or tags. A tagging system relies on making it easy for the user, but it may not be so easy to implement itself. Here are a few questions you might be faced with.

What happens when one user enters "devloper" on record 1 and another user enters the correctly spelled "developer" on record 2? How do you make it easy to rapidly enter multiple keywords with a high degree of accuracy? What about removing keywords from this simple text field? Does the user just get to remove any portion of a whole word - causing a data nightmare? What about those commas being used to separate the keywords? Do you really trust users to get it right all the time? Can users be trusted to add multi-word keywords and get the commas correct?

The answer to all of those questions comes down to you. As the developer controlling the situation, you get to make sure the data is entered as desired and is still easy for the end user. And, in that case, the system is going to be a bit more complex than using a simple text field to allow users to enter whatever they want.

The video and technique file for this topic showcase a wonderful system of being able to enter and remove keywords used for data segmentation. If you've implemented a tagging system prior, then make sure and take a look at this one because you may find some UI niceness that's just too good to pass up!

One of the most wonderful aspects of FileMaker, or any development project, is implementing a portion of the software which can be used system wide. Meaning you don't have to recreate functionality over and over again in order to benefit from what you implement initially. Especially when it can be used in all locations universally.

In this video, I show you how to implement a Universal Tagging System in which you can apply tags to any other element you're managing within your database system. Are you needing to divide up the people you are tracking into multiple different groups? No problem. Do you anticipate that those groups will change and vary over time? No problem. Do you have more than one thing which could benefit from being tagged for the purpose of organization? No problem.

This system implements tags in such a way that they can be used to pretty much tag anything you can think of within your database solution. The data is managed via a join table and the logic for the UI will handle tagging any system element universally as well. Watching this video and using the provided file should make your system that much more flexible in terms of data organization and you can expand upon it as much as desired. If you enjoy flexible, yet powerful features, within your database solution then make sure to watch this video and learn from the provided file!

Our FileMaker Custom Function database is moving along quickly as we add more user-based features. The feature being added in this part of the series is a Tags/Tagging feature where it takes the concept of a “favorite” much further.

Rather than using a single field for tagging a record as a favorite, we’ll be using a join table and allowing the user to add as many different tags as desired. The implementation applies to “all users” of the database system, but could easily be modified to become a user centric tagging feature - such that each user could maintain their own set of tags and tagged records.

Understanding how to implement the full suite of options for interacting with tags is the key to making this feature so valuable for the user. This video will walk you through the pieces and parts of how to implement this useful functionality.

One of the best parts of developing within FileMaker Pro is that you don’t need to create every single thing from scratch. For example, having a Popover widget at the ready for immediate use in any layout is a really big benefit. It’s an automatic space saver.

However, what FileMaker doesn’t have built-in are certain features you might expect in most modern day software. How about a tagging feature which allows users to tag records and find those records on demand. This is something which isn’t built into FileMaker Pro. So you have to create the feature.

Well, we can certainly build one into any system within a short amount of time. Knowing how to use FileMaker’s Hide Calculation, Button Bars and script triggers allows for a very nice feature addition.

In this video, I’ll show you how to integrate a user-friendly dynamic record tagging solution which can be used in any FileMaker database. It takes advantage of the default checkbox widget and can be modified to suit your solution’s needs very easily. Sit back and relax as we learn more about using FileMaker to provide valuable user features!