ISO FileMaker Magazine

Moving forward with the Custom Function database project, we now have the opportunity to copy and paste our groups of custom functions. The trick to accomplishing this requires a modification to the singular copy/paste being used for a single custom function.

The database now needs to provide a list of functions, in the xml snippet format, to be copied to the clipboard. This is easily accomplished through the relationships and by modifying the original script.

If you’ve never had the problem where you needed to copy well structured data through a few relationships, then watching this video will give you some insight in the the various possible ways and the one way which may be the most simple when needing to copy that structured data to the clipboard.

Most everyone likes to know what's going on when something is happening. Being kept in the dark is something which causes possible anxiety and certainly a fair amount of impatience. So, it's always nice to provider your user with a little bit of status when there's some type of progress happening.

Fortunately, this is a very easy thing to solve when a lot of the work is already done for you. All you need to do is wire things up within a FileMaker web viewer.

Using the information within this video you can easily present your users with an indeterminate progress indicator. At least letting them know that something is happening rather than nothing.

Some buttons in your user interface are likely more than obvious in terms of what they do. But what about those times when they're not and it's just nice to let the user know what just happened? Using a combination of Slider panels and mutli-segment Button Bars you can provide any type of feedback you might like to show.

This video presents a method for showing the user some feedback about the results of clicking a button or any other user interface action taken.

Note to subscribers: If you're looking for the file, then you'll find it within the Part 11 download. The link is provided below.

One of the most enjoyable things about working in FileMaker, or any development environment where looping is supported, is the pure joy of automation.

Even thinking about checking off any more than a few records at a time brings me to a mental state of counting the number of seconds it takes for the single action itself, then multiplying times the number of objects I need to affect.

So the question arrives. “How do I automate this?” or “How do I make this process easier for the user?”. The answer, quite simply is applying the knowledge you have about solving it. There are, however, times when you just don’t know what can be done to make it even easier.

In this video, I showcase a technique and method for offering users with the ability to checkmark whole sub-ranges of records by simply clicking a button within a sub-summary area of a list view. It’s a wonderfully sublime method of solving the problem. And, understanding the fundamentals means you can use the method for a lot more than just a simple checkbox.

There comes a time when every great database must acquire a brand new look. This really applies if you’ve never even given your database a user interface or you’re looking to revamp the one you currently have.

The best place to start, I find, is with the “primary objective” of the interface. In fact, I would argue that it’s best to focus on the number 1,2 and 3 aspects or goals of the user interface. I do this for every single layout being designed. By doing this before you start to throw fields on the layout, you afford yourself the ability to keep things simple before getting too complex. Many of the most popular products and software interfaces start out super simple.

Some of them become bloatware, like many of the Microsoft Office products, but they had a good foundation when it came to how users have learned to use them.

In this video, we take a look at starting the user interface for our Custom Function database. I provide some foundation and the basis for how I approach the process and showcase how I implement based on the decisions I’ve made.

When developing in FileMaker, the feature set it offers accounts for a good number of common tasks and provides easy solutions for most of these problems. There are a few issues, however, which FileMaker either hasn’t addressed or wants to leave up to the developer.

One of these is saving the current window state. This applies to tab panels, sliders and moving from layout to layout or when closing the file. The desired result, for the end user, is to simply return to where they left off when returning to a layout.

Obviously, it’s very comforting to come home to the same arrangement of furniture after leaving your home. If a user leaves a layout having made a complex selection of tab panels, sliders and button bars then it makes sense to be the courteous developer and put them back into the same state.

This video showcases a powerful method for saving the state of windows. It applies to all panel type objects and even when closing the file. If keeping your user interface nice and tidy is something you’re interested in for your own solutions then make sure and watch this video!

Progressive disclosure. It’s the buzzword that’s been around since the mid 2000’s and a concept which has existed since software started hiding preferences. It’s recently been hitting the popular FileMaker airwaves because of the recent widgets we’ve received in FileMaker 13 & 14.

When it comes to progressive disclosure, iOS, due to the small screen size of the iPhone, needed to only show what was absolutely necessary in order to keep things clean and simple.

With the new user interaction of swiping on touch screens, new UI methods were possible in ways where the conventional mouse and screen didn’t apply.

One of the most common UI conventions on iOS is swipe to delete. This method of interaction extended to providing any variety of options by disclosing what’s possible with a given row in a list view.

While you would think this would be a simple task to accomplish, there’s a bit of a work around needed in order to make it work as expected.

This video provides the details and insight into making this feature possible within FileMaker Go on iOS.

For me, it's always been one of those itches I could never quite scratch. You know, the fact that in order to show some of your user interface graphics you needed to store these graphics within your database - along with your data.

In fact, it's pretty much accepted that you create container fields, many times within a dedicated table, to store graphics and resources.

The issue I had with this approach was not that it needs to be done, but the fact that the user interface graphics were not separated out from the rest of my data. I wanted to be able to simply "draw" graphics onto the layout.

Well, this itch can now be scratched with FileMaker 13's new Base64* set of functions. While you still need at least one container field in order to render your graphics, the new additions have reduced the number of fields in total.

Watch this video to gain a full understanding of how this works and just how easy it is to integrate into your own solutions!

For the new user to FileMaker, it seems so easy to simply create a field, make a value list containing "Yes" and "No" and set the field format to Checkboxes.

It sounds so simple right?

Well, this seemingly simple desire tends to trick more new developers than I'd like. After receiving an email about this very goal, I decided to create a video about how I approach single checkboxes.

In the past, I've created videos about temporary checkboxes using just global variables, but I figured I should elaborate on the data storage of the checkbox and how you can creatively display a checkbox when you opt not to use graphics.

I should mention, however, because of the font differences between Windows and Macintosh, this solution isn't as ideal as graphics. Especially, when designing for cross-platform, primarily because of the rendering differences between the two. But, when used for FileMaker Go on iPad or iPhone, or limited to one specific platform, this solution is quite ideal!