ISO FileMaker Magazine

Providing users with some type of indication about where they are within the current layout is always a nice thing. People don't typically like that feeling of being lost and there are multiple ways to indicate where the user is. A simple header or label is always one of the easiest ways, but, what if you're using disconnected objects. In that case, the navigation itself can often act as the indicator.

The combination of either multiple buttons or a Button Bar, with a tab panel or slider is a very common thing within a more complex FileMaker layout. In this video, I walk through the process of adding some navigational indicators to an existing solution which is provided for free by Soliant Consulting. There's a lot to learn with regards to object management, some object naming and related trickery and making that disconnected situation between buttons and panels a connected one which will facilitate navigation that clearly indicates where you are within the layout.

Over the years, I've created a number of videos which showcase saving the state of various situations. For example, saving how many and which windows a user has open, saving the window positions and also saving the state of which panels are selected on multi-panel objects. Such as tab panels and sliders.

In this video, we revisit the topic because we now have a newer function within FileMaker 18 which makes it even easier to save which panels are frontmost within your user UI. While I personally think this is something FileMaker should do natively, it's currently under our control. With a little bit of code, we can easily keep track of which panes are frontmost and then restore those panes when navigating through the solution.

If keeping things clean and easy for your users is something you desire, then this video will have both the sample code and the instruction you need in order to take full advantage of FileMaker's While() statement and how to keep track of what's going on in the UI while the user is using it.

One of the challenges I love the most within FileMaker is creating something which requires less time and effort than the "older way" of doing the same thing.

Such is the case with a tabbed list view. I recently came upon a sample file showcasing how to do something in multiple list views. It was using an older method of "simulated" tabs by simply placing clickable buttons in a horizontal row and making one of the buttons look different on each respective layout.

So I thought to myself, "Why isn't he just using a normal tab panel?". You can certainly do it. You just need a few key pieces of info in order to create a very powerful navigational tool for a tabbed based list view. And, that's what this video is all about Tabbed List Views.

Hacking away at FileMaker objects seems to be the theme for a few of my most recent videos. In this video, I'm back at it and hacking again on Tab Panels. These ever so useful layout objects allow you to show a ton of information on screen by allowing users to reveal what's important to them when they want to see it.

Through understanding how individual layout objects are composed, we can take a crack at customizing them in ways in which are not current possible - at least not through FileMaker's inspector palette.

And so, a handy little tool is born for performing a simple little task. Making iOS-looking native FileMaker tab panels.

If you're creating any type of solution for iOS and using either FileMaker Go or the iOS SDK for FileMaker, then this video will help you make your FileMaker user interface that much sweeter!

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!

A technically simple, yet highly functional FileMaker solution seems like the ideal type of solution. You won't have a maintenance nightmare and the end user payoff feels really good. The trick is meeting user expectations with simple solutions to problems not solved by FileMaker natively. Such is the case with remembering layout state within a solution. This can happen with tab panel objects quite easily - as this video will show.

By using a combination of script triggers and global variables, a "just-in-time" method of addressing this problem can be used. This keeps the solution light weight and more fluid within mobile only or hybrid deployments.

If you're looking for an easy solution to maintaining tab state then look no further than Remembered Tabs.

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.