ISO FileMaker Magazine

FileMaker 14 was released on May 12th 2015 and this release was made for developers!

This video provides an high level overview of all the major new features and updates to FileMaker 14.

Created in conjunction with Tim Dietrich and his wonderful blog article about FileMaker 14

Personally, I'd never worked with any of the deep analysis tools too much because most of my own solutions are well understood in my own mind.

However, when considering what it must be like to dig into someone else's solution, I seriously can't imagine working without a tool like InspectorPro 5.

Vince Menanno has been working on this type of product for well over a decade if memory serves me right. This means he certainly knows his stuff and it shows within the comprehensive coverage that InspectorPro 5 provides.

While this video is a long one, at well over one hour, just knowing what you can find out about your own FileMaker solution is very enlightening. Vince could have gone longer showing me just how much information InspectorPro 5 can provide about your FileMaker solution!

FileMaker Pro is such a wonderful environment for being able to rapidly create software which is extremely powerful and functional. The fact that the database is just there, built-in and available saves an enormous amount of time over other environments. This applies to many aspects of the environment.

When you combine the ability to interact with the world’s greatest source of information distribution, the Internet, then wonderful things can happen within your solution.

In this video, I show you how to store and retrieve some of your content from the Internet. The latest trend in freely available services is something which any FileMaker developer can tap into.

Using the free version of the source control platform GitHub, I show you how you can store all kinds of information on the Internet which may be used within your FileMaker solution dynamically. Whether you’re simply storing help content or storing navigational control directly on your own FileMaker Server, knowing how to take advantage of dynamically loading content is a key piece of knowledge.

FileMaker 12 introduced a totally new landscape for layout design. Along with the new way in which objects are represented, was the new way in which a layout was defined.

We now have this offscreen area of a layout. It's a convenient "storage area" of sorts. Where you can store "in progress" layout elements and documentation.

It doesn't stop there, however. You can include a lot of things which contribute to the actual logic of how your FileMaker solution functions. Take layout script triggers for example, or even portals themselves. When you leave a given layout, your portals reset and triggers may fire, which you may not want. So the best solution to this problem is to simply keep some things offscreen that would otherwise be onscreen.

This video shows you a variety of useful tips which take full advantage of the offscreen area of layouts. Looking to learn more about killer FileMaker development? This video won't disappoint!

Having recently arrived at the need for a syncing solution for a pro bono database, my options were pretty much limited to “create your own” or use what’s free.

It turns out that FMEasySync, from Tim Dietrich, is very robust and powerful syncing solution. In fact, it was awarded the FileMaker Excellence Award for FBA Development of the Year in 2014 by FileMaker, Inc. It has also been integrated into a few of FileMaker’s own solutions, such as the Devcon Speaker Proposal database.

There are a number of developers using the solution, and its attention factor is on the rise.

As with all solutions and techniques created within FileMaker, the integration process is what will take you the most amount of time. The first time takes the longest, and once you’re familiar, you can typically reduce the time by quite a bit.

My problem has always been opening the source files, then figuring out where to start and what to do next. The answer to that problem has always been a step-by-step document.

Well, Tim provided that on his web site, but, I wanted something easier - and faster. So, with a small investment of time, I created a new tool called fmRecipes. It uses the freely available Base Elements plug-in in order to work with all the various copy and pasteable code. I reduced the amount of time for integration by quite a lot and can now integrate FMEasySync in record time.

Watch this video and use the fmRecipes database (available to subscribers) to quickly integrate FMEasySync into your own solution!

When first starting to use FileMaker, the templates you’re exposed to may impose certain conceptual limits on how you use the various areas of FileMaker Pro.

Take layouts for example, you use a form view to enter data and list view to view a list of options you can choose from.

There are, however, aspects of each of these areas within the application that lend themselves to abstracted uses. While List View may be used most of the time for viewing a list of data, this isn’t forced upon you.

FileMaker’s layout parts are simply parts of your display area which can be used in creative ways. In this video, I showcase how I’ve used the body area of a List View in order to maintain statically positioned Header and Footer areas while treating the body as a single form view.

There are also creative ways to use Sub-summary parts by conditionally showing or hiding them as desired. This is commonly called “Sorting on a garbage field” - or, at least I’m calling it that.

If you’re looking to expand your creative thinking with how data can be displayed within FileMaker Pro, then this video will certainly have what you’re looking for.

What FileMaker developer wants their solution to be so difficult to use that it causes users not to want to use it? My guess, not a one.

So, the first general order of business, beyond your schema, may be adding many of those familiar features which users have already come to expect from any nice software package.

When it comes to features, some type of easy-to-use search feature is most likely at the top of the list. The trick is making it work and feel like all the other search features users have become used to.

This video showcases the implementation of a powerful OnObjectKeystroke script which enhances the familiar search field functionality.

Every profession has tips, tricks and tools for getting things done. The same holds true for FileMaker Pro. Over my many years of development, I’ve created a variety of tools and methods for making things easier on myself.

One of those methods is to use FileMaker itself to manage navigation within my FileMaker solutions.

This video is about a tool which I use that handles the display and opening of layouts within a FileMaker solution. In fact, it can quite easily handle the navigation of many solutions because it itself is a solution for solutions.

If you deal with one single solution or many different solutions, then I can’t think of a better way to manage this situation other than within FileMaker itself!

FileMaker's Script Triggers can be seen as either a big help or a big hindrance. It really depends on what your experience is with them and how you've created your solutions.

If you've never really worked with Script Triggers, then you're missing a big key to the automation puzzle. If you've used them, but found they get in the way more than help, then you need this video. If you've found that sweet spot of using them and not being discouraged by their idiosyncrasies, then take advantage of the help file shown in this video.

The video and associated file cover how Script Triggers integrate into FileMaker and how to take advantage of them. Prior to FileMaker version 10, the only option for user executed scripts was through your standard button definition. With the addition of Script Triggers, interaction was extended to the general environment within FileMaker.

Moving to a layout, loading a record, hitting a key on the keyboard and many other possibilities entered the picture. Make sure you know how Script Triggers work and you'll be well on your way to making the most of any FileMaker solution you create.

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.