ISO FileMaker Magazine

Recently, while providing intermediate training at the annual FileMaker Devcon, I had an attendee approach me and ask a very simple question. "How do you turn off the grid in FileMaker?"

Like all questions, it was asked within the context of innocent ignorance. This was simply because this person had not yet used, nor explored this area of FileMaker. This is totally understandable with the increasing number of options found across the increasing number of palettes within FileMaker.

However, if you think this video is simply about how you turn on/off the grid, then you'll be missing out on a whole host of features and options which can both benefit your layout designs and make things much faster for you within the area of your designs.

This video is about taking full advantage of the grid and making decisions about how to use it and how to choose the right width for your designs. Plus, you'll get all kinds of tips about how to make your layouts feel "visually comfortable" so they appeal to users. Think you know about using FileMaker's Grids? Double-check by watching this video!

Card windows will continue to impact our FileMaker solutions for years to come. Released in FileMaker 16, who would have thought that simply creating a new way to draw windows would be so empowering. We've long been able to create modal windows which force user interaction - but taking off the title bar and dimming the background window was all it took to make things much more powerful.

So, what is the most common thing you can do with a card window? Well, create a reusable dialog box of course. In previous videos I've covered card windows for progress bars, menu navigation systems and ultimate card window positioning. In this video, I show you how to take advantage of the new FileMaker 17 feature of being able to target a script based on the name of the script. By doing this, we can create a reusable dialog box system which provides us with full visual control and styling of the content.

If you're interested in taking full advantage of the latest features and you'd like to standardize your own custom dialog boxes then this video will have the information you need.

Using multiple files for developing a robust FileMaker solution can be pretty normal when you plan out the distribution of your data and servers. Some solutions benefit from breaking out part of the solution into one or more separate files.

So, whether taking the load off a given server or simply planning for quicker data access across multiple time zones, one of the bigger problems which pops up with your standard FileMaker accounts is password management. This is where it becomes much easier to use external authentication.

In earlier days, we only had access to Active/Open Directory or system accounts hosted on the same machine as FileMaker server. But, since FileMaker Server 16, we now have the ability to use external authentication through Oauth. This means we can use a third party like Amazon, Google or Microsoft in order to allow users to access solutions and manage their own passwords.

If you're looking for an easier way to manage the users of your solution, then you'll find out how it works and how to make it happen within this video about Oauth External Authentication.

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.