Article Tags
Click or tap one of the article tags to filter down to a smaller selection.
- Accounts
- Add-ons
- AI
- Alerts
- Analysis
- APIs
- Apple Maps
- Auto-Enter
- Barcodes
- Base64
- BaseElements Plugin
- bBox
- Breadcrumbs
- Button Bars
- Caching
- Calculations
- Calendars
- Card Windows
- Charting
- Checkboxes
- Code Editing
- Code testing
- Coding
- Color Picker
- Colors
- Conditional Formatting
- Containers
- Context Management
- Cropping
- Crypto
- CSV
- cURL
- Custom Functions
- Custom Menus
- Data API
- Data Capture
- Data processing
- Data structure
- Data Viewer
- Date Ranges
- Dates
- Debugging
- Deployment
- Developer Tools
- Dialog Boxes
- Docker
- Drag-n-Drop
- Drop-down List
- Dropbox
- Duplicates
- Duplicating records
- Encryption
- Error handling
- Events
- Excel
- ExecuteSQL
- Exporting
- External Authentication
- External Files
- Field Formatting
- Field Storage
- Fields
- File IO
- File Management
- File Sharing
- FileMaker Go
- FileMaker Server
- FileMaker Settings
- Filtering
- Find & Replace
- Find Mode
- Found Sets
- Functions
- Fundamentals
- Global Fields
- Global Variables
- Google Maps
- Google Services
- Graphics
- Grid
- Grouping
- Hierarchies
- Highlighting
- Icons
- Images
- Importing
- Indicators
- Inspector palette
- iOS
- Java/Groovy
- JavaScript
- Join Tables
- JSON
- Key fields
- Layout Design
- Layout Mode
- Layout Parts
- List function
- Logging
- Looping
- Mapping
- Marking Records
- Media Storage
- Menus
- Merge fields
- Messaging
- Microsoft Surface
- Mobile design
- MonkeyBread plug-in
- Multi-key fields
- Multi-option fields
- Naming Conventions
- Navigation
- New Release
- Node-RED
- Notifications
- Oauth
- Object management
- OCR
- OnGestureTap
- OnLayoutKeystroke
- OnObjectKeystroke
- Parsing HTML
- Perform Script on Server
- Performance
- Permissions
- Photo manipulation
- Pickers
- Pivot tables
- Pop-ups
- Popovers
- Portals
- Preferences
- Printing
- Privilege sets
- Product review
- Productivity
- Progress Bars
- PSOS
- Python
- Quick Find
- Record Locking
- Regex
- Relationship Graph
- Reporting
- REST
- Sankey
- Schema
- Script Parameters
- Script Triggers
- Scripting
- ScriptMaster
- SDK
- Searching
- Security
- Separation Model
- Set Variable
- Settings
- Shortcuts
- Sliders
- Snapshot Links
- Sorting
- Spelling
- Spreadsheets
- Startup
- Summary Fields
- SVG
- Syntax
- Syntax Highlighting
- Tab Controls
- Table View
- Tagging
- Terminology
- Text Parsing
- Themes
- Time fields
- Time Savings
- Tips
- Tools
- Transactions
- Tricks
- Twilio
- UI
- Updating
- User Interface
- Validations
- Value Lists
- vCalendar
- Virtual list
- Web Forms
- Web Scraping
- Web Services
- Web Viewers
- Windows
- XML
Our Library of Videos
Security. While it isn't as sexy as a nice UI widget or as crafty as a really cool scripted workflow, setting up your security is something you must consider before any database deployment. When it comes to security, you can't miss a beat. If you do, then that one attack vector might be the one that bites you. And, unless your FileMaker solution is never going to connect with the network at large, knowing who can do what within your system is an essential requirement of security.
Getting to know FileMaker's privilege sets, and how they work, is one thing. But, weaving this knowledge into a system which provides a good degree of flexibility is another. If you're interested in the User/Group/World permissions model, then applying it to your FileMaker solution isn't too hard. You just need know which fields to add and how to make them interact with the rest of the security model in order to accomplish your intended goal.
This video, and the companion file that comes with it, will provide you with the best starting point possible for figuring out how you might want to integrate your security objectives. If you've never quite gotten FileMaker's security under your belt, then give this video and file a good look over.
It's always nice to have someone simply show you what you need to know in order to solve a problem. There is, however, a problem with just being shown only what you need to know. You deprive yourself of the deeper level of retention that comes from self-discovery of the topic being explored.
So, consider this video a comprehensive introduction. One where I guide you through the process of learning the tools of JavaScript within FileMaker Pro. The advantage is the fact that you have your own FileMaker solution you're working on and this solution can inevitably benefit from using JavaScript implementations. The motivation should be there. You just need some of the know-how.
The result of watching this video is growing your skillset and branching out into other methods of solving problems in FileMaker.
Learning from a technology you don't already understand, while receiving an immediate benefit, is one of my driving reasons for creating content. In this two part series, I dig into the depths of understanding the JavaScript mechanisms natively available to FileMaker developers and learners.
This first video focuses on the implementation of an internal cropping tool which uses a web viewer to provide the interaction and actual cropping. The demo file and video show you how to implement the JS libraries required and how to use the technology available.
Understanding how to crop, and also the distinction of what you want to crop versus what you need to crop, is an important step for some high impact database systems which may use larger sized images. If you're looking for a better understanding of JavaScript and also how to crop and image directly within FileMaker then I'm sure these videos will cover what you need to know.
What do the following have in common? Products with component parts, generations of people, complex study topics with prerequisites and a chain of historically related events. Yep, you guessed it, it's a hierarchy of things. Something which comes before another thing and are somehow tied together.
Within any database system, this is easily accomplished with two simple fields. Yet, facilitating the navigation of the content can be accomplished in a number of ways. One of the more common methods for moving up or down any hierarchy is to use what are known in the UI world as breadcrumbs.
When your number of levels is beyond two, you can implement breadcrumbs into your user interface and provide a lot of UI coherence. In this video, we walk through the data structure as well as what's required to use FileMaker's tab panels in order to accomplish this task in the most efficient manner. If you're taking users down (and up) any hierarchy, then you need to know how to use this technique! This video and the technique file will provide you with all the know-how and code to get it done.
Within the world of FileMaker development, there are always those golden gems which become the hallmarks of "how to do something" - despite there often being more than one way to solve a problem. For managing lists of data, prior to the existence of the While function, the go-to custom function is CustomList. When it comes to variable output display using a portal you'll almost always reference Virtual List as the commonly understood approach.
When it comes to saving user state, there's always been a number of ways accomplish this. But, for my part, I'm going to declare Layout Variables as the way to solve many issues when it comes to saving user state in FileMaker.
While the term "Layout Variables" can apply to either locally scoped variables or global ones used within the layout, the concept is such that you're using variables to store things for the specific layout the user is on. When it comes to saving state, whether for the specific session or in order to persist, there has to be a simple and easy way to store, reference and retrieve these values and I think that solution is finally here. In this video, I showcase the Custom Functions and methods I use to implement Layout Variables.
If your FileMaker solution has a need to maintain state and make it easy to both store and restore global variables used for the user interface, then you simply must watch this video.
One of the most powerful features of any and all software is the ability to search and identify things which would be human impossible without computers. The ability to search for any given string and have that combination of characters be instantly presented is what has made our current world possible.
In this video, we take a look at FileMaker's default Find & Replace feature and we integrate this into our database systems. We then enhance that feature by implementing a Highlighting feature based on what the user is searching for.
With both the Find & Replace feature and the ability to highlight all occurrences, we have a pretty powerful solution for users who need to be able to modify and make changes to data based on what they're searching for.
Communication amongst solution users is often a desirable feature. While many companies will standardize on generalized options such as Slack, it's not your only option when it comes to messaging within a FileMaker solution.
In the past, there've been a number "FileMaker only" solutions which take advantage of FileMaker's constant polling of the main data store. However, these solutions pale in comparison to what is available today. With the prevalence of super powerful browser-based Javascript solutions, we can simply use a Web Viewer and integrate directly into FileMaker.
The question, however, is which one do you pick and how can you test things out before making your choice? That's what's covered in this video. How you can test out all kinds of different software integrations within FileMaker. Also, how you can determine if FileMaker's Web Viewer can handle what the software is designed to do.
We all love those "Top 10" videos because we know what we're getting into. It's just a list of 10 things right? But it's the best 10 things - right? Ok, well, "best" is possibly relative to what your particular daily workflow is like, but at least there's always something new to learn! Right!
And, that's exactly what this video is about. It's about learning those little time-saving tricks which make it much nicer to work within FileMaker's Layout Mode. Need some incentive to check it out? Here's the first 5 of the top 10 list of what's covered.
#10: Easier cursor selections
#09: Using the Object Inspector
#08: Shortcuts for Align & Resize
#07: Top Object Wins
#06: Know your Parts
Want to know what's covered in the remaining 5? Just watch the video and pick up some new skills!
Knowing how to take advantage of Server Side scripting within FileMaker is quite critical when you want the best performance possible. Of course, it makes total sense that you'll get the best speeds when working with the data where it's most accessible.
The trick with creating scripts which will also work on the server side is being very specific with the context of things. There's also the very important choices of which method you're going to use. In 2018 I covered a method using a dedicated table occurence which is perfectly viable today. However, I didn't show the other methods possible and we also got some newer features which allow us to do things even more differently.
This video shows you how to write a script which will duplicate related record sets and do so using the method of exporting and importing. I also cover a method which uses JSON in order to replicate a set of related records. This code can be used in many more places than just duplicating related record sets. I hope the content helps you advance your level of FileMaker development knowledge.
When someone asks a simple question like "How can I make FileMaker export a second worksheet in Excel?" The method you use to achieve this may not be immediately apparent. Especially if you've not worked with other programming languages like Python. Rest assured, however, you can certainly solve most any FileMaker problem as long as you're willing to take a little journey into the land of other tools.
And, it's probably not as scary as you think it is. Yes, FileMaker is nice and comfortable, but it has it's limits. When you want to become a power developer, you have to become familiar with what's possible.
In this video, I walk through the use of Python, in conjunction with FileMaker in order to export a multiple sheet Excel workbook. Need to include Excel calculations, multiple worksheets, graphics and charts? Do the corporate leaders demand that you provide your report within Excel? Well, let's take a quick trip to Python land and we find all kinds of wonderful gems in our brand new toolset!