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Our Library of Videos

840 videos found.
Ultimate Portal Sorting (Free Video) 07/01/2004 - 7:00pm
No preview video available.

You've looked high and low and asked all your best sources for how to sort a portal on ANY field and in either direction (ascending or descending). Fortunately, you've found this video article. This video and example file show you the best method for sorting a portal on any field and in any direction. Over the course of my development career I have seen all kinds of attempts. Nothing comes as close as this FileMaker 7 solution.

With a clean, three field, one custom function, one script implementation, you can take advantage of the Ultimate Portal Sorting method! Watch now to find out how.

Auto-Reducing Value Lists (Revisited) 06/23/2004 - 7:00pm

You can't be in more than one place at a time - unless you're using a database that's improperly configured. When considering a meeting at a fixed time, you can only have employees assigned to that meeting once. At least that's how it should be.

Whether we're talking about meetings, or any other situation where you want to limit how many times a value can be selected, it's knowing how to create an Inverse Value List that allows you to automatically reduce the options to choose from. This video will show you how to control which values are possible when working in FileMaker Pro 7.

Update (8/15/08) FileMaker has updated the way relationships work in later versions of FileMaker. Not equals relationships, which this technique uses, will not reveal results within a portal when one side of the relationship is either NULL or empty(blank). This means you at least need some value on both sides. Since this technique uses record serial values, all you have to do is provide a 0 [zero] to make the not equals operator on the relationship to work.

Creating Calendar Popups 06/14/2004 - 7:00pm

When you don't know how something works, it always seems like a mystery until someone shows you how. Well, if you've ever wanted comprehensive information about how to create a calendar in FileMaker Pro then this video will give you everything you need.

FileMaker Pro 7 takes your common calendar functionality from over 40 fields down to just a simple 3 fields. If you have the need to build a scheduling solution then you can't pass up this great educational video!

Auto Formatting FileMaker 7 Fields 06/07/2004 - 7:00pm
No preview video available.

How do you turn 1234567890 into (123) 456-7890? Well, in FileMaker 6 and earlier, you used a Modification Trigger. But now you don't have to. FileMaker 7 now offers auto-enter calculations that will re-trigger any time any of its referenced fields are updated. This is useful for features such as auto-timestamping notes.

Watch this week's video to learn how to use a number of FileMaker 7 functions to not only timestamp notes, but to determine what the selected text is within a text field!

Portal Presentation in Filemaker 7 06/01/2004 - 7:00pm

FileMaker 7 introduced a solution to a familiar problem found in versions 6 and prior. That problem was a lack of bidirectional relationships and the "one table away" dilemma. If you don't know what "one table away" means, when considering your database, then watch this video for a good understanding.

The solution this video provides is showing portals on a designated layout that is more than one table away. For example, using a customers layout to show both invoices and line items for a selected invoice. Learning what this video teaches, will show you how to place pretty much any portal on any layout - no more complex calculations used to "pipe" data through files.

Related Value Lists in FileMaker 7 05/21/2004 - 7:00pm

This video will teach you how to use and create Determinate Value Lists. What are they? It's the situation where choosing a product means you have different qualities specific to the product selected. Think about a T-Shirt. You have a style, size and color. All three qualities determine the price. The size and color are qualifiers that determine which shirt, and ultimately what price, should be used. However, showing only those options that apply to a given style is what you need to provide. Related value lists is how to do it.

You'll also learn how to use FileMaker 7's text coloring functions and how to get around number formatting limitations. If you've wondered how to make related value lists work in FileMaker 7 then this video is something you want to watch!

File IO (Input & Output) - A document management system 05/17/2004 - 7:00pm

Document management - you've likely come across the need multiple times. But then there's that frustration of trying to make this seemingly simple solution work in FileMaker Pro. You hear that FileMaker 7 allows you to put whole documents within container fields. You ask the question, "Can I export the document with a dynamic name and can I have the target application open it?"

"Drats" you exclaim, as you find out that you're foiled by FileMaker, Inc's determination to make FileMaker a less capable "User Database" system. Well, no fear, with a bit of developer knowledge behind you, this is something that is possible. Watch this video for a comprehensive understanding of files, paths and everything in between.

Data Design for Presentation 05/06/2004 - 7:00pm

Your database may feel plain and unattractive. Have you heard about the FileMaker Swan program? Ok, so it's not a beauty contest for your interface, but it is some tips and techniques for how to make your interface better looking.

This week's video offers a streamlined look at how to optimize the data presentation in your user interface. You'll also find some great insider tips on the various ways you can format your portals. Watch this week's video and become a better designer.

Printing Page Ranges 04/29/2004 - 7:00pm
No preview video available.

Place a field in the Header area of a list layout and use Preview mode. You'll see the first record from the list view. Place the field in the footer and you'll see the last record. So you have the first value (text or number) in the header and last value in the footer. What happens when you want both?

It's just like a phone book, it's Beauty thru Burglar or 90210 thru 92556. Showing the range isn't as easy as you'd think. First you need to know the Mod() function. This video teaches you how to make it happen. Plus, you get to learn how to make alternating rows in list views different colors. Watch now!

Portal Centering & Learning the Let Function 04/22/2004 - 7:00pm

It's one of the most annoying aspects of using a portal for navigation. It's called Portal Pop by developers, and it's what happens when you click outside of a portal row. The portal pops right back to the first row of all its displayed records. Would you like to solve this problem? With FileMaker Pro 7 you now can!

In this video, I cover a number of features found in FileMaker Pro 7. Learn how to use the Let function. Learn how to pass multiple parameters to a script. Learn how to stop the portal pop from messing up your user interface. It's all inside this one video! Note: If you're still using FileMaker Pro 6 there is also an included Version 6 technique file!

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