ISO FileMaker Magazine

Developing software in FileMaker can be such a joy when you're able to solve so many problems so quickly. There is, however, a point where you start to solve so many problems that your solution starts to slow down and you find yourself wondering why.

Most commonly, it's the result of cumulative features compounding to make your solution slower and slower. Without careful consideration of the user interface, and how features are presented, it's easy to create a solution which starts to lag over time.

In this video, I show how portal filters really work and how to address the issue of a portal used for a very simple selection process. In most cases, your portal is only going to show a fraction of the number of fields found in its table. To this end, you must learn how to replicate the native portal filtering feature. Filtering with JavaScript/JSON is one of the most powerful ways to present data in both an efficient and faster way.

Finding your FileMaker solution is feeling slower as time goes by? You need the content covered in this video!

One of the biggest downsides of any complex FileMaker solution is the growing number of layouts and layout elements you'll have to manage. If your number of navigation (or general menu) items is both static and large, then you're going to have issues with keeping the solution well updated. Aside from this, you could have additional complexity when it comes to controlling which menu items show under certain circumstances.

While there are number of ways to make menu management easier, the best solution for most any code is to maintain it within a singular location. Allowing that code, and singular layouts, to serve your whole solution, and be flexible enough to vary when necessary, is ideal. This is exactly what this video and technique file are all about. Not only is this solution one of the most easy-to-manage solutions for a menu system, but, it's also one of the most incredibly easy menu systems I've ever created. Once you see the simplicity of management it's hard to think of going back to anything more complex.

Here's a hint about how it works. If you've used and love the flexibility of managing script steps within a script, then you'll fall in love with using Incredibly Easy Menus!

One of the key reasons for using a database is having a single source of truth. When the possibility for duplicates enters the equation of "truth" we have a problem.

Dealing with duplicates comes in the forms of cleaning and removing them and preventing them. One of your primary tools for preventing them is to use data validation.

It's simple really. You can only continue to do this unless these conditions are met. Everything must be valid. In Claris Studio/FileMaker your options for setting field level validations can be found within the field's options. Once you've set these options you're leaving it up to FileMaker to handle this for you. To be blunt, it isn't pretty.

You, as the developer, need to take control of the situation and handle the validations in a much more graceful manner. This is where you need to know the implications of the various validation settings and how to take control with a scripted process. This is where you'll learn how to do exactly that. Watching this video will give you the necessary insight to handle your validations exactly how you'd like to.

Get ( WindowMode ) can be really useful when used to vary what is shown within your user interface. This video will both introduce and show you how to take advantage of the function.