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Our Library of Videos
FileMaker, for all it's ease-of-use, does things in a particular way to make things easy - on purpose. Checkboxes are a prime example. When searching for information within a database, people typically search based on what they understand. The word "Customer" or "Vendor" makes sense, because that's the term you use.
However, there are times when storing things in a more optimized fashion is desirable. This is especially the case when you wish to disassociate the value displayed with what is stored in the database.
Since FileMaker will store the string value "Customer" within a field, when you decide to split customers into "Prospects" and "Customers" you'll need to do some data manipulation to break things out. Unless, you've used ID values or some other type of abstraction from the value shown vs. what is stored.
In this video, I present how you can use Bit based math in order to store the values of a check box (or any other number of items within a logical group). This works especially well when you want to emulate the OS native check boxes in the current versions of FileMaker.
Many users, and probably some developers, of FileMaker may not even know, or forget to use, the hidden power tools which FileMaker provides by default. These hidden gems appear right under your mouse cursor when you right click on any field (better known as a column).
When you know they're there, they make a lot of data maintenance and management much easier. The trick with teaching users they exist, isn't as much of a trick as it is just making them obvious.
In this video, I walk through a technique called Column Actions. Essentially, you use either a dedicated value list, or one dynamically generated, which presents a number of actions possible for each of the columns within a list view. The number, and type, of options you use is limited only by your imagination. In this video, I present some of the more obvious ones.
If you're seeking to make actions easier within your database, then it's very likely this video will have the information you need!
You could just say I'm "too cool for school", simply because there are very few FileMaker developer tools I've found, which really scratch that itch. No, I don't really have that much ego, but using a plain old web browser to search for elements within FileMaker Advanced's Database Design Reports was always good enough for my needs. Storing my personal technique files in other FileMaker file also did the trick, it's a simple drag and drop.
It wasn't until I finally sat down and spent some time with ClipManager and when I discovered Developer Assistant that I started to rely on some of these developer tools - aside from my own Theme Studio which I use for myself.
In this video, I walk through the features I enjoy about these two tools and why I highly recommend them. They make your daily work in FileMaker that much more enjoyable and productive. There's a good number of reasons to leverage these powerful tools and watching this free video may help you decide.
If you're watching this within the first few months of 2011 then make sure and catch the ClipManager 4 coupon code at the end of the video for an extra cool 20% off!
Security negligence. Yes, it's a really sad fact - yet it's totally true in many cases. Security is often one of the after thoughts of many FileMaker systems.
Yet, many FileMaker solutions are what I would call "hack-n-go" systems. Someone starts to hack away at the problem, and you arrive at some usable results pretty quickly. Then you host - and go. Heck, people can start using your FileMaker database the day you create it. You can improve it live, right on the server as people provide you with feedback. Not suggested, but certainly doable - even working on a peer-to-peer setup. Open FileMaker, click the sharing box and away we go.
It's both one of the big benefits and shortcomings at the same time. Mostly for a few critical reasons. One of them is "Delete this record?" combined with "Oh! Wait, I didn't mean to click that button" and others like "What's this 'Replace field contents...' option?".
While turning off the Replace field contents is simply a file wide menu switch, considering the accidental record deletion issue is a more serious item that requires implementation of some type of security.
In this 50 minute video (yeah, a lot to cover) I've packed a wealth of knowledge about managing security. Even the veteran FileMaker developer may find some tips about using some of FileMaker's own features to better manage their data level security. If you've got some tips to add or find a glaring security hole in what I've presented, then please report the bug. ;) Watch and Enjoy!
Isn't is great when you know what the status is? I'm sure you appreciate walking into a mall and knowing whether a store is opened or closed based on that sign in the front door - you know, the classic open/closed sign they just flip around.
It certainly prevents you from having to walk over to the store and rapping on the door to see if someone is there - in other words, expend the extra effort to find out what the status is. The same thing applies to your user interface. Giving a visual indicator of status is a great feedback tool when a user is using your solution.
In this video, I walk through the use of a single script which is attached to a very attractive sort indicator. Adding this feature to your database gives your user a nice indication of the sorted state of your list views. It uses conditional formatting to accomplish the sort indicator so there's no extra fields, relationships or table occurrences to deal with.
It's portable, and can be added or extended within a few seconds to account for as many different fields as you desire. Watch the video and dissect the technique file for a better understanding!
While recently crafting a new layout theme, which is a darn close replica of the iPad UI for FileMaker Go, I discovered a number of issues one should pay attention to for mobile development in FileMaker. The iPad and iPhone 4 are pretty snappy devices - although I'm still using the 3G iPhone (can you say "getting slower each day") for my phone. However, FileMaker Go suffers from a bit of a "lag" in the UI department. It's great that you can access your data, but doing this over a slow 3G connection is likely painful (I've personally only got the wi-fi iPad, so I've not tried).
The hype about the mobile market and FileMaker Go is warranted. I mean, it's really cool that all you have to do is buy a copy of FileMaker Go for the iPhone or iPad and you can be up and running with your database - uh, almost...
These mobile devices use a totally different method of interaction, and vary between the iPhone and iPad. Personally, my position on developing for any unique platform is that you break that platform out into its own file and simply access the data in a separate data file. The nuances of designing/developing for mobile versus the desktop client warrant some serious evaluations as to the validity of doing it all within one file.
So, without delay, I offer you 10 of my best lessons learned while developing this layout theme for the iPad. I think you'll find that some of them may be very eye-opening when it comes to how you deploy on a mobile device - Enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Would you ever expect anything less from a father who is so proud of his brand new baby? Of course not!
So, I simply had to show you some more of my new baby in action. The good part is, the information is free.
Here's a collection of some free tips about making things happen within your FileMaker UI Design. Whether you're using the Theme Studio or not, you can really accomplish some nice UI design if you know how to fully leverage FileMaker's tool set.
Have some of your own tips? Leave them as comments on this article!
It's one of those somewhat trivial projects (or so you think) until you get down to the "nitty gritty" of making everything work.
"All we need to do..." is always WAY more complex than what's thought. So it make sense that storing data in the most efficient and usable manner would go without saying. However, time and time again, I see database files where the data is stored the "FileMaker easy way" and this just shouldn't be done.
There are those rare cases when you should make a value list with your common names such as "Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, etc.". But, more often than not, you should be storing your data in a more optimized fashion. Making it work within the user interface is what becomes the issue of implementation.
This video presents the optimized and efficient manner of storing some of your checkbox and radio button data. It's a great lesson on how to really structure some complex stuff in a very easy fashion!
Errors, problems and troubles - Oh my! It seems as if more than half the coding done is for solving problems created by writing the code in the first place. Don't worry though, it happens to all of us. It's part of the coding process. You simply can't know all the variables.
You see, you're working in a known environment. The issues you fix are related to the problems which exist in your own computing environment. However, if you're putting something out there, you simply can't account for all possible issues. Not from the start.
Hopefully, at least on this issue, if you can learn from my lessons, I'll save you a ton of time. In my situation, with my Theme Studio product, it turns out that a good number of people using FileMaker do not use AutoUpdate, or at least have never had a reason to.
In FileMaker 9, FileMaker Inc. added a new shared extensions path for plugins. This shared extensions folder is where you can install a plugin and have it running for versions 9, 10 and 11. Here are the paths.
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Application Data\FileMaker\Extensions
Windows Vista/7:
C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Local\FileMaker\Extensions
Mac OS X:
Macintosh HD/Users/User Name/Library/Application Support/FileMaker/Extensions
When trying to install a plugin, from a container, into this location, I was getting reports of errors and not being able to install the plugin. Silly OS messages would appear like "You don't have enough disk space.", etc.
There is where the topic of this video came in. Typically, I'm using a plugin to manipulate files and folders. I opt to use 360Work's ScriptMaster (of which there is a free version). The problem, however, if you haven't already figured it out, is that I can't us a plugin if it's not already installed yet. And I needed a folder in order to install the plugin - otherwise FileMaker was throwing an error.
So the question was, "How can I create a folder in order to install a plugin via AutoUpdate?"
The answer was to use the OS to create the folder. So here you have a video about using the OS in order to do all kinds of things. The example shown is that of working with folders, but it doesn't stop there.
If you understand the topic taught in this video then the limits to what you can do with FileMaker alone will expand SIGNIFICANTLY!
You hear the announcement about FileMaker 11 and you make a quick scan of the new features. You decide to investigate them as best you can, (because you have real work that needs to be done) and you tell yourself "I'll look into them later."
Time passes and you've yet to use a few of those new features. This is my story with QuickFind. I've long created my own version of QuickFind with a scripted process which takes input from a global field and executes a search across multiple fields - even creating multi-query searches. No big deal.
In fact, there's still a reason to do that, if you want to build upon a previous search. QuickFind does not store the last find such that Modify Last Find script step will pull up the criteria.
However, recently, I hacked up a quick file and needed to do some quick and dirty searching. It turns out that doing so is a dream with QuickFind. You don't even need the actual fields on a layout. You can use text labels, which hide themselves with conditional formatting, in order to supply QuickFind with the proper search fields. Turn the fields you don't want off with a checkbox (FileMaker sillily assumes you want to search all fields known to your database).
Throw a global text field on your layout, add a constrain here, an extend there and adding the feature to any FileMaker 11+ database is a no brainer. Just do it, it's way too easy. If you need more of the details then watching this video will certainly help you out!