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Our Library of Videos
Any FileMaker solution is a growing collection of stuff to be maintained. By the nature of development, some things will be replaced leaving some aspects to be abandoned and others to be lifted up by revitalizing them. Regardless of what goes and what stays, it's best to have a plan for how things will be added and how easy it will be for your future self, or anyone else, to be able to identify those things.
In this video, I walk through the Home Project database I'm working on and I talk about adding styles to it and how it will impact my use of the theme down the road. This video provides great insight into how themes work underneath the surface and showcase a variety of good habits to have when adding styles to your FileMaker theme.
Designing within FileMaker can either be pretty easy or somewhat hard. There's no exact way to design the look and feel of your solution, but the process of implementing the design can be easier when using FileMaker's grid.
In this video, I talk about the process I use to first determine the size of a layout and then go on to refining its size so it fits within the golden ratio.
Finally, I talk about implementing my use of the grid to make the styling of objects easier and give myself some guidelines which makes the layout process much smoother as the solution grows.
Being in need of a new database system myself, I decided to simply document the process of adding new features to a FileMaker system as it evolves. This is a great way to learn about the ins-n-outs of what goes on when developing a new system. There's a number of things which may or may not make sense when you take a look into how someone else created something. So, why not make videos as the solution progresses.
In this first video, I showcase how I originally started the file and where I should start to plan for a larger solution. There's a bit more needed than simply just throwing some fields into a table. There are also a number of settings and defaults which are created by FileMaker.
This video talks about those default elements, how to deal with them and how to start planning for an easy-to-maintain database solution.
Having recently consulted with a newer developer unfamiliar with the way FileMaker hosting/sharing works, I found that discussing the process would be a good primer for anyone just starting with FileMaker. If you've only ever worked or developed your file on your local machine, then learning how to host that file will be a big benefit. Especially if you need to collaborate with another developer.
One of the key benefits of developing with FileMaker is the fact that it allows for collaborative live development. This is a feature which makes it quite nice to create a system where multiple developers can provide input and development into a solution which can reach maturity faster than when developed solo on a local machine. Code sharing is also a great benefit.
In this video, I walk through the steps to be aware of when hosting your FileMaker file. We go through privilege set settings, encrypting the file for sharing and other settings you should be aware of when developing with FileMaker.
Over the years I've created a number of videos about restoring user state. Returning windows to their last viewed location, restoring tabs and slider panels to those last viewed, etc. I've also created videos about super quick startup and managing users within a Users table.
What I haven't shown is how I combine all of those processes into a powerful user environment restoration routine. Along with highly maintainable (and transportable) code. I've used this approach on most all of the solutions I create and have found it to be the most flexible and best way to manage the user environment. It all came about when FileMaker 16 released with the then new JSON functions. If you haven't yet used JSON in your solutions, then this single video will give you reason enough to start using them.
If you'd like to provide each and every user of your solution with their own personal settings and make sure your FileMaker solutions acts and reacts like professional software, then you'll certainly want to take advantage of this video and the provided technique file!
Sometimes, it's just good to reflect on how you use certain FileMaker features. You know, the simple ones. Like Show Custom Dialog and Get ( LastMessageChoice ). If you use FileMaker for mobile a lot, then Show Custom Dialog is a great way to go. With Desktop, you might have less than optimal results because users can reposition and resize the dialog.
Aside from those few issues, however, it's probably one of those script steps you find yourself sprinkling all around your FileMaker solution. Then, that one day comes, it dawns on you that you'd like to take advantage of that newer FileMaker Card Window option. You'd like to customize your dialogs even further or optionally use a card window for some, and FileMaker's default Show Custom Dialog for others. Then, you find that potentially using a plugin might be a good way to go in some situations as well.
Well, we can plan for all those situations with a little bit of dialog abstraction! This video is for all levels of developers, it's starts out with the basics, but moves on to cover the essentials of dialog abstractions which uses JSON based parameters. I hope this helps address any of your dialoging needs.
When you really want to master creating all kinds of powerful solutions within FileMaker, then you'll have to be familiar with as many functions as possible. In fact, it doesn't hurt to know and have used every single one at least once or twice. The sooner you become familiar, the more things you'll be able to accomplish.
Reflecting on my own journey with learning all of FileMaker's functions, I remembered working with a dog-eared paper manual with sticky notes popping out all over the place. There were many trips back and forth to the same functions as I became familiar with how they could be combined in creative ways.
At the same time, I was digging through other developer's code in order to better understand how I could use those functions in various other ways.
In this video I show you the best way to go about learning FileMaker's functions in our current paper manual-less world where documentation is digital and you can play with the functions to your heart's content - in real time. If you know you need to learn more of FileMaker's functions, then try the methods and tips you'll find in this week's video.
Some developers who start with FileMaker never extend beyond it. Hopefully, that's not you. Or, at least you're willing to look into learning some other languages and see how they can benefit your FileMaker solutions!
In FileMaker 19 we gained both a new script step named "Perform JavaScript in Web Viewer" and a JavaScript function embedded into the Web Viewer named "FileMaker.PerformScript()". If you haven't taken the time to investigate how these new features work, then allow me to give you the gentle push into taking advantage of them.
While formerly we could use a plug-in to directly execute JavaScript, and there were some "hackish" workarounds to using the JavaScript within Web Viewers, we now have a totally native way to take advantage of this very powerful technology. Understanding how things work, and what you can do, will expand your development capabilities. I highly suggest you take a serious look at learning a bit of JavaScript and the cool thing is you can do it right within a FileMaker file!
Personally, I've always been dismayed by how portals are positioned within the world of FileMaker instruction. When I see other developers teach about portals, they start with the primary use of portals and then stop. They talk about how portals are there to show related data and that's about it. No way! That's certainly not the end of things. Portals are one of the primary ways to present data however you wish.
If portals were limited to simply showing related data based on a normalized schema structure, then we'd never have the flexibility we have within FileMaker. If you approach portals from the mindset of using them as a display tool, then you come up with all kinds of things you can do. There are three primary uses for portals - at least, this is how I personally think about them.
In this video, I show you what those three key uses are and how to actually implement them. If you're a beginner, then understanding the native portal is certainly the starting point. From there, you progress to the power-developer who uses the Multi-Key global and VirtualList approaches to using portals. This video covers all the core uses and gives you the foundation you need for using portals within FileMaker.
Just because you can create container fields doesn't mean you should create them whenever you think you need to store files for a specific table. There are possible solutions which, when implemented creatively, allow you to use one single container field for all of your solution's file storage. True, you may need container fields for other uses, but, when it comes to linking and storing the documents managed within your solution you can get away with one single container field within a single Files table.
In this video, I go over a super simple strategy for managing all of your solution's files within a very efficient storage model. We cover how to identify duplicates and simply prevent them from entering the system. Yet, any given file can be linked to any other record within the whole system.
Beyond this, you gain a very big advantage of being able to use the same scripts and layout elements across the whole solution. By adding a single relationship to any table which needs to manage files, we simply copy a selection of layout elements and then a simple paste get's of most of the way there. Want to know how to accomplish this efficient feat? Just watch the video and follow along with the sample file!