ISO FileMaker Magazine

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!

Learning JavaScript, while also learning FileMaker development, can seem like a daunting task. The trick is to take things little-by-little and pick up those essential skills which allow you to add in the really cool functionality.

You don't have to code your own JavaScript library. You just need to be willing to integrate them with that little bit of know-how you acquired. The great thing about this process is building the skills to be able to implement things in a quick fashion. In this video, I show you how to "hijack" a web page within the FileMaker Web Viewer object. We do this by injecting jQuery and then using another JavaScript library to convert the HTML we capture into a popular plain text format called Markdown.

By doing this, we essentially create a tool which allows us to easily and quickly pull content from the web. The bigger benefit, however, is knowing how to integrate JavaScript libraries onto the Web Viewer and being able to use our own JavaScript code to make a web page or integrated feature do the things we want it to do.

Within the realm of FileMaker development, there are a number of key techniques which allow you to do the types of things you'd normally expect in any development environment. Many of these have been around for many years. In this case, this one, a decade. The unfortunate thing is that some of these obscure methods and techniques just aren't that easy to replicate from memory. Some are hidden in the corners of FileMaker development because they feel like they're "hacks". But, at least they get the job done.

For FileMaker, the fact that you can derive a value list from a related set of values is extremely valuable. If you have a class of cars and you need a value list with a sublist of models, then getting a related value list is really easy and useful.

But, what if you need a bit more control? You want to specify the exact values used. They need to be custom and you want to include calculated values which are dynamic in nature. You also want them in some type of fixed order and separated with dividers. Doing this is "almost" impossible unless you know the special "hacks" which allow you to achieve the desired result. This video and technique file will show you how to take full control of value lists and use Custom Dynamic Value Lists in the exact way you think you should be able to!

When first starting with FileMaker, I remember learning all the default Date/Time/Timestamp functions. The documentation for FileMaker is great and the example calculations often lead you in the right direction.

One of the things I didn't know about was how dates, times and timestamps were treated internally. More importantly, how this impacted what I wanted to do with date/time calculations and integrating with external systems. Later down the road, I learned about all the other things I needed to know when considering time around the globe. Understanding UTC, how it impacts my solution, and running scripts on the server in a different time zone vs running them within the local client and how this might impact things based on times or dates.

This week's video and technique file will provide you with all kinds of understanding. The fundamentals and powerful custom functions which should provide you with a ton of date/time confidence for handlings most any date/time based task within FileMaker.