ISO FileMaker Magazine

Security is something of increasing concern these days - seriously! It seems as if we can't have a solid week pass by without hearing about some kind of significant breach. While web security has its own issues to think about, you can't just ignore your FileMaker databases.

It may seem all too easy to simply assume that FileMaker is a "low risk target" and just "hope" things are secured. In fact, it turns out that FileMaker's initial server setup is a bit insecure - at least if certain plug-ins are installed to the server without closing the hole which is the FMServer_Sample file.

Knowing the "whole" FileMaker development environment including, client, server, mobile, web and other technologies is something which comes only with time. However, with videos like this one, you can quickly come up to speed with the most critical information about how you can secure your FileMaker solutions.

Is your database running on a shared host? Does that host allow plug-ins? What happens when someone does get a copy of your file? Have you looked into FileMaker's Encryption At Rest feature? Are you doing everything you can to obscure, block and otherwise make it difficult to get into your solution?

If you can't answer all the questions above then watching this video will provide the answers and more!

The Internet has definitely changed the world we live in and how people interact with information. Your own FileMaker solution may seem like an island until you throw a web viewer onto the layout.

As soon as you do that, you're thinking about how much easier it would be if you could just "click a button" to interact with the web site being viewed.

Fortunately, in today's Internet world, the interconnection of things is extremely pervasive. There aren't too many solutions which don't provide some type of API where you can connect with and exchange information as desired.

You can even turn your own FileMaker database into a web service which other FileMaker solutions can connect to. Ultimately, the goal is making things happen between various services. In recent versions of FileMaker, new functionality was added. The Insert from URL step allows for POSTing information and interacting with basic web services.

The limitations, however, can be bypassed if you're willing to add a bit more power to your workflow.

In this video, you'll make the best investment you can about getting started and knowing how web services can be used in FileMaker. Whether shortening urls, posting to Twitter or Facebook or connecting to Quickbooks online or Salesforce, you certainly need to know how the connections are made!

FileMaker 12 introduced a totally new landscape for layout design. Along with the new way in which objects are represented, was the new way in which a layout was defined.

We now have this offscreen area of a layout. It's a convenient "storage area" of sorts. Where you can store "in progress" layout elements and documentation.

It doesn't stop there, however. You can include a lot of things which contribute to the actual logic of how your FileMaker solution functions. Take layout script triggers for example, or even portals themselves. When you leave a given layout, your portals reset and triggers may fire, which you may not want. So the best solution to this problem is to simply keep some things offscreen that would otherwise be onscreen.

This video shows you a variety of useful tips which take full advantage of the offscreen area of layouts. Looking to learn more about killer FileMaker development? This video won't disappoint!

Over my many years of FileMaker Pro development, I’ve often heard the following, “Why can’t they just build that feature in?”. This type of request pretty much applies to everything you can think of.

I can even recall wishing personally that simply flipping a switch for automatic audit logging would be nice. While having that wish come true would still be a nice convenience, it would take away from the learning and understanding one can have when implementing such a feature. It may also rob us of the flexibility we so often enjoy when working with FileMaker.

I’ve seen a lot of audit logging solutions and they all have their various approach. Some use a plug-in in order to access the full set of FileMaker’s SQL support. Others take a native approach and simply try to account for all fields on the layout and replicate the data into a single table. I’ve seen complex systems which add a lot of extra fields to a dedicated audit log table where they track the layout, the table occurrence, the base table and more data than may be necessary.

With some solutions, those provided for purchase, you’ll get the full suite of features. These include creates, deletes, changes and rollback support. However, in many cases, you may just need something simple which keeps track of the changes made to records.

In this video, I showcase an advanced level of knowledge wrapped around a very simple approach to audit logging. If you’ve never considered, or even avoided implementing an audit log to your solution, then you may be surprised at how easy it can actually be. This video will provide you with the insight and know-how in order to implement a powerful audit log in a quick and easy fashion.