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Videos about "web viewers"

26 videos found.
Using Web Workers 11/26/2024 - 12:12pm

Taking advantage of JavaScript within FileMaker is a crucial skill that can significantly enhance your solutions. Relying solely on native FileMaker capabilities can be limiting, as certain tasks are more effectively handled with JavaScript.

Using a Web Viewer to execute JavaScript comes with nuances. For instance, when a JavaScript process takes longer than a few milliseconds, providing a visually appealing progress indicator can greatly improve the user experience. This is where the concept of a dedicated Web Viewer comes into play. I refer to this implementation as Web Workers. While it’s possible to use multiple Web Workers, in most cases, a single primary Web Worker is sufficient.

In this video, we’ll explore how to implement and utilize a Web Worker effectively. We'll cover concepts such as cascading defaults, creating SVG spinners, managing colors, and other techniques to fully leverage the capabilities of Web Viewers in FileMaker.

Populating Web Forms 05/16/2023 - 1:46pm

When you're dealing with any type of web service which doesn't offer an API for data exchange, you'll inevitably end up working with a web form for getting data into that service. Data has to get in via some method and the most common is your standard web form.

Maybe you need to interact with a Google Form or some other public form service. While some of these services will provide a standard format such as CSV for pulling data out, there are still those services where you need to popuate a web form using your own data.

So, when it comes to moving data in and out of FileMaker, via a web form, you need to use the tools available. The great thing about this situation is that JavaScript is the tool and you have it right there ready for you to use. The humble Web Viewer is your gateway to getting your FileMaker data into a form. This video walks through the JavaScript and setup you need to know in order to interact with pretty much any web form on the web. Learning these valuable tools

Learning JavaScript in FileMaker 03/10/2022 - 7:00am

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!

DataTables Deep Dive - Replacing Portals - Part 2 07/20/2021 - 9:05pm

This is Part 2 of a series about using the DataTables JavaScript library in order to simply pull data you wish to display and doing so within a Web Viewer.

While standard FileMaker Portals present one of the easiest methods for showing related data, it's now a viable option to simply use a Web Viewer to present data to the user. With the bi-directional support of JavaScript within FileMaker 19 and higher we can take advantage of what JavaScript does best - being fast!

In this video we focus specifically on the initialization and interaction between a Web Viewer using DataTables and how you can add buttons and features which make using DataTables a joy within FileMaker.

DataTables Deep Dive - Replacing Portals - Part 1 07/20/2021 - 8:30pm

Portals and list views represent one of the biggest reasons for using a database for managing data. You can view the data in a myriad of ways and FileMaker provides the tools to modify the views quite easily.

FileMaker's list view happens to be the most powerful when compared to portals. We don't really have the same feature set presented within a portal. Using a portal it's an all or nothing approach to sorting by default and you can't really search the portal contents. You can certainly hack in some method of controlling the sort and the old standby of simply adding new copies of the same portal, just sorted in different directions, has always been a go-to workaround.

Well, has the time come to simply abandon your portals? What?!?!! Abandon portals? Is that even possible in FileMaker?

Actually, it is, with what FileMaker now offers with bi-directional support within Web Viewers, it may be more viable than you've ever considered. In this two part video series I show you exactly how easy it is to simply retrieve some data, then present that data within a web viewer. Essentially, replicating a portal - except for the constant data connection.

In many ways, this has become a prime opportunity to choose either a portal or web viewer. The days of always using a portal may have come to an end. But, I'll let the video speak for itself and you can choose if you want to leave your portals behind in favor of what can now be done within a web viewer.

Cropping Images with JavaScript - Part 2 05/04/2020 - 3:25pm

It's always nice to have someone simply show you what you need to know in order to solve a problem. There is, however, a problem with just being shown only what you need to know. You deprive yourself of the deeper level of retention that comes from self-discovery of the topic being explored.

So, consider this video a comprehensive introduction. One where I guide you through the process of learning the tools of JavaScript within FileMaker Pro. The advantage is the fact that you have your own FileMaker solution you're working on and this solution can inevitably benefit from using JavaScript implementations. The motivation should be there. You just need some of the know-how.

The result of watching this video is growing your skillset and branching out into other methods of solving problems in FileMaker.

Integrated Messaging within FileMaker 03/13/2020 - 2:04pm

Communication amongst solution users is often a desirable feature. While many companies will standardize on generalized options such as Slack, it's not your only option when it comes to messaging within a FileMaker solution.

In the past, there've been a number "FileMaker only" solutions which take advantage of FileMaker's constant polling of the main data store. However, these solutions pale in comparison to what is available today. With the prevalence of super powerful browser-based Javascript solutions, we can simply use a Web Viewer and integrate directly into FileMaker.

The question, however, is which one do you pick and how can you test things out before making your choice? That's what's covered in this video. How you can test out all kinds of different software integrations within FileMaker. Also, how you can determine if FileMaker's Web Viewer can handle what the software is designed to do.

Beautiful Sankey Diagrams 10/25/2019 - 5:09pm

There are so many times I hear lamentations from stalwart "FileMaker only" developers who declare that you should do everything within FileMaker and FileMaker alone. This is just crazy. It's like saying you should build an entire house with only a hammer and nails. How could you ever do that efficiently? What about the plumbing? The electrical? Well, you can't. You always have to increase what you know and become familiar with other tools and newer technologies.

In this video, I showcase a very compelling use of Javascript within a web viewer. It's because native FileMaker simply can't generate a Sankey flow diagram. FileMaker doesn't do curves, it does data. However, FileMaker can make it happen with the use of Javascript and a web viewer. The best part yet is that it's already been done for us. All you have to do is become familiar with how to modify and integrate with your own data.

That's exactly what this video does. It will teach you how to understand the implementation of this particular Javascript and give you the confidence to integrate other examples as well. If presenting your data with a very compelling visualization is something which you'd like to do, then you'll find the knowledge you need within this video.

Getting started with JavaScript 08/15/2019 - 2:52pm

JavaScript, it may sound scary because learning any new technology, which includes so much more than FileMaker, feels like an overwhelming amount of new learning. The great thing is, learning just a few little pieces at a time is the best way to learn - little-by-little. So let's start with just a few little pieces.

In this video, I walk through the basics of how you get started with JavaScript within FileMaker Pro. How it's implemented and how to execute things. The great thing about getting started is once you learn a little bit, you tend to get addicted to learning more about what's possible.

It turns out, when a technology, such as JavaScript, takes off as much as it has, you gain a significant amount of technological leverage. You don't have to spend as much of your own time creating "all the things", you just piece together the "various things" to make the "one thing" which is "your thing"! But, as with all things, you need to know what's going on behind the scenes so you can fix, change or troubleshoot what may not work quite right. Which, seems to be the case with all kinds of software development.

Google Maps iOS & Parsing URLs 03/05/2019 - 11:54am

The number of features available within FileMaker Go on a mobile device is more than icing on the cake. It's just downright cool we have access to so many features. And, all without having to write super complex code.

There is, however, some learning to do when it comes to interacting with URLs and web viewers. It turns out that many web sites, including Google's web based maps site, will change its url as you interact with the web viewer. This causes a problem when you supply an original url to the web viewer and the user expects the same result when clicking on a button which opens the external Google Maps iOS app. The url, which includes needed pieces of information, may vary depending on the interaction with the web viewer.

Fortunately, this video covers all the information you need to know when working with urls and parsing them from either web viewers or from any other location. This video will help you not only interact with the Google Maps iOS application, but also with any other external application which is to be opened from within FileMaker Pro. Need to integrate other iOS apps with your FileMaker Go app? Give this video a view!

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