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Our Library of Videos
Pop-up menus are the de facto widget for making selections from multi-option fields on mobile devices. Sure, checkboxes are possible, but they take up as much space as you have items. Not very efficient given the limited space on smartphones and tablets.
So, on mobile, the two most viable solutions for making multiple selections for a single field are either portals or a pop-up menu. You can use an additional window as well, but that's a technique for another day.
FileMaker has long supported making multiple selections in a pop-up menu via the Shift modifier key. In FileMaker 11, however, this feature went way on Mac OS X. The feature went away but the functionality did not. In fact, we still need this functionality for keeping things nice and compact in mobile only or hybrid designs.
This video showcases a wonderful technique, which works on both desktop and mobile, for supporting a default multi-selection option on fields formatted as pop-up menus.
If you're tight on space and need to offer more than one selection within the same field then look no further than this powerful technique!
So, how exactly, do you debug your FileMaker solution while coding? I'd love to hear about it - seriously! It's always great to pick up a few new tips and tricks along the way. Speaking of tips, I shot this most recent video about the process of debugging.
Personally, I've used the Data Viewer for watch variables and environmental information, but I always ended up with some sort of FileMaker crash and had to revise how I approach things. FileMaker stores your watch variables within its preferences file and they get deleted if FileMaker crashes. Just in case you didn’t know.
When developing for mobile came onto the scene it became a bit more challenging to debug. You can't just open the Debugger within FileMaker Go and walk through the various steps of any given script.
Adaptation was required and has resulted in my latest methods of debugging. Over time I’ve learned about new tools and methods but the core of debugging often comes down to the tried and true method of using a Show Custom Dialog and just looking at what the output is. Hopefully, this video will have some more tips you can use to make the process less painful!
So you've integrated support for managing notes, and you'd really like your users to be able to view the full length of each note. The problem is FileMaker's portal object.
With portals, you get a fixed field width and height and it's the same for all related records shown within the portal. Sometimes it will chop the text off and other times it will show a lot of extra white space. Never fear, it's the wonderful web viewer to the rescue.
The trusty web viewer not only provides the dynamic resizing of objects based on how it renders content, but comes included with the powerful support of Javascript.
"But I don't want to learn Javascript." you say. Never fear, it's just one function and the rest is up to how you integrate within FileMaker.
This video will provide you with the technique file and content necessary to manage notes in a very effective manner. Learn the concepts used, and you'll expand your knowledge of FileMaker to a level where you can leverage that knowledge across many other aspects of your development!
At the recent annual developer's conference for FileMaker Pro, I was fully intent on showing everyone pretty much everything I knew about working in Layout mode.
But... That was crazy. There's just no way I could ever get through it all. There's so much you can do, and so many ways you can use the available tool set. So I focused on the tools we have available.
One of the areas I had wanted to spend more time with were tab panels. They really are a designer's power tool when it comes to showing only what you want to show and WHEN you want to show it.
In this video, I showcase a menu system I've used which makes for a very attractive presentation method on FileMaker Go. Of course, it can certainly be used on the desktop as well, but the essential premise of the video is to show you what's possible with tab panels - beyond using them as just standard tab panels.
For the new user to FileMaker, it seems so easy to simply create a field, make a value list containing "Yes" and "No" and set the field format to Checkboxes.
It sounds so simple right?
Well, this seemingly simple desire tends to trick more new developers than I'd like. After receiving an email about this very goal, I decided to create a video about how I approach single checkboxes.
In the past, I've created videos about temporary checkboxes using just global variables, but I figured I should elaborate on the data storage of the checkbox and how you can creatively display a checkbox when you opt not to use graphics.
I should mention, however, because of the font differences between Windows and Macintosh, this solution isn't as ideal as graphics. Especially, when designing for cross-platform, primarily because of the rendering differences between the two. But, when used for FileMaker Go on iPad or iPhone, or limited to one specific platform, this solution is quite ideal!
The new world of FileMaker development has been opened up due to the ExecuteSQL function. The days of many different extra table occurences should be behind us.
Yes, there will still be the occasional user interface related table occurrence which is still necessary. However, your advantages with using ExecuteSQL should dictate that it be leveraged to its full extent when possible - especially in an increasingly mobile computing world.
The real trick for some developers is advancing what they know and letting go of older knowledge. As an example, I'm periodically faced with FileMaker developers who remember their development days when working with FileMaker versions 3 through 6. I've seen FileMaker 10/11/12 solutions, new solutions in fact, which were developed with many more files than is necessary.
This same thing applies to ExecuteSQL. In order to take advantage of the newer technology (which, in this case, is quite old, but still valid, technology) you have to learn new things.
Hopefully, that's exactly what this video will do for you. If you've not yet taken the step to learning how SQL within FileMaker can benefit your own solution, then absorb as much as you can from this video!
I've also included some links on the article page to various SQL resources.
The wonderful thing about FileMaker is this. If you don't know of a native way to make it happen, you just force the native tools to bend to your wishes to accomplish your goals.
Such is the case with using portals. While using a portal for something related to the UI, navigation for example, is nothing new, the notion of storing that navigation in something other than a table may be a bit foreign to some.
The crux of this technique is to use global variables in such a creative way as to avoid some of the short comings with using a dedicated table for facilitating solution wide navigation. If you've not used the Virtual list technique to render the contents of a global variable within a portal, then this technique provides the perfect excuse to learn. Pretty much every FileMaker solution needs to facilitate navigation.
Need icons in your sidebar? No problem.
Need toggle arrows? No problem.
Need integrated search features? Totally possible.
Watch this video for a good understanding of how to bend FileMaker portals to your every wish.
One of the most fulfilling feelings in development is knowing you have full control over your digital destiny. Depending on who you are, this can be determined in a number of ways. So, let's focus on you, the database developer.
For a database developer, the ability to do whatever you want with data in terms of moving, extracting, merging or modifying is critical.
Without the proper knowledge of what tools can help out in certain situations, you can end up spending FAR MORE TIME doing something crazy, like copy/paste, for hours and hours.
Well, let's stop being crazy and start being sane. This all starts with knowing what's out there!
In this video, I take a look at the uber powerful jSoup Java library. Now, before you start saying, "Oh Matt, I don't want to learn Java, I want to use FileMaker." Let me respond to your unstated response by telling you that you don't need to know Java - although I would love it if you'd learn a little.
Because, honestly, a little can get you QUITE A LOT! Which is the case in this particular technique and solution.
Take a peek at the video and if you're not entirely convinced that your subscription is well worth it then let me know in the comments!
Because it's so easy to start a database within FileMaker, it's way to easy to gloss over the power features underneath the surface.
I would imagine some developers may never even touch the OnObjectKeystroke and OnLayoutKeystroke events and still make use of a great FileMaker database.
The trick to taking advantage of some of these power features is making them easy to implement.
Who remembers what all the numeric values are for the myriad of Get () functions? You may often have to look things up and this takes time.
On the other hand, having just a few helpful custom functions can make it MUCH more enjoyable to add in new, and useful, features.
This video will help you get started with, or enhance, your use of the above mentioned trigger events.
One of the more comfortable concepts within FileMaker is the pervasive calculation dialog box. Once you're familiar, you find it everywhere. It can be used with fields and your database schema, and it's used within the processing and logic of your scripts.
When it comes to schema, and what your fields can do, the calculation dialog box is right there with its handy Auto-Enter options.
This powerful feature allows you to do all kinds of magic with fields. A field can determine what it should become or change into when other fields are changed. It can tie into your whole solution and make evaluations based on a myriad of various conditions.
There are certainly some fundamentals to know about Auto-Enter options and how they work. Every FileMaker developer should know these. Also, knowing just a few of the helpful functions can take you a long way in accomplishing your desired goals with FileMaker.
This video provides information about using auto-enter to manage record duplications when using a UUID.