ISO FileMaker Magazine: FileMaker Video Tutorials, Templates, Help & More

RealSimple.com is all about “Life made easier” and they found Bento a perfect fit for their philosophy: “Bento looks, feels and works like other Mac applications. Organizing your information into collections in Bento is much like organizing songs in iTunes. Bento is beautiful in design and you really don't need to understand database concepts or have any experience with databases to use it ... With Bento, I'm actually getting organized in a simple and stylish way. Sorry PC users. Just another reason to consider a Mac.”

Mike Jones, CreativeMac.com, discovers Bento is well-suited for developing and tracking creative projects. He concludes that “Bento isn’t bloated or overloaded with features you will never use. It is simple, functional, focused, very effective, inexpensive and highly adaptable. As a creative professional surrounded by highly complex digital tools, Bento may just be the saving grace that keeps the rest of your digital life together.”

FileMaker Pro 9 is a MacLife Editors' Choice. "We found FileMaker 9 to be the most compelling update in years. The new features are thoughtful additions and well executed. The ability to interact with SQL data sources is unprecedented. Best of all, the file format hasn’t changed since version 7, so you can dive in fearlessly."

From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
www.dwaynewright.com
info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright

I was talking to a technical support customer during a virtual one on one session and we began talking about interfacing some of his telecommunications equipment with FileMaker. He mentioned he had looked everywhere for a FileMaker plug-in to connect with and couldn’t find it. He was a bit bummed out about it until I asked him, “have you asked any of the FileMaker Plug-In developers if they could write a plug-in for you?”.

There was a noticeable silence and he said, “they will do that?”.

I said that I thought that most of the prominent plug-in developers are open to creating custom plug-ins for a particular need. In some cases, creating custom plug-ins is a large part of their business. Creating a plug-in from scratch is much like creating a FileMaker database from scratch, only more difficult and requires some serious programming skill. Having a plug-in created from scratch is generally expensive but you have to factor in the ROI you might benefit from it.

So if you really need a FileMaker plug-in that doesn’t seem to be out there, visit the most prominent FileMaker plug-in companies web sites and send them an email.
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.

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From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
www.dwaynewright.com
info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright

So as you might imagine, a FileMaker plug-in is a file that has to be put somewhere and then it has to be turned on somewhere. When that is done, you might imagine that the external functions that come with that plug-in will be available for that FileMaker user. That is exactly how it works! What a precise and detail orientated imagination you must have!

Some plug-in developer have installers that will put the files in the correct place and some do not. That almost always tell the user how to install the plug-in. Just for reference though ...

Plug-In Locations On A Macintosh Machine
Within your Applications folder, you will find a FileMaker Folder and within that folder you will see all your installed versions of FileMaker. Yes, a Macintosh computer can run a copy of FileMaker 8, copy of FileMaker 8.5 and a copy of FileMaker 9. In fact, you can even have that same machine running the Basic and Advanced versions of each and as a professional FileMaker developer, this comes in handy sometimes! Anyway, with each FileMaker Application folder, you will see an Extensions folder and your plug-in files go there.

So in recap, the location is ...
Macintosh HD (unless you rename your HD) ----> Applications ----> FileMaker (only appears if you have multiple FileMaker Applications installed) ----> FileMaker Pro 9 (or your version of FileMaker) ----> Extensions

You will need to click the image to see it at the original size. After doing so you can see where I have highlighted the path to the AutoUpdate plug-in. You can even see the info for the file indicates that it is a FileMaker plug-in.

Plug-In Locations On A Windows Machine
This is pretty much the same idea but slightly different location, on a Windows machine you have a Program Folders directory on your C Drive. After that, it definitely resembles the Macintosh location because it is within a FileMaker Folder, FileMaker 9 Advanced and then the Extensions folder.

So in recap, the location is ...
C: ----> Program Files ----> FileMaker ----> FileMaker Pro 9 (or your version of FileMaker) ----> Extensions

So after you have installed the plug-in, fire up your copy of FileMaker. If you had FileMaker running during your install, it is not a big problem. Just quit FileMaker and then fire it up again. The process of launching FileMaker allows it to upload the plug-in into the internal memory of the FileMaker application.

Now that the plug-in has been loaded, you may need to turn it on. It might also be on automatically during your installation. FileMaker Plug-in information can be found in the preferences area.

Here are some links to other posts that might be of interest in regards to this topic...
Plug-In Preferences
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
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To check out the online FileMaker Crosswords, please visit http://www.dwaynewright.com/crossword.html
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xmCHART 3.3 is a powerful charting and drawing plug-in for FileMaker Pro. It supports all basic chart types such as bars, lines, areas, scatters, pies, bubbles, high-Lows, radar or Gantt charts. A comprehensive set of over 150 functions allows you to customize almost every parts of a chart such as scalings, axes or grids. To perfect a chart you can add a title, legend, labels or a background picture. xmCHART 3.3 is available for Windows and Mac OS X... - (X2max Software)

FileMaker’s Save Records as PDF script step is, like, totally awesome. But there’s one teeny tiny issue: it sure likes to crash. We use this feature a lot with our customers, and under the right set of circumstances, we can see crashing on half or more of the machines our scripts run on. Luckily, it [...]

Comparing dates can be confusing. It’s tough to tell exactly when FileMaker will treat the values that you are trying to compare as dates or as numbers or as…something else. Hopefully, I can point you in the right direction.

MyMac Magazine’s Mark Sealey awards Bento 4 out of 5 stars, and says, “A balance has been struck: users with complex, evolving and intricately relational databases may still be best with FileMaker Pro. Those for whom the lure of an elegant user interface is important and/or who want a direct equivalent of Numbers, Pages and iPhoto/iTunes and/or seamless integration with iCal and Address Book should look seriously at Bento.”

Learning to code a better FileMaker solution is something that happens over time. As you improve, there are all kinds of things you find that make the development process more streamlined. Some of your application logic becomes repetitive in many locations. Think about using the Show Custom Dialog script step (I use this example in the video). How many places have you used it in your solution(s)?... - (ISO FileMaker Magazine)

Attendees of this year’s FileMaker Developer Conference will save $200 with “early-bird” pricing, but only until May 16, FileMaker announced today... FileMaker Developer Conference 2008 will take place July 13 to 17 at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Ariz. After May 16, the full conference fee of $1,395 will apply. All paid attendees will receive a complimentary Not-For-Resale copy of FileMaker Pro 9 Advanced (a $499 value)... - (FileMaker Inc.)

Comm-Unity Networking Systems releases CNS Menu 1.1, a plug-in for FileMaker Pro(R).  This plug-in allows you to place fully customizable, hierarchical menus anywhere on a FileMaker Pro layout.  When a menu item is chosen, the script of your choice is performed.  Version 1.1 brings many underlying enhancements and bug fixes as well as a few new features.  CNS Menu is available immediately for both Mac OS(R) X and Windows... - (Comm-Unity Networking Systems)

A new article was just posted on the myFMbutler blog, "Control FileMaker Server via Lasso". The article explains how to use the FileMaker Server command line tool  o manipulate FileMaker Server from Lasso... - (myFMbutler)

You read the announcements, you voted on our poll and now the time has come to announce who's heading to DevCon courtesy of that old pot-bellied Uncle whose kisses are always too slobbery, Uncle FMPug... When we devised the contest, it was our hope that a handful of members would weave a tale or two worth reading. As time marched forward, entries flooded in, ending in a grand total of 358 contestants... - (FMPug)

FMWebschool will be presenting a Free webinar on creating online registration systems with FileMaker Pro. Online registration systems are extremely popular. In this teaching webinar, attendees will get the opportunity to learn how to create their own online system.  All attendees receive the finished website and database files... - (FMWebschool)

Dwaynewright.com is happy to announce over 100 FileMaker specific blog posts for April 2008 and we created a centralized page listing all the blog posts for the month... Also in April of 2008, we added three new online FileMaker related crossword puzzles to help test your FileMaker knowledge in a  unique and fun way... - (dwaynewright.com)

From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
www.dwaynewright.com
info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright

When we talk about external functions, we are talking about FileMaker plug-ins. FileMaker plug-ins introduce new functions to your FileMaker system to enable their unique advantages. The age of the FileMaker plug-in has been around for a number of years and still FileMaker is experiencing an explosive growth in the number of plug-in developers and the products they offer.

Unfortunately, I had trouble finding a web site that had a list of FileMaker plug-ins that was up to date. A Google search in this area didn’t yield anything promising for the first half dozen pages. I didn’t have much better luck doing a search for plug-in on the FileMaker web site. I knew something had to be there and this is what I found ...

Under the Product menu on the FileMaker site, pull up the Made For FileMaker option. Then choose the link for Plug-ins under the For Developers area. There you can find a listing of over 69 results and there are more out there than what FileMaker lists.





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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
====================== ADVERTISEMENT ==============================
For more information on the InBizness SOHO and other quality FileMaker framework solutions, please visit http://www.dwaynewright.com/solutions.html

Oscar-winning film editor Walter Murch, best known for his pioneering work on Apocalypse Now, Cold Mountain, Jarhead and The Talented Mr. Ripley, gives his first video interview describing how FileMaker Pro databases are “the nuclear heart of what I do” in the making of many of his landmark movies.

This updater provides compatibility for FileMaker Server 9 and FileMaker Server 9 Advanced with the newly-released Java SE 6 for Mac OS X Leopard.

Award winning editor, Walter Murch, best known for his work on films such as Apocalypse Now, Cold Mountain, Jarhead and The Talented Mr. Ripley, gives his first video interview describing his use of FileMaker Pro databases in the making of many of his landmark movies... - (FileMaker Inc.)