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

by Matt Petrowsky

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As any FileMaker solution grows, you'll inevitably end up adding more and more settings. In some situations, these settings are simple toggle checkboxes which control how things function in the user interface. Either from a user or admin perspective, it really doesn't matter.

What does matter is having to manage all of the aspects of each of these settings. Granted, the easiest thing to do is simply add a new field and making it a checkbox - but, what to do when you know you're adding an extra field simply to control how something works within the user interface - while the solution is running. Does this UI field commingle with your schema? Do you separate it out into a user interface file and data file?

Of course, the answer to those questions depend on your solution and the implementation. In this video, I present a topic related to single value checkboxes and toggling those values. I've been using it as a solution to adding yet more scripts to my solutions. It's very easy to copy and paste the whole layout object and very quickly have a new control setting.

by Matt Petrowsky

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FileMaker's Layout mode is the one place where you present the information contained within your database. The presentation can be broken down into categories depending on your solution. The two most simple categories are "screen" and "output".

When designing your solution, the degree of creativity used is entirely up to you. It's knowing the tools and how information can be presented which will help you decide.

It's certainly possible to create an entire FileMaker solution with all Form views, all List views, or both Form and List views. There's no one perfect way in how you present the information.

In this video, I do my best to provide every piece of know-how about FileMaker Layouts and their various parts. Using this knowledge, you should be able to create the type of screen or output you're looking to achieve.

by Matt Petrowsky

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Rather than creating one or two scripts to solve one specific problem, it's typically better to solve the whole problem by creating a system which can be leveraged in more than one place and by more than one database system.

Such is the case with the Notifications system, which is now integrated into the KarateApp sample database.

The Notifications system is one in which a general approach is taken to sending out notifications to any target device via a particular method. What this means is that a SmartPhone would be a target device and SMS would be the method of notification.

Of course, the most common method of sending a notification might be email with the target being an email client. Ultimately, what we're talking about is getting the right information to the right people and doing it within a system which accommodates all the various possible methods.

Wish your FileMaker database could notify someone via email, sms, twitter, facebook post or some other method? Well, give this video a watch and you'll see that making this type of system is certainly possible.

by Matt Petrowsky

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When FileMaker 8 was released in 2005 it was a game changer for the world of FileMaker scripting. You could now pass data into scripts from buttons - added to already being able to access data from within the script. It wasn't long after its release that developers wanted to pass information to scripts in a more structured fashion. "Passing multiple parameters" is a common term in FileMaker development and there are many ways to accomplish it.

In 2006 I released a video about the topic of "Function Scripting". It was a very popular article which advanced the idea of using scripts as something similar to functions and treating them more like methods in object oriented languages.

I simply combined two different sets of custom functions from two very smart developers. Over the years, I've used the method almost exclusively for passing information into scripts. Recently, however, I've started to use an evolved method of passing information into scripts.

The method I'm now using, focuses a great deal on code readability and facilitates both strict and relaxed parameter requirements. The function is a multipurpose function which can be used in many areas of your FileMaker solution. In this video, I walk through the evolution, some of the other options you have available and why I've chosen to adopt this new method of passing parameters into scripts.

by Matt Petrowsky

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Spend enough time within FileMaker, and you want to accomplish things as fast as possible. This even includes the trivial task of simply opening the files you're developing.

Typically, a solution is delivered with some level of security on it. That is, using the Account and Privileges to lock down what people can and can't do. While using the Relogin script step is useful for testing out different accounts with different levels of access, it's always great to save even more time when you're developing the files.

In this video, I take a walk through the process I use to open solutions within a state where they're ready for me to develop. This makes it easy to simply provide the file or host it within FileMaker Server without the worry, because I know I'm the only one with the keys for convenient master access.

by Matt Petrowsky

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We were in my office messing around and I said "Hey, lets talk about the Devcon sessions". That's how it all started. We (Stephen Dolenski and myself -Matt Petrowsky) sat down and simply talked about the topics to be covered at the 2008 Devcon for FileMaker.

Knowing nothing about their actual content (we're guessing on most), and more about who was offering it, we talk about pretty much every session. If you've got an hour and fifteen to kill, then pop your ear canals open for a bit and take a listen. It's an MP3, so you'll have to download (sorry no iTunes yet), but it may be worth it.

You may even find a few FileMaker tips in there. This was just for fun and not really planned, but tell us if you like it - or hate it!