ISO FileMaker Magazine

FileMaker 11 came with a fancy new feature called Snapshot Links. These small XML-based files store all the necessary information in order to recall a "last known view" of a given data set.

Imagine, if you will, a user is working on a "donor call list". They are presented with a list view of a larger subset of data - the people they must call. The user has made it half way through the list and it's quitin' time for today.

The courteous thing to do would possibly be asking "Would you like to save your place for tomorrow?" and simply doing so upon an "Ok" confirmation and closing the window.

The next day the user comes in to work, the database is opened to a dashboard layout with a portal displaying a task list. There at the top of the portal is an item titled "Finish donor call list". Clicking that portal row simply opens a new window taking the user back to the exact location they were at when they left the previous day.

Normally, this type of feature would require many different scripts and a good amount of time to implement. Now, what would you say if this could be done in two simple scripts? Well, if you're interested, then watching this video will answer your questions about Snapshot Links.

The world we live in, compared to the one I experienced growing up, is simply amazing. I'm personally looking forward to the inevitable questions of "What's a phone book Daddy?" and "How did a card catalog work?" - if only to feel like an idiot for not realizing that cell phones have always existed and I should've known that "fact".

When it comes to using a map, I'm wondering when they'll stop printing them on paper. Seriously, the ability to know where you're at using GPS and real-time digital maps, to see where you're going and enjoy street level views of other countries without having ever stepped in that country is, well, just awesome.

Which means there's no reason not to integrate these features into your FileMaker solutions.

At the most basic level, we often have the need to perform easy lookups for address verifications. This can be done manually, or at the point the address is captured. The trick with these types of wiz-bang features is that you need the data to perform the lookup against.

Having created many solutions which use geo location based data, I've created a video which highlights both a resource for comprehensive GeoLocation data, including lat/long, postal/province codes and other valuable information, along with information about using and updating this type of valuable resource. If your database adventures ever bring you to the point of needing to interact with Geo Location Data then this video will surely delight you.

If you know the right check boxes to tick, and how FileMaker behaves behind the scenes, you can create a very minimalist, yet super efficient user interface for presenting information. In this video I do this very thing.

Using the standard Person -> Addresses example, I showcase how you can really simplify the information presented and still retain all of the expected functionality.

The one thing that many database designers (those who do not consider themselves user interface designers) seem to forget is the fact that you don't have to show all the data entry options possible. You can often present only the minimalist amount of information needed for reference and simply facilitate features which allow that information to be extended or edited.

Your FileMaker portals don't have to present data entry options if they at least facilitate navigation of the very data which the user might edit. So, watch this video if you're looking to either streamline your data presentation to just to learn some new FileMaker specific tricks.

FileMaker has slowly added new features to its formerly nonexistent event model. We now have a wide variety of script triggers and this is immensely helpful for making solutions much more interactive.

What FileMaker does lack are things like 'mouse overs' and other "niceties" such as animation events.

Fortunately, we have access to anything the web browser can do. While some developers tend to shy away from using web viewers my big question is "Why?". It's there, it's stable, it's standard and you can do a lot of cool stuff with them.

If you're looking to add that attention getting dialog into your FileMaker solution then this video will certainly have what you're looking for!

FileMaker's Layout mode is pretty robust in terms of what you can design and present in your user interface (if you overlook the lack of native gradients and native OS widgets). When working with portals, in particular, all you have to do is throw your buttons and icons on the first row and magically, they all appear and function on any other row - respective of the row they are on. Very helpful indeed.

So what about those times when you REALLY need to exercise control over what will display on a given row and the times when one row needs to know what's on the next row or previous row.

Well, there are some hidden little tricks you can use to really take advantage of this powerful portal formatting. Watching this video will provide you with the insight necessary to exercise this control!

There are all kinds of little tidbits of information about how to accomplish things. I often overlook some of the things I know about, and assume that everyone else knows them too.

I was told, quite effectively, that this knowledge isn't always common. So I bring to you 3 random tips I pulled out of my recent experiences with FileMaker Pro development. Here they are in no particular order.

Tip #1: Using a RAM disk to significantly speed up data intensive operations. Useful for database analysis or importing or exporting.

Tip #2: Making the most efficient counter loop (actually a 'for' loop) possible.

Tip #3: Using the new SSL/TLS feature in FileMaker 11. I show you how to use your free Gmail account (or Google Apps if you're using it) to send email from FileMaker.

If you have your own tips then send them to editor@filemakermagazine.com!

"Can FileMaker automatically apply formatting to my fields?", this is not just a common question, it's been a critical complaint as well. What many other desktop database solutions have offered was an easy way to apply masking. Often as easy as setting the mask into the properties of the field itself - a super simple solution - yet, not so simple in FileMaker.

Well, the day has come and you can now do the type of masking you're actually thinking about. Not just post-field-entry masking or using one field to overlay on top of another field, what we're talking about is as-you-type field masking.

It's easily accomplished with an OnObjectKeystroke trigger, the not-so-easy part is managing all the different possibilities of what can be happening when a user is typing content.

Hopefully, by using this file, and the included video content, you'll realize that the automatic field formatting you've always dreamed of, is actually here. Add any of your tips or suggestions to the bottom of this article!

Wow, that whole iPad thing sure has taken off. Drag this here, drag that there, you know, it's a whole lot of dragging goin' on.

Why not do the same in your FileMaker database. Nope, there's no iPad native version of FileMaker (yet?), but this shouldn't stop you. There are a lot of things you can do in your interface when you consider drag-n-drop as an option.

Watch this video to see a very effective method for performing data manipulation within your interface. Import a few images, create a few portals and start to drag away. If you didn't know FileMaker could do this, then you'll certainly enjoy what you'll find in this video.

Adding a clean and efficient visual interface to your FileMaker solution will certainly give it that 21st century Web 2.0 look and feel!

The desired result, from this particular technique, has been around as long as the feature has existed. As you type, results are shown in a filtered down listing. The fact that it can now be done within FileMaker, as long as you have FileMaker 10 or higher, makes this a "household technique".

So, you know the drill, use two or more key values (or one calculated key - as shown in this video) in your relationship in order to extract records based on the matching index between the low and high ranges of a character sequence - because even a string of text has a numerical value.

Well, that's how it essentially works - if you didn't already know. However, there's typically more than one way to solve any given problem! In this video, I take a look at the fundamental pieces of the Filter As You Type, also known as the Clairvoyance technique. I cover what can be done, where it falls short, which method to choose, and how you can really put this technique on steroids for the ultimate in performance and ease-of-implementation!

Update: Jake Traynham wrote in to tell me the following, "Near the end of this video, you mention using "LIMIT" in the SQL query. I'm guessing you didn't actually try that, because it's not going to work. FileMaker's internal SQL engine does not support the LIMIT keyword, so unless ScriptMaster is doing some manual parsing and handling of that limit... :)" - Ouch, my bad - I guess I've been working with MySQL too much lately. Fortunately, yes, you can use ScriptMaster to force your limit of what is returned. Java will handle A LOT of data, it's just that it still has to come over the wire since FileMaker's SQL does not support LIMIT - too bad. Unless ScriptMaster, on the server side, will do the limit before being sent to the client - which would require some testing - of which I didn't do!

It seems that over time, you can always make a nice technique even better. As you code more and more in FileMaker, you start to make your code more modular.

That's what this video is about - along with a nice enhancement to your standard web viewer being used to show navigational progress.

Included in the file, and the video, is information which will help you break your scripts and calculation code into smaller bits of reusable code. You'll also end up with a very functional progress indicator for use with record navigation.

The big lesson here is there's a multitude of ways to break down a solution to a problem. Personally, I like using custom functions for the primary reason of being able to code something once and be able to affect global changes - however, some times you don't need this, and keeping things localized to a small scope is a great way to go too.

Either way, if you're looking for a method to use for displaying navigational status and you find that web viewers are great for this task, then this video has what you need!