ISO FileMaker Magazine

While recently teaching the layout/design portion of an in-person FileMaker training course, I found myself showing off one of the features which FileMaker has had since version 12. It’s an often overlooked feature which can be used quite creatively when you know how it works. It’s the Layout Background style of the layout theme.

When you understand the order in which FileMaker displays things, you’re free to create nice modern looking layout designs. Further, when you combine this with knowledge about themeing and styles, you can create a look and feel which is quite flexible as well.

In this video, I walk though an example database where I grab an image from Flickr and integrate it into a new custom theme for a FileMaker file. If you’ve never used images as part of your theme design, then watching this video will give you a great level of insight into what’s possible with layout backgrounds.

When was the last time you opened the Relationship Graph and heard that little voice say “Wow, you’ve gotta clean this up!”? Maybe it was yesterday, maybe it was just a few moments ago.

Whenever the voices come, it’s a pretty easy task to accomplish when you apply some solid understanding to how the graph works and what it represents in the whole of your solution.

If code could write itself, then organization would never be necessary because no one would need to maintain or revise it. It would simply rewrite itself as needed. Sort of like how a tree grows. When a new branch is needed, it just starts to grow. Unfortunately, you’re the gardner of your own creations so you need to apply some forethought to what you create when working in the Relationship Graph.

In this video, I provide my own personal insights into how I approach the graph and what I think makes for an easier solution to maintain. When you consider how complex a FileMaker solution can quickly become, the notion of keeping things easy to work with should be a high priority.

Providing visual feedback about the sort state, and direction, of your list views is always a nice feature to have. Not only does it fulfill the expectations of what users are already used to within the OS, but it let’s users know they can actually sort on those columns.

In this video, I walk through the use of a Button Bar object in conjunction with some other common tricks in order to provide dynamic column sorting indicators.

This is one of those standard must-have features within your FileMaker solution!

Knowing which features to use and when to use them is great skill to have with FileMaker Pro development. Anytime you can determine when a certain script step, structure, web viewer or plug-in should be used is what makes for a productive developer.

In this video we’ll take a look at a long standing script step called Copy All Records. Using this core script step allows us to optimize a lot of things so we end up with a faster FileMaker solution.

With the additional tips and education in this video, you should be that much closer to solving a number of various issues for your FileMaker database. Make sure you know how to use Copy All Records in the most efficient manner!

You like being in control don’t you? Being able to control things exactly as you wish? Well, it’s one of the more addicting qualities of creating solutions quickly within FileMaker Pro.

When you’re working with dates, there are times when the native date picker just doesn’t cut it. You can’t make it larger or smaller, you can’t change its colors, and if you’re on iOS then you’re limited to the default iOS date picker. You’ve got no control.

When a user is choosing a date from a calendar, you should probably have a bit more control. This means you need a calendar widget which is under your total control. In this video I showcase a calendar picker I’ve been using for years and years. In this case, however, I’ve updated it to fit the more modern methods of doing things within FileMaker Pro.

If you’ve ever needed full control over a custom calendar widget then look no further than this video!

Developing in FileMaker Pro is rewarding because of the speed with which you can accomplish things. The speed, however, isn’t worth much when you only know one possible way to do things. It’s the master carpenter, who knows all the tools and methods for getting things done, who is the most efficient.

When it comes to replicating a found set within FileMaker, there are many paths to take. Your standard Perform Find script step will simply pull up a found set of records based on predefined or dynamic criteria.

There are, however, many cases where a found set is composed of data which has been filtered. This could be a list view of data where individual records have been omitted or a set of related records derived from a filtered portal.

Regardless of how the found set is derived, if it’s a random set of records which need to be recalled, then saving this found set becomes valuable. It turns out, there’s a method for saving this found set and it’s the most optimized method possible. This is because it’s the same method which FileMaker itself uses.

This video is about recreating a found set and being able to use it in various ways. It could be used for a PSOS (server side) script or simply to provide the user with a feature of being able to save and recall a found set of records at any time. No matter what your needs, knowing how to use this feature is a valuable piece of FileMaker know-how!

In July of 2016, Matt was afforded the opportunity to present as a speaker at the annual FileMaker Developer's Conference. FileMaker Inc. decided to make the release of the session videos available for the general public. The session was well received with high marks given all around.

The session was a jam-packed roundup all the various things you can do with FileMaker layout objects in order to meet the objective of creating designs which work well within a small form factor. If taking advantage of FileMaker Go's highly portable convenience is one of your personal objectives, then set aside an hour of time and watch this video.

If you're looking for the sample file provided, then the link is provided below and within the video itself as well.

In FileMaker, if we only had list and form views for viewing data, then we’d probably be just fine. But, who wants to just get by with a minimal set of methods for viewing data? The ever valuable portal provides a wonderful view into whatever data you wish to show.

It can be related data, menu options, a list of users or pretty much anything. Especially, when using a portal as a Virtual List of something being held within a $$GLOBAL.VARIABLE.

The key thing to understand about portals is that FileMaker just provides you with the bare minimum. The level of expected user interaction just might not be there for your solution. For example, take a basic portal, select a given row and hit the delete key. What’s the result? The default FileMaker dialog. What if you’d like to run your own script when the delete key is hit?

How about that wonderful trash can icon, or any other icon placed in the first row in Layout mode. Well, you see them on EVERY portal row. Yuck! Take off that obvious UI distraction. Instead, make it show only when a given portal row is selected.

This video will provide you with all kinds of inside knowledge into how you can make your portal interactions just that much better!

Working with dates within FileMaker isn’t as complex as working on launching a rocket to the moon. But, as with most all technical things, it’s always good to know what’s going on under the hood. Knowing how things work allows you to implement the desired solution in the most efficient manner.

When talking about relative dates we’re talking about “Today”, “Tomorrow” and “Last Year”, not 7/6/1996. You can always instruct FileMaker to lookup a date range based on the whole year of 1995, but isn’t it nicer to simply provide the user with a menu with options relative to the current date.

In this video we take a look at the method of using relative date ranges in order to specify the starting and ending dates of those ranges. We do this using a Custom Function and some of the available triggers.

If you have any type of date-based data and you’re looking for an easy way to present things to your users, then you’ll likely find what you’re looking for in this video.

With FileMaker Pro, the application has become so much more complex than its humble beginnings. There are so many areas and aspects which you may not use until you see a good idea about how they can be used.

In this video, I showcase the Layout script trigger named OnGestureTap. It was introduced when FileMaker 13 was released along with FileMaker Go. The trigger only applies to clients which support it, which is primarily FileMaker Go on iOS and FileMaker Pro when running on a Windows compatible mobile device.

The advantages to using OnGestureTap aren’t immediately obvious if you’ve never used the trigger before. However, with a little bit of creative thinking, you’ll quickly find that it has some unique advantages on the mobile end of things. Sure, you can create a ton of buttons, but maybe you don’t have to.

For example, if you have a complex shape or image which wouldn’t normally accommodate the use of buttons, then the OnGestureTap becomes a prime candidate for making things happen based on specific clicks.

Need a simple, but not too obvious way to toggle an admin mode? OnGestureTap will help you solve that problem in your mobile solutions. Take a look at this video for some OnGestureTap specific inspiration!