ISO FileMaker Magazine

The title of this series may be a bit misleading. In these videos, I don't really start at Zero. In fact, I make a number of assumptions about what you may already know. You know what a field is, don't you? How about a Layout? Of course you do! What you need to know how to go about building a solution, not how you open ScriptMaker and place steps within a script. So here's the approach. Build a fully usable solution and give the viewer every single tip and trick you can think of as you build it.

Even an experienced developer never knows it all. There's always something more to know. It's how you tackle the problem, not how you use an If() statement. It's an amazing thing really. You think you're good, maybe even great, and then you find out what you know is only a portion of what's possible.

This is the first video of a proposed series of videos that walk through the whole process of building a FileMaker solution from zero to awesome. No stone, or layout, is unturned.

Whenever a new version of FileMaker is released, we always see a flood of great techniques. Going back to FileMaker 8 and combining a new feature from FileMaker 9, gives us the opportunity to create the best looking and fastest sorting portals possible.

The sorting portals portion of the video is free for anyone to watch in the Preview edition. If you're a paid subscriber then I have a very powerful addition to this technique that can be used in other areas of your FileMaker solution as well. It's my Universal Sort Arrow.

The implementation, while a bit complex underneath, is very flexible and allows you to use one single field for all of your directional sort indicators on any field being sorted.

The technique file showcases just use on sorted portals, but can be extended to accommodate list views as well. Just imagine, one single calculated field for all of your sort indicators. No more graphics (unless you want them) and no more extra time spent on implementation. Once you have this technique integrated it's a matter of seconds to support a new sort arrow for any of your sorted columns!

In 2007 we saw a lot of changes with FileMaker. With the release of FileMaker 9 we gained the very powerful conditional formatting feature and the ability to resize windows with graphics in tow. With each release, FileMaker becomes more and more powerful.

In this video you'll find a quick (well, I tried to make it quick) rundown of many of the major articles covered throughout the year.

There were a number of very powerful techniques which showed up and should be core "know-how" for many of your database solutions.

With the release of this video I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and much luck with their FileMaker development.

While it may seem like a little overkill, it really is possible to save all of the active tabs in FileMaker for each record for each layout for each user. Wow, that's a lot of 'each'es'.

In this video you'll learn how to capitalize on the technique recently shown which reveals how to trigger a script based on record changes. By using the default option of an If() statement, you can save all of the current Layout Data - including all of the active tabs.

The only thing not covered in this video is how to take this technique one step further and storing the viewed state for each layout for each record for each user for each session. How's that for one more 'each'. Enjoy the video and making your tabs stick on a layout by layout and record by record basis!

Triggering scripts, based on user events, wasn't a planned FileMaker feature. It's a side effect of calculation evaluations and the plug-in API. With script triggering plug-ins it became possible to trigger a script based on record opening (editing), record viewing, record deletion, field exit, field entry, field changes, specific times and record commit (validation).

Using these opportunities has created some unique situations for all kinds of new techniques. In this video I use the examples provided by a free plug-in named DoScript to show you many of the above mentioned options. The few that aren't covered can be found as other videos on the web site.

If you too have creative uses of script triggering then leave your comments on the article!

Triggering a script, when switching to another record, may be the feature you need when your users should see the right data in the right format. Then again, maybe there's a specific value within a certain field and the user needs to pay attention to it.

Ultimately, there are countless times when you might want to trigger a script based on certain criteria when a record is first shown to the user.

In this video, I walk you through a technique file that shows you exactly how to accomplish this and what to watch for. The implementation might even give you a creative boost for what you can do with this technique.

While FileMaker formally lacks an event model (causing actions based on user events - mouse over, mouse down, etc.), it doesn't mean you can't figure out how make this type of functionality happen. A lot of articles on this site talk about using a script triggering plug-in to accomplish this.

Using a script triggering plug-in, I show you how to fire scripts when selections are made from a Pop-up menu or Drop-down list. Beyond that, the important thing to note is that it's based on any field change. Yes, you're right, it's based on an auto-enter calculation.

The unique feature that's shown in this video however, is how you can use any number of scripts tied to any of the possible options. Meaning a status field can be set to "PAID" and Script X will fire. Change that value to "DELINQUENT" and it fires Script Z. Unlimited scripts to match an unlimited number of options.

Think about all the cool things you can make happen when a field value is changed to a matched target value.

In this video, you'll find an initial review of the freely available Data4Life FileMaker template provided by the Richard Carlton Consulting group. The review is not a throughout review about every aspect of the solution, but rather a review that may give you some insight about how you can accomplish things in your own solutions.

While I do critique the solution's interface and data structure, I have to say that it's a great starting point for someone looking for more features than those provided by the (pretty pitiful - in my opinion) templates provided with FileMaker.

There are a number of tips I provide in the video about how things can be done more efficiently or cleaner. If you enjoy reviewing other FileMaker solutions for inspiration or ideas then this video may be great to watch. Enjoy!

"Yes, you can find out what row is the current record selected. Oh... yeah, you do have to squint a bit and notice the small little black indicator at the left of the record selection."

Ok, so let's put this question to rest. Since FileMaker 8, you've had the ability to indicate the current record row in list view. With FileMaker 9 the feature becomes even more appealing. It's possible you just didn't know how to make it happen. Turns out, it's easier than you might have thought.

You do need to use a script triggering plug-in, but these can be integrated quite easily.

Watch this video to learn how to indicate which record row is selected in list view.

BIG UPDATE! Thanks to viewer Michael, he pointed me to a file on the DatabasePros.com web site. It still uses a webviewer but accomplishes this solution without the need for the script triggering. It's a total hack, but it works - for now. The file is included in the download, but not covered in the video.

It's kinda funny how you can work with FileMaker day-in and day-out and barely touch one of its biggest features. Custom Menus may be just such a feature. If you're like me, you've only used custom menus a few times and that was when it was someone else's solution.

Well, by spending only a few minutes taking a look at how you can use Custom Menus, you'll find that it's quickly leveraged as a nice developer tool - not to mention useful for making your own menus for your database.

Using the creation of a "Developer" menu as an example, I show you how and why Custom Menus can be a great benefit to your FileMaker database.