ISO FileMaker Magazine

While it would be wonderful if FileMaker Pro had built-in functionality for all of the features we can possibly think up, it’s not too practical. Besides, what would be left for us to develop?

So, what about saving user state? Do you think you would enjoy leaving your desk for a few moments and coming back to a completely rearranged environment? I doubt it, and that’s almost exactly what FileMaker does when working within a hosted file.

The most common approach to solving this problem is to simply provide a “directory like” structure. Like walking into a mall and heading to the directory map in order to find out where you can possibly go. Call it what you like, a dashboard, main navigation, whatever. You’re simply reseting the user each time they leave and come back into the software.

Well, if you’d like to take another approach, then all you need to do is save the user’s last know state. What you save and how you return the user to their last known state is in your full control. It’s not that hard to do and this video will give you all the details you need to know.

One of the most enjoyable things about working in FileMaker, or any development environment where looping is supported, is the pure joy of automation.

Even thinking about checking off any more than a few records at a time brings me to a mental state of counting the number of seconds it takes for the single action itself, then multiplying times the number of objects I need to affect.

So the question arrives. “How do I automate this?” or “How do I make this process easier for the user?”. The answer, quite simply is applying the knowledge you have about solving it. There are, however, times when you just don’t know what can be done to make it even easier.

In this video, I showcase a technique and method for offering users with the ability to checkmark whole sub-ranges of records by simply clicking a button within a sub-summary area of a list view. It’s a wonderfully sublime method of solving the problem. And, understanding the fundamentals means you can use the method for a lot more than just a simple checkbox.

We’ve all been inspired by the creativity and wide array of UI widgets which have come from the mobile side of computing. In fact, what you present and when/how you present it always offers the opportunity to find new ways if doing so. The whole swipe down to “rubber band” a refresh was a breath of fresh UI air.

When presenting users with options, one of the more common methods for presenting these is using a Pop-up menu. After making a selection in an initial menu a second menu presents options specific to the selection made in the first and so on down the tree. It’s a very common UI pattern.

Sometimes, however, this doesn’t quite work from a UI standpoint. It’s at this point in time when another option may be desired. If you’re comfortable with learning and using ExecuteSQL and how Virtual List works, then you’ll find that presenting a hierarchical tree of options can easily be managed within a single portal. Drilling down through the options and having a way to traverse back up the tree is everything you’ll find in this video. The sample file will have all the parts you need in order to copy into your own FileMaker solutions!

As FileMaker Inc adds new features and functionality to FileMaker, it’s really easy for older projects to start to feel like they’re aging pretty quickly. Fortunately, one of the easiest fixes to make is to give things a brand new look and feel.

The process, however, of going about a re-theming isn’t always as easy as it seems. You’ve got new layout objects which may have been added and there are a ton of “older tricks” which may be replaced with newer ways of doing things.

Without going down the rabbit hole of a complete do-over, you can start re-theming with a good starter theme.

In this video, I showcase how I tackle the project of starting a new project or re-theming and existing solution. It’s a process which can put new life into an older project. You just need to have a good place to start and a way to approach the process. That’s what this particular video is all about. Taking full advantage of FileMaker’s Theming tools!

When developing within tools like Xcode, the sky’s the limit in terms of providing user interaction and user feedback. Fortunately, with FileMaker, we have access to many of the core interaction elements from iOS. Popovers are a great example of a critical iOS UI element.

When FileMaker 13 was released we got the wonderful Popover objects. To follow that up within FileMaker 14, we got the new objects named Button Bars. These new objects were an enhancement on the ages old Button objects. The cool addition to these legacy objects was the fact that we can use multiple segments (buttons) within Button Bars. Each of these segments can then take advantage of the existing features. They can simply act as buttons or become Popovers in their own right.

The primary, and key distinction with Button Bars over standard buttons is access to FileMaker’s calculation engine. With access to the calc engine, we can now do a lot of things to the data shown on those buttons which can’t be done with standard buttons.

When you consider that a Button Bar can have any number of segments from one to 400 (which I wouldn’t suggest) you can think of a lot of creative uses for not just user interaction, but for user feedback and information display as well.

This video showcases a number of creative uses for FileMaker’s Button Bar objects.

Emulating features and design functionality found within iOS apps can be both frustrating and rewarding in FileMaker. Frustrating because you can't just replicate anything you see in iOS, yet rewarding when you pull something off and feel like FileMaker is that much closer to a native looking application. The biggest benefit with FileMaker being you likely created the solution with a speed which simply can't be had when building the same with the native iOS APIs.

Simply put, FileMaker saves a ton of time when creating an application which is heavily data focused. Managing data and programming the interaction with that data may take double or even triple the amount of time when not using an IDE like FileMaker.

This video is all about recreating a nice UI feature I found within sliders in an iOS app named Strava. Instead of using the standard plain and boring dots at the bottom of a slider panel, it uses creative looking icons. Of course, I set out to emulate this look and feel and accomplished it quite successfully. As I set out to accomplish the task, I also found other methods which make the whole process super simple to accomplish. Use the information in this video and the provided technique file to enhance your own use of slider panels.

[UPDATE] Forget about what I mention in the later part of the video about hacking the dots. I forgot about where you could control the size of them. It is hidden within the HUD panel for adding and removing new panels. The size setting is right there. I thought I had remembered seeing it and I searched all over in the Inspector and couldn't find it when shooting the video. :(