ISO FileMaker Magazine

Who doesn't want their software to perform as efficiently and as quickly as possible. Don't we always want things to go faster and work better?

Of course we do. The problem is, we don't always take the time to fully think out what is happening when we solve a problem. Sometimes, we just robot our way through the code we are creating because it's how we've always done it - and it's easy or faster.

Being an "efficiency nut", when it comes to code, is something I really enjoy. It represents the fact that you have a reduced amount of code to accomplish the same thing that previously had more. Less code means less to maintain. Less code can also mean more performant.

In this video, I walk through a recent example of showing how a particular solution could be simplified. It's an example that plays out in the software world many times over. Most importantly, it represents what is the compounding effects of not taking the time to think out the most efficient solution. If and easiest to maintain, fastest performing solution is what you're after, then you may find a tip or two within this video about Assessing Performance.

One of the great things about FileMaker Pro is it starts you off with a completely blank slate. One of the bad things about FileMaker Pro is it starts you off with a completely blank slate.

Yep, that's right, there are things in FileMaker's UI which non-intentionally urge you to do things which may not be as helpful in the future. Of course, some of this comes down to learning as much as you can about how things work. Which, is likely why you'll be watching this video.

In this episode, we take a look at FileMaker's themes and styles and how they relate to the Default styles which all layout objects start from. FileMaker defaults to the Default styles and that may not be the best way to start a new layout design. In this video, I answer the question about using the Defaults for your actual design and what you may be missing if you choose to use the Default style within your layouts. Want the most leverage possible? Well, you may need to stop using the Default styles - sort of.

On Wednesday May 20th, 2020 Claris International Inc. released a new version of FileMaker Pro. Version 19 includes just a handful of changes, but they are far reaching and will extend FileMaker's usefulness in many ways.

Of the changes, the biggest is an extensible architecture which allow for portable components called Add-ons to be distributed. The same underlying technology, which uses XML, is also being used to provide support for updating a database file using a command line tool.

FileMaker 19 also marks the start of a more rapid release schedule for future releases of FileMaker Pro. This video includes a hit list of the top new features and I discuss the functionality they implement and how they could be used.

We all love those "Top 10" videos because we know what we're getting into. It's just a list of 10 things right? But it's the best 10 things - right? Ok, well, "best" is possibly relative to what your particular daily workflow is like, but at least there's always something new to learn! Right!

And, that's exactly what this video is about. It's about learning those little time-saving tricks which make it much nicer to work within FileMaker's Layout Mode. Need some incentive to check it out? Here's the first 5 of the top 10 list of what's covered.

#10: Easier cursor selections
#09: Using the Object Inspector
#08: Shortcuts for Align & Resize
#07: Top Object Wins
#06: Know your Parts

Want to know what's covered in the remaining 5? Just watch the video and pick up some new skills!

When you work within a development environment long enough, you end up realizing where some of the pain points are for certain types of situations. For FileMaker Pro development, and many other systems, one of the biggest pain points is maintenance of a growing system. Where older code may be replaced instead of refactored.

What ends up happening is the older, unused code just sits there and only contributes to the growing mess which is what I call the "Giant Ball of Spaghetti Mess" that is a FileMaker solution gone awry.

So, what is one of the best solutions for keeping a system easy-to-maintain while also being able to understand what you're doing while developing? Naming standards or conventions of course. In this video, I discuss some updates to my own personal conventions which will lend themselves to helping to make a FileMaker solution much more streamlined.

If you consider your own FileMaker solution a special kind of mess, then give this video a peek for information about why naming certain things in certain ways can give you a helping hand for keeping your FileMaker solution easier to maintain and update.

Because of the rich UI experiences which JavaScript provides within a web browser, it makes sense to take advantage of the various possibilities. The difficulty may be putting all the pieces together in order to get something working correctly.

Fortunately, JavaScript isn't just for those "other developers". Those who already know what they're doing. You too, can easily integrate and use JavaScript within your own solutions. You simply need to be ready to learn enough in order to integrate successfully. You need to be a JavaScript integrator.

When you're comfortable with getting data in and out of FileMaker, then you're able to have all those rich experiences which are found within the world of the web browser.

An open source project named Carafe, created by Jeremiah Small, and released by Soliant in April of 2019, has provided a very easy way to integrate various JavaScript resources. In this video I walk through the tool and some of its features. I then show how to take one of the bundles and integrate into a brand new FileMaker file. If you're looking for more reasons to explore the use of JavaScript within your solution then this video provides a great place to start.

While it's been around for a few years now, there aren't too many developers in the world of FileMaker who have explored Node-RED. Created by IBM and made open source in 2016, this visual programming tool may start to make waves in the FileMaker world.

A wonderfully generous developer named Lui de la Parra has made it possible to use Node-RED with FileMaker's own Data API. This means that anything in the world of Node-RED is now accessible to FileMaker. This is an amazingly powerful technology for connecting all kinds of things, both physical and virtual, into the FileMaker ecosystem.

In this video, I walk through my own personal use of Node-RED and showcase how I use it in order to capture XML data from an online store and process that data directly into FileMaker.

Whether you need to collect moisture data from physical hardware in a vineyard to interacting with any online web service or API, Node-RED, in conjunction with the Data API, will allow you to realize all kinds of powerful solutions!

Within every industry there's a certain terminology used to express how things work and how to accomplish things. FileMaker is obviously no different.

So, with this video, we start discussing some of the FileMaker specific terms and terminology.

FileMaker 18 was released on Wed. May 22nd 2019. This video walks through all the new features implemented within the latest version of FileMaker Pro Advanced. Here's a short list of all the new features.

01) Security: Revised Manage Security Area
02) Security: Unsigned Plug-ins
03) Security: File References by Default
04) Data: New Import Dialog
05) Develop: Recursion & While
06) Develop: Script Error Logging
07) Develop: Insert From URL Protocols
08) Develop: FMP urls version specific
09) Design: Shift+Arrow 10x movement
10) Integrate: New Barcode Types
11) Develop: XML File Representations
12) Develop: File IO operations

It's that time of year again. The annual FileMaker Devcon approaches and FileMaker, Inc's commitment to more timely releases comes true yet again. This time around we have a number of new features. In this video I provide a quick hit list of all the major features you'll find within this latest release. Here's the list of new items covered.

00) Application Icon
01) Developer Tools
02) Redesigned Launch Center
03) New Hosts Dialog
04) Rearranged File Menu
05) Redesigned Layout Mode
06) Copy Paste Custom Menus
07) Info box in Manage Dialog
08) Layouts Subgroup Selections
09) Built-In Master Detail
10) Default Fields
11) Mini Apps
12) Multiple Email Attachments
13) Scripts - Perform Script by Name
14) Scripts - Show Dialog Input Variables
15) Scripts - Exports create folders
16) Go - iOS Local Notification
17) Go - GetSensor Function
18) Function Get ( UUIDNumber )
19) Function Get ( ActiveRecordNumber )
20) Data Migration Tool
21) Revised FileMaker Server
22) Updated FileMaker Data API