ISO FileMaker Magazine

If you've ever come across the need to trigger a script when you switch to a new tab, you need to know it's possible. Even though FileMaker doesn't natively provide this feature, you can make this happen with a degree of control that makes it easy - and even fun!

Using a variety of custom functions, and some creative thinking, your native tab switching script triggers are simply a matter of editing some text within a text box.

Watching this video will provide insight into using conditional formatting to make a FileMaker script trigger when you switch to any new tab.

Learning to code a better FileMaker solution is something that happens over time. As you improve, there are all kinds of things you find that make the development process more streamlined.

Some of your application logic becomes repetitive in many locations. Think about using the Show Custom Dialog script step (I use this example in the video). How many places have you used it in your solution(s)?

Having to update this code can become quite the hassle down the road. This is where you come to the point of resolving to "code once", and by doing so, you only have one location to update the code.

While this approach can be taken to the extreme, it's a great thing to know. Using wrappers around native FileMaker script steps and functions can help you out in the long run - I promise!

For the longest time, I remember a great divide between the camp who used plugins and the camp that didn't. Actually, there aren't any camps, it was just individual developers who had an opinion about using plugins <grin>. (Note: I'll be using the word plugin instead of the proper spelling of plug-in - simply because I think it's cooler that way.)

One of my early opinions was that I didn't want to use them. One, because they added to the cost, two because they didn't "feel" like they were part and parcel with FileMaker and three, because I was unfamiliar. Yes, that last reason is a bad one, yet it may still be true for you.

Getting to that "ok" point about using plugins should happen REALLY fast these days. That's because you simply can't do everything you need to (or should be able to) do within FileMaker alone. Plugins are what make a solution more powerful and more robust.

This video is about how I use and check for plugins. It's a bit long and I tend to go on an on about the SmartPill PHP plugin, but hey, I want you to know what's out there and what your options are. There are quite a few plugins on the market and many of them duplicate what others do. While the options are diverse, it's all a matter of testing, using and then working with the plugins which provide the functionality you need. Not everyone is going to fall in love with embedded PHP like I have!

There are many ways to solve most data problems. The biggest problem, however, is getting stuck within a certain mind set of any given approach. FileMaker provides a powerful tool to solve complex data problems. However, it may be limiting you. It does this by providing a default way of approaching the solution.

This approach can be summed up into two words "Form View". When most users and developers start creating a FileMaker solution the approach is to simply add fields to the table that is the most specific to what's in mind. If you're a teacher, you're dealing with students. If you're in business, you're dealing with customers. If you're a consultant you're dealing with clients. You simply add fields to your respective table, add them to its respective layout and away you go.

Guess what, students, customers and clients are all the same! This is what you need to realize when creating a flexible data structure. This video will highlight the direction for an optimized data structure that focuses on generalization and not the specifics you should be avoiding.