Author: tmartinez8
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Added: July 30, 2010

Author: hananministries
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Added: July 29, 2010

When I was preparing a sample file for the How To Prevent Support Calls video I wanted to make it as cool as possible, so I decided to optimize it for FileMaker Go. I quickly discovered that I need a plug-in free alternative for the progress dialog.

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Author: filemakerinc
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Added: July 29, 2010

FMPug is offering discounted memberships at a LOCKED in rate, in perpetuity.  As of this moment, the rate is $50.00 US, which I believe is half the usual annual fee.  There are only a limited number of discounted rates available, after which a lesser discount tier becomes available.  When those get used up, it’s back to to the regular rate.

Here’s how it works:

“Your locked in rate is based on the number of COMPLETED transactions. To avoid losing the current promotional rate” (ed: currently $50), “we urge you to complete this transaction sooner rather than later. Wait too long and it could be gone!

** YOU’RE LOCKED-IN FOR LIFE! ** Here’s where things get really exciting! By signing-up now, the promotional price is your rate for life! That’s right, providing your membership never lapses, the promotional price will be your annual FMPug renewal rate for life! Whether you’re a new member or a renewing member, you won’t pay a penny more. It’s just that simple.”

Go here:

https://www.fmpug.com/signup

Is it worth it?  You bet.  But if you need more than the product discounts, mailing lists and so on, here’s an extra perk:

The all new iPad!

Er…wait, I mean this:

I meant THIS iPad.

Yeah, that’s it.

FMPug will be giving away four iPads to FMPug members – two at the FileMaker Developer Convention in August, and two to FMPug members who couldn’t attend DevCon.  I hear there’s some kind of FileMaker GO thingy that runs on iPads now too.

UPDATE 2: The recording is now available at WebEx.

*****

UPDATE:  If you missed today’s webinar with James, a recording should be available shortly.  We’ll update this post once it goes live.  Thanks to all that attended!  If you had a question for James and didn’t get a chance to get it answered, post in here in the comments for him.

*****

With about 1.8 billion people going online every day, the Internet is the platform to expand your reach and connect with your target audience.  On Tuesday, July 13th, join The Support Group’s James Dcunha, System Engineer, as he explores connecting FileMaker to the Web in this web seminar hosted by FileMaker, Inc.

FileMaker provides the ability to securely connect your database with the World Wide Web using several options.  Demonstrating different systems ranging from a super-simple site using Instant Web Publishing to a full-fledged shopping cart using Custom Web Publishing and PHP, James will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each publishing option and what you’ll need to make your FileMaker data accessible to the Internet.

This 1-hour webinar will be offered twice on Tuesday, July 13th.  Reserve your place now as space is limited.

Date and Time:
Tuesday, July 13, 2010—11:00 am EDT / 8:00 am PDT
Tuesday, July 13, 2010—2:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am EDT

Author: mailmakerpop
Keywords:
Added: July 29, 2010

FileMaker: Inspector Keyboard Shortcuts

I used to use the keyboard shortcut in previous versions of FileMaker Pro to get to the "object info" window. One of the things I didn't like about FileMaker Pro 11 is not being able to get to the inspector without using the mouse. Well, I just found out how to get to it without the mouse. You may have already known this, but if you did shame on you for not telling me :-)

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Author: nobuhirose
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Added: July 29, 2010

UPDATE:  If you missed today’s webinar, a recording should be available shortly.  We’ll update this post once it goes live.  Thanks to all that attended!

*****

FileMaker Pro makes it easy to create solutions to implement logic, automation, and business rules.  Google Apps - the suite of applications for email, contacts, calendars, documents, etc. - makes it easy to set up an organization with back-office IT systems.  For those that use both tools, linking the two together is a natural wish.

On Wednesday, July 28th, yours truly will be presenting a special DevCon 2010 session PREVIEW web seminar, FileMaker and the Cloud: Integrating with Google Apps, hosted by FileMaker, Inc.  I’ll be discussing some of the reasons The Support Group switched to Google Apps, and how we continue to use our FileMaker solutions with data stored “in the cloud.”  I’ll explore the challenges of using API’s designed for web applications, and demonstrate authenticating and adding and retrieving “records” from Google Apps through a FileMaker interface.

Registration is limited so please register for ONLY one web seminar.

• Wednesday: July 28, 2010 8:00AM (PT), 11:00AM (ET)
  https://filemakerevents.webex.com/filemakerevents/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=573693492
• Wednesday: July 28, 2010 11:00AM (PT), 2:00PM (ET)
  https://filemakerevents.webex.com/filemakerevents/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=574821544

For more sessions like these, be sure to attend the FileMaker Developer Conference, August 15-18 in San Diego, California.  Register today: http://www.filemaker.com/devcon

Elizabeth in San Francisco is one of many to ask this interesting FileMaker Go question:

My first reaction was “unfortunately, no.”  FileMaker Go can’t access the GPS features of the iPhone, and since we can’t use plug-ins with Go, there’s no opportunity to add that feature.  But never say never, right? 

After a few more moments thought, the answer appeared: FileMaker can’t access the GPS… but Mobile Safari can… and FileMaker has the web viewer.  Ah, the web viewer—FileMaker’s Swiss Army knife—how we love you!

Here’s our solution, requiring one web viewer, one script (plus a few more for fun), and just a few fields.

UPDATE: Todd Geist is doing something similar.  I like that’s he’s capturing altitude…I’ll need to see what happens the next time I take a flight offering WiFi

I created a simple webpage that uses the HTML5 geolocation features used in Safari.

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
  <head>
    <script type="text/javascript">
      function handler(location) {
      var messageArea = document.getElementById("messageArea");
      messageArea.innerHTML="<p>Latitude: " + location.coords.latitude + "</p>";
      messageArea.innerHTML+="<p>Longitude: " + location.coords.longitude + "</p>";
      messageArea.innerHTML+="<p>Accuracy: " + location.coords.accuracy + "</p>";
      }
      navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(handler);
    </script> 
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="messageArea">
      Location unknown 
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

With a browser that supports HTML5 geolocation services, when the location is detected the the result of that page should something like:

Latitude: 42.3028843
Longitude: -71.3770951
Accuracy: 30

with the source code now appearing as:

<html>
<head>
  <script type="text/javascript">
      function handler(location) {
      var messageArea = document.getElementById("messageArea");
      messageArea.innerHTML="<p>Latitude: " + location.coords.latitude + "</p>";
      messageArea.innerHTML+="<p>Longitude: " + location.coords.longitude + "</p>";
      messageArea.innerHTML+="<p>Accuracy: " + location.coords.accuracy + "</p>";
      }
    navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(handler);
  </script> 
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="messageArea"><p>Latitude: 42.3028843</p><p>Longitude: -71.3770951</p><p>Accuracy: 30</p></div>
  </body>
</html>

Notice the change following <div id=“messageArea”>.

UPDATE: Depending on what browser you use to test this, viewing the source may or may not show you the alteration in the messageArea div.  With Safari, use the Web Inspector’s Elements tab, rather than View Source; with Firefox and the Web Developer extension, use the View Generated Source option in the toolbar.

Next, we place that same webpage source code in a FileMaker global text field.  We create a web viewer with the object name “web” and specify a calculated URL:

"data:text/html," & 
geolocation::code

Using a URL that starts with data:text/html, tells FileMaker to treat the following text as an HTML page.  Essentially, it allows us to render a page from source code without needing a server and an HTTP request.

Our script resets the web viewer, waits a small amount of time to make sure the page has had time to render, and then checks the results with the formula GetLayoutObjectAttribute ( “web” ; “content” ).  If we have a result that contains <div id=“messageArea”><p>Latitude, bingo!

Now it’s just a simple matter to use FileMaker’s text functions to parse out the latitude and longitude.  We’ll need to do a little extra work to handle Apple’s data detectors—Mobile Safari sees the latitude and longitude numbers as possible phone numbers, and places <a href=“tel:...”> tags around them (UPDATE: We’ve updated the sample file to account for Mobile Safari not always detecting latitudes and longitudes as possible telephone numbers; our script sometimes gave us double negatives).  Once we have the latitude and longitude stored, an additional simple script can open a map to show us our location:

Open URL [No Dialog; "http://maps.google.com/maps?q=" & geolocation::latitude& ",+" & geolocation::longitude]

Running scripts from FileMaker Server can dramatically reduce execution time. I have been an avid fan of server-side scripting since it was introduced in FileMaker 9. Now, with the introduction of FileMaker Go it is more important to take the burden away from the client and do as much processing on the server as possible. There’s no need to bog down a client when the server can take care of the task in the fraction of the time it takes to run from client. You can use server side scripting to automate record updates from external sources, prepare those pesky Monday morning reports so they are printed by the time everyone comes in or simply use it to update stored data instead of using calculations.

You can run FileMaker scripts or System Level Scripts or even combine them to run a script sequence now! This article deals with FileMaker scripting.

We tend to think, now that we have this feature, we can just build our scripts, run them from server and be done. This isn’t quite true…we have to follow up with the all-important troubleshooting period. At least in my experience, there is no server-proof script that can be installed on a server without further testing and digging and modifications.

So, I collected some pointers from my–and fellow FileMaker developers’–experience that might help you speed up your development when running scripts from server. Don’t be discouraged. You will be happy with the results. Jump in and put some of those tedious scripts on the server, so you and your users can forget about them.

Things to know:

• Make sure all your script steps are server compatible (choose “Server” under “Show Compatibility”–bottom left corner of “Manage Scripts”).
• The server runs the opening and closing routines, so you might want to revise your “onOpen” and “onClose” script to bypass some steps that are not relevant to the server.*
• Globals are set. This may not be an issue, but might be worth paying attention to.
• No need to script opening a new window, because the server does not execute the scripts from physical windows, but rather a virtual space.
• If you are referring to an external file in Manage/External Data Sources, folder names have to be hard-coded in the string (such as file:/folder name/folder name/file name.fp7 or filewin:/ if you are on Windows Server).
• Import locations can only be either:
  • the Documents folder within the Data folder under the FileMaker Server root on your server machine (you can use Get ( DocumentsPath) to get you the right path; Windows users, don’t forget to use the “filewin” prefix);
  • the Temp folder (you can use Get ( TemporaryPath) and see the notes above).
• Watch the log after you set your script to run, it can only help you!
• Set up notification emails so you can be aware if something went wrong (you can turn these off after awhile).
• Errors reported are FileMaker errors, not server errors.

Some caveats:

• Lack of instant feedback. Even though you test until death locally, new problems can arise when running from server. Put in error checking after every step. I would also highly recommend logging script times.
• You have to disconnect the client that runs the server script if a script hangs.
• The script will hang if you forget to put in the “Perform Find” script step (possibly other actions or lack of them can hang the script, as well).

That’s it for now, but I will be adding to this article, so feel free to check back on occasion.

* I usually set up an account called “fmserver” to run the scheduled scripts with. Then I edit my onOpen script to bypass the opening routine if the account is fmserver. That can cut down on time and avoid unnecessary script steps.

Credit: Steven Blackwell, Todd Geist

FileMaker Go has focused a lot of attention on writing scripts that can survive disconnects without hosing your data.  Luckily this is pretty easy to do.  I need to do a really in depth article on transactions very soon, but in the meantime I thought I would throw up this cheat sheet to help people, since I keep seeing the same couple of little problems over and over again.  So here is a FileMaker Transaction Cheat Sheet.

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We had a good time at our Little Things that Reap Big Rewards meeting on the 15th. More than one person left saying that a particular tip was worth all the time to come to all the meetings put together. What were they? You missed them.

No. Just kidding. They’re posted on the blog entry below.

NEW AUGUST MEETING DATE
Because we simply can’t wait to get talking about FileMaker’s newest products (well that and a scheduling conflict) we are changing the August meeting from the THIRD Thursday to the SECOND Thursday. We’re sorry if you had your heart set on the 19th, but this month (only, we hope) the Kentuckiana FileMaker Users Group will have their monthly rendezvous on the 12th! Same time, same location though.

DESIGNING FOR IWP
After Alan Bird’s presentation on Instant Web Publishing in June, Byron Songer is stepping up to show you how to prepare your solutions to work efficiently with your new-found power. From visual design issues to some of the under-the-hood things you’ll need to know, now you can take full advantage of the the absolutely easiest way to take your data to the web.

GO-GO FILEMAKER MOBILE APPS!
“What are these new FileMaker products you are talking about,” you ask? Well, last week FileMaker released their long-lusted-for apps that run on the iPhone, Touch and the iPad (called FileMaker Go)! We are having fun playing with our new toys, and you will too! Various members of the committee will share their experiences with these game-changing new tools and we’ll pass around examples to play with your very own self.

Get a look a the future of FileMaker!

TIME/LOCATION:
August 12, 1:00 pm to 3:30-ish
1234 S. Third Street, Louisville

Info & RSVP: http://fmpug.com/scheduleMeetings.php

DON’T FORGET, NEW MEETING DATE!

See you on the 12th!

UPDATE: I just added a new screen that shows your location too

So I have come up with a method to get Geolocation data into FileMaker.  I am using only native FileMaker scripting and layouts. 100 percent pure FileMaker goodness, made from all natural organic free range sustainable scripts.  No web services, no FileMaker Server, and of course no plug-ins.

I have put up a demo file and I would love it people would log in and try it out.  Once I make sure the bugs worked out I will release it in some form.   Here is the info.

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© 2010 Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
From Dwayne Wright PMP - Certified FileMaker 10, 9 & 8 Developer
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com     TWITTER: dwaynewright

A READER ASKS
I came across your blog while searching for scrum tools.  I am looking for a scrum database tool that would allow me to implement scrum on a product development project, generate performance reports and share the backlog with the team.  Most of what I see being offered is large, enterprise applications, hosted or server based.  Too much for me.  Can you direct me to anything you've come across or even developed yourself?  I'm on a MAC with filemaker, so MAC based and filemaker is my preference.

-------
DWAYNE RESPONDS
Although I’ve reviewed SCRUM material, I haven’t been part of a development team using that methodology. To be quite honest, I’ve had a devil of a time finding FileMaker based workgroups that have used any official project management methodology to a high degree.

Most FileMaker development houses use their own tools to manage the GTD aspects of their business. The only tool that I’ve used is BaseCampHQ and I know that many other FileMaker developers have used it as well. I’ve used it to varying degrees of success for projects worked on remotely. I also introduced it to a 12 week project management practicum class at Bellevue College and we knocked a project out of the park for the non-profit organization HopeLink.

There isn’t any level of connectivity between BaseCampHQ and FileMaker.  If you can be more specific about your needs, I could do some more research for you and share those results on my blog.