The Support Group Blog

Thanks to all who attended!  If you missed the webinar, or want to watch it again, download the recording (which requires the WebEx WRF Player).  You can also download the sample FileMaker file used in the presentation.

When it comes to FileMaker Pro, calculations and scripts are your tools to “make stuff happen.” In this webinar, sponsored by FileMaker, Inc. and based on our Advanced Scripting and Calculations class, we explore some techniques for building robust, feature-rich databases with complex calculations, powerful scripted automation, and elegant user interfaces. 

When you release new functions or reports to an existing client, you must show them where the new features can be found and how best to go about testing.  Changes to a database people use every day—a database they use to get important work done—can trigger a variety of reactions, including alarm and anxiety; effective conversation can help them realize that the scope of the change is manageable.  They will be able to do what they always have, but now benefit from new reports or functions.  Conditional formatting provides an easy way to spotlight changes in your database. Conditional formatting offers the ability to highlight text or to make text bold or an unusual color.  To point out new items, simply use a formula like the following:

This is the first in our series of entries, “How I Got Started with FileMaker.”  Jud Wolfskill is Senior Developer of our FileMaker team.  He has developed numerous FileMaker systems over the years, for customers such as Dartmouth College, WGBH, MIT, Duke University Press, and Chevron.  He is also a regular instructor at Harvard University, teaching FileMaker development for their Center for Workplace Development.

Reader Deborah wites:

I want to get running totals or summaries in my portal rows for number fields. Also, I want my portal rows to show a row number in a “self” relationship portal (I tried the Get(PortalRowNumber) function and could not get it to work). Hope that you can help. Thanks!

This article originally appeared in our old Get ( Answers ) newsletter.  I recently heard again from Marcelo, announcing his new consulting company and FileMaker 11 certification (congrats!), and thought I should update this.  With some new features introduced in FileMaker 10, this technique is even easier to implement.

DevCon is over; summer vacations are finally wrapped up.

Back in July, I presented a preview webinar of one of my DevCon presentations: FileMaker and the Cloud: Integrating with Google Apps.  We are now making that webinar recording available, as well as making the sample file available for download.

I’m an old school guy.  I started with an Apple II Plus in 1980 with a text-based operating system, audio cassette player for storage and a whopping 4K of memory.  I thought I’d died and gone to heaven after purchasing a 5 1/4” floppy disk drive with an incredible 113K storage capacity.

I was the guy you read about staying up all night working away on some software or other.  I loved to program, and lived for that “Aha!” moment when the solution to a problem suddenly appeared.  Researchers have shown that the “Aha!” moment is associated with the release of neurotransmitters, including dopamine, serotonin, and an array of endorphins.  That feeling is real and something I lived for.

UPDATE 4:

Geolocation is now natively supported in FileMaker Go 12 with the new mobile functions Location()and LocationValues().  Yay! For FileMaker Go 11, read on…

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?

Today’s the lucky day for all of you that have been asking, “When is FileMaker going to make an iPhone app?” FileMaker Go is an amazing new iOS app that gives you access to your FileMaker solutions on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

We are incredibly excited about the possibilities now available for our customers—and for us personally, too!  FileMaker Go runs most .fp7 databases without modification.  Layouts are rendered almost identically as in FileMaker Pro; portals, tabs, and Quick Find work; technologies such as web viewers, script triggers, and External SQL Sources (think of the possibilities there) all transfer to your iDevice.  And you get the best of both worlds: you can connect remotely to an available FileMaker Server WiFi or 3G to access live shared systems, or you can copy a .fp7 file to your phone or iPad to carry your data with you.

UPDATE 2:

The webinar recording is now available (requires the WebEx WRF Player).

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.