Google App Maker is a wonderful tool for solving small problems throughout your organization. You can use it to create an easy way for your team to manage and share contacts or help you track the deadlines and budgets of your important projects. Google App Maker is great for so many things because it hides so much of the complexity of today's data-driven apps behind a drag and drop, "it just works" facade. However, if you're in charge of the Google Cloud instance that stores all this data, you'll quickly find that this ease of use comes at a cost…both mentally and monetarily.
Since this time of year is associated with giving, we thought that we would share a FileMaker iOS gift. We created a retirement app using the FileMaker SDK. Some of us may find this app useful sooner than others, but we hope you benefit either way. The free app is available on iPad only on the Apple App Store.
Fun fact: the term debug was coined by Admiral Grace Hopper while working on the Mark II computer in the 1940's. A moth became stuck inside the computer and Grace commented that they were debugging the computer as they literally worked to remove the bug. The moth was eventually freed and then the term stuck. You can now find that moth at the Smithsonian Museum.
Back when I was introduced to JavaScript, I used alert dialogs to debug my javascript code. If you're chuckling reading this then you're probably a pro! If not, you should watch my demo where I show you a few different ways to invoke a JavaScript debugger to help you find a bug or resolve a semantic issue in your code.
Google App Maker is pretty stylish right out of the box. It has the modern and attractive Google Material Design theme baked right in. As you add new widgets, text objects and buttons, they are automatically styled using this well-known visual language. Nonetheless, there are some of us who would like to give our new apps a little personal flair. Whether it's because we want to get user buy-in or to brand the app so that it works seamlessly with our daily workflow, Google App Maker gives us the tools to put our own fingerprint on our new app. We just have to know where to go and what to do.
Let’s Play Cards!
The Card Window was introduced in FileMaker 16. We learned some pretty cool development techniques and use cases for Card Windows during one of the breakout sessions we attended during DevCon 2018.
TRANSACTIONS
Card Windows can be a great tool for transactional programming. You can easily arrange for transactional events to either pass or fail, meaning all edits/adds/deletes that happen during the transaction are either committed or not. Cards can be leveraged to guide the user through a process, storing the data via global fields, variables or JSON arrays along the way. Ultimately, the data will only be committed if the user completes all of the steps. Incidentally, you can also use slide panels to create this user experience.
In an effort to promote shared learning and expand Google App Maker resources, we've created a sample file to demonstrate some basic Google App Maker capabilities including creating and managing contacts, distributing email messages and tracking various events and activities. You can watch the walkthrough and download the sample file to view some basic functionality in Google App Maker. The file is free and unlocked so feel free to explore and experiment with the tool before or as you begin developing your own apps.
We intentionally made this sample file simple in terms of function and data. We plan to gradually expand the capabilities and scale of the file over time and we will certainly share new developments with you.
We can’t give you “flowers in spring or robins that sing”, but we can give you some great advice!
There are at least 12 signs you need a custom business application. Most of our clients contact us because they have a problem:
- Inefficient workflows hindering employees
- Difficulties connecting their website to their database
- Manual data entry wasting precious time and money
We've created a cheat sheet to help you directly access the files in FileMaker Cloud. There are a few tutorials on the web, but none of them quite work anymore so we thought it would be useful for us to share one that does.
There are times when you may need to get to something in your FileMaker Cloud instance’s folder structure. Perhaps you need to access an old log file or even a file within the Documents folder - whatever the reason, you’ll know it when you need it. Please be aware that it's not a good idea to mess around with any of the files in the instance unless you have a backup and know what you’re doing. Having said that, here are three things you'll need to get started.
If you've ever planned an event, you can appreciate the immense amount of organization, coordination and communication required to effectively manage all aspects of the logistics. Technology, when leveraged effectively, can be extremely helpful in the process. Oftentimes event planners don't understand when and/or how to implement technology to streamline and automate tasks and information.
The prestigious University of California at Berkeley (UCB) came to us to help them streamline their event planning and management systems. The University Development and Alumni Relations department is responsible for generating and maintaining support for the university through various outreach initiatives including events for the Chancellor and fundraisers. The benefits of these programs circulate back to resources for the students and help the university to maintain its position as a world-famous institution.
Assuming you did meet Google App Maker, you've got your data in your slick new App Maker solution and you've shared it with your colleagues but of course, you want more. You not only need to store, display and capture new information, but you need to operate on it. Now that doesn't mean you have to take out a dirty scalpel or a rusty saw and go to town on your precious data, like some mad doctor, but rather add, subtract and divide it up like an equally mad accountant. So, let's review Google App Maker cold calculations.
