FileMaker: Explore

Webinar: Maximizing Mobility with FileMaker Go

by Chad Novotny on Sep 02, 2011, filed under: Announcements, Tips & Tricks, General Tips, Advanced Techniques, FileMaker Go, Videos

Today I presented the webinar “Maximizing Mobility with FileMaker Go”, hosted by FileMaker, Inc.‘s Rick Colcock.  Thank you to all who attended; if you missed it or want to check it out again, you can view it here.

“iPhones and iPads have changed the way people work with information. When developing solutions using FileMaker Go, you’ll want to design your workflows and user experience to fit the way people create and consume mobile data. This session will cover useful tips and techniques to optimize FileMaker for mobile use. We will explore FileMaker development with an eye to adapting workflow patterns and user interaction to the mobile paradigm, as well as the new opportunities mobile devices present, such as geolocation.”

Here is the sample file used in the demo (though without the “student” photos).  You will need to be signed in as a registered visitor to download this file.

Several people asked how I was able to display the iPad screen on my desktop. I’ll have a new entry up later this week describing the process.

Lastly, here are the useful links listed at the end of the presentation:

• FileMaker Go Development Guide
• “Slide a block” layouts for iPad
• My previous geolocation article for this blog
• iOS graphics from Theme Studio
• Various iOS patterns sites:
  
  • mobile-patterns.com
  • pttrns.com
  • www.lovelyui.com
  • landingpad.org

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FileMaker and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (UPDATED x2)

by Chad Novotny on Jul 11, 2011, filed under:

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is arriving soon here! What does this mean for you and your FileMaker systems?

Our recommendation is to hold off on upgrading to Lion until FileMaker has released necessary updates for FileMaker 11. As tempting as the shiny and new Lion features may be, if you rely on FileMaker for critical business systems, patience is a virtue.

UPDATE 2: FileMaker has released the 11.0v4 update for Pro and Pro advanced. You can grab it here.

UPDATE: FileMaker has released information regarding Lion compatibility with FileMaker Pro 11 and Server 11.  FileMaker Pro (and Pro Advanced) 11 has issues with formatting dates and using the inspector to set number formatting, for which an update is due in August.  FileMaker Server (and Server Advanced) 11 is compatible with Lion, EXCEPT for all web publishing (IWP, PHP, XML, and XSLT); an update for Server is due in October.

Another issue impacting FileMaker Pro on Lion is exporting to pre-2007 Excel documents (.xls). This requires Rosetta, and will not be supported on Lion.  You can still export to the newer, .xslx Excel format.

As for earlier versions, FileMaker Pro 10 has the same issues as FileMaker Pro 11, plus issues with PDFs in web viewers. FileMaker Server 10, and FileMaker Pro 9 and Server 9, are not compatible or supported with Lion.

Previous coverage:

Right now, no version of FileMaker Pro or Server is supported with Mac OS X Lion, although it is a safe assumption that FileMaker 11 will be. In a Knowledge Base article, FileMaker has stated:

In past major OS releases, FileMaker updates have nearly always been required to resolve issues — often merely annoying, although sometimes serious.  We should expect a similar patch will be necessary with FileMaker 11 and Lion.

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Checking Screen Orientation in FileMaker Go

by Chad Novotny on Jul 11, 2011, filed under: Get ( Answers ), Tips & Tricks, General Tips, FileMaker Go

A reader asks:

“Yes we can!” (my son has been watching a lot of Bob the Builder). We need the Get ( WindowContentHeight ) and Get ( WindowContentWidth ) functions.

There are several other functions that can be used to get screen and window dimensions, but for some reason only the WindowContent functions actually return different values depending on whether the iOS device is in portrait or landscape orientation.  On my iPad, here’s what these functions return:

So, if Get ( WindowContentWidth ) > Get ( WindowContentHeight ), your device is in landscape orientation, otherwise it’s in portrait orientation.  Your script should test for this and do the appropriate thing:

If [Get ( WindowContentWidth ) > Get ( WindowContentHeight )]
  # it's in landscape…
Else
  # it's in portrait…
End If

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Prepaid, Discounted FileMaker Consulting

by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on May 23, 2011, filed under: Announcements, Reflections

A number of clients have recently signed up for or renewed their Sapphire Maintenance Plan, and in talking about it, we realized that it’s not as well known as some of our other offerings.  It’s an annual service and support agreement that provides you with ongoing access to a team of expert FileMaker Certified developers at a reduced rate.

Our plans are geared towards FileMaker users who expect to need adjustments to their system multiple times a year and are willing to buy a block of hours in return for a discount.  Very often, they don’t yet know exactly what they will do with those hours, but they do know that their FileMaker system is an important part of their operations and they want to keep it updated and even expand it as the business grows and changes.  Additionally, with many companies and schools facing a June 30th fiscal year-end, we’re finding some have unspent budget money they would like to use now for FileMaker services in the coming year.  Hours purchased at a discount through the plan can be used for any of our FileMaker services such as design, development, and one-on-one mentoring. 

Our Sapphire Maintenance Plan starts at about $3K because we tried to make it a low cost option for people who are not sure how much work they may have.  So if you’d like to have FileMaker consulting services “tucked away” for when you need them, please ask us about it.

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