FileMaker: Explore

Displaying iPad Video on Your Desktop

by Chad Novotny on Sep 21, 2011, filed under: Videos

Last week I presented a webinar titled Maximizing Mobility with FileMaker Go. As we prepared for the session, we encountered a challenge: how to best present the portion of the material that takes place on an iPad and broadcast it via WebEx.

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First, a little background: last year we started doing FileMaker Go presentations here in our offices. Since we didn’t have Steve Jobs’s magic iPad that could display it’s contents on a scree in keynote presentations, we were faced with the problem of how to show a solution in FileMaker Go. One solution is to use a webcam pointed at an iPhone, display the video on our desktop Mac or PC, and then mirror the desktop to our classroom screen. The IPEVO Point 2 View USB camera is an excellent model for this. Going a step further, we used an ELMO (electronic light-modulated overhead), which provides video out to connect to a projector for presentations. We bought a couple for our offices, using the much better projection to display FileMaker Go on the iPad on our classroom screens and switching back to FileMaker Pro on a Mac or PC using the ELMO’s built-in video switch.

Then came the iPad 2, and it’s ability to do video mirroring. Just plug a VGA adapter into the iPad, connect it to a KVM switch connected to a projector, and BOOM: the iPad, and FileMaker Go, visible to all on the screen. This setup works perfectly for in-person presentations with a projector, where we can switch between the iPad and desktop video sources.

In a webinar, though, we can’t share through WebEx the iPad screen or FileMaker Go. The only solution is to somehow show the iPad screen in a window on the desktop, and then share the desktop in the webinar. The webcam method will work for this, but the video quality is only adequate, and it’s tricky to set up the lighting properly. What we really wanted was to use the iPad’s video mirroring capabilities, and capture the video output.

To do this, you need a VGA or DVI video capture card. After researching various setups, I took John Sindelar’s suggestion of the Epiphan VGA2USB, easily usable with my MacBook Pro (or any other Mac or PC). It is, however, a bit pricey: the base model is $300, capturing 10 frames per second for the iPad’s 1024x768 resolution. I connected the VGA adapter to the iPad, another cable from the adapter to the VGA2USB, and connected the VGA2USB to my MacBook’s USB port. I used the WhackedTV application recommended by Epiphan to display the captured video, and then shared my desktop via WebEx. Overall, it worked well, though WebEx viewers saw the video flash occasionally.

Want to see the results? Check out the webinar.

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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.”

FileMaker Go devices

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:

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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:

We are committed to be compatible with the latest Apple operating systems and the shipping versions of FileMaker products will be updated to support OS X Lion and iOS 5.

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.

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:

When developing for FileMaker Go, is it possible to write a script that does one thing do if the iPhone or iPad is held vertically and another if it’s held horizontally? How it could be done?

“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:

Function	Portrait	Landscape
Get ( ScreenHeight )	1024	1024
Get ( ScreenWidth )	768	768
Get ( WindowHeight )	1024	1024
Get ( WindowWidth )	748	748
Get ( WindowContentHeight )	973	717
Get ( WindowContentWidth )	768	1024

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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FileMaker: Explore

Displaying iPad Video on Your Desktop

Webinar: Maximizing Mobility with FileMaker Go

FileMaker and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (UPDATED x2)

Checking Screen Orientation in FileMaker Go

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