Advanced Techniques
Not of the faint of heart, these posts talk about advanced (and oh-so-cool) FileMaker Pro tips and techniques.
Alternating Color Based on Alternating Data
6-5-2008 by
An interesting question popped up on the TechNet discussion list this evening:
I have a list of records with dates, which often repeat from one record to the next. I want all the same dates to be one colour. Then the next date would be another color. The background color of the date field […]
Duplicating a Set of Records in FileMaker
4-21-2008 by
Duplicating in a Record in FileMaker is very easy…. but a found set???? That takes a little bit of thought. Here is how I would approach the task.
Restoring Active Tab State
11-23-2007 by
If you use Tab Controls a lot (and don’t we all?) then you may have run into a little snag: When you switch to a different layout, then come back again, the default tab panel comes back to the front. This is usually not a big deal. But sometimes you have a script that switches […]
Tab Controls without the Tabs
11-2-2007 by
Tab controls have added a wealth of options to FileMaker developers looking to better organize and present data to their clients. The only limitation is that the tabs could only be placed on the top of the tab controls isn’t always ideal. FileMaker 9 provides a much more powerful and interesting way of […]
FileMaker Dictionary Functions
9-20-2007 by
Since there were so many people where impressed with my named parameters article, I decided to write up another post about the dictionary functions. Well, actually in all fairness I think three people actually liked it. Vincenzo Menanno, Chris Wack and Sam Barnum this posts for you!
Importing Records to a Backup - Brute Force
9-13-2007 by
Your FileMaker Server loses power. All your files have crashed. What do you do now? The safest practice is to go to a backup. Sure, this sounds like a daunting task, but it is surprisingly manageable. The best part is that you won’t lose any sleep worrying about how long […]
Limiting Checkbox and Radio Button Choices
9-5-2007 by
Did you know that if you shift-click on a field formatted as radio buttons, you can select more than one choice? Even if you don’t know this, chances are some day some user will figure it out. Yuck. Here’s a short-but-sweet technique to deal with the problem. And you’ll see how to apply the same […]
Dealing with Damaged FileMaker Files
8-9-2007 by
One of the most asked questions about FileMaker is how to deal with damaged files. There is a glut of choices when attacking this problem and there doesn’t seem to be one single answer. Compact, Optimize or Recover… Maybe Save as Clone which one works and why? Hopefully, this will answer a […]
Stored Calculations and FileMaker Plug-ins
7-31-2007 by
FileMaker Server does some funny things when you create a stored calculation that uses a plug-in. In fact, odds are you received everyone’s favorite invalid character, the ?. This article explains why this occurs and gives some solutions for this rather pesky problem.
Automate FileMaker Plug-in Deployment with AutoUpdate
7-31-2007 by
Back in the late 19th century, when FileMaker Server 5.5 was released, one of its stellar new features was AutoUpdate. FileMaker Server can automatically install plug-ins on the connecting FileMaker Pro clients as needed. This is very cool, but there are a few gotchas, which are explained here.
