Comments on: Stored Calculations and FileMaker Plug-ins

By: Kaj Hjorth

Kaj Hjorth — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:03:33 +0000

Hi,
just wish to say this was a very good and clearly written article.
Thanks
Kaj Hjorth
(Kaj = a version of Charles in Scandinavia)

By: Geoff Coffey

Geoff Coffey — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:10:10 +0000

Simon: I've never tried this, but it should work:

Create a new table as a helper.
Add fields to this table to represent the "parameters" to your calculation.
Add a stored calculation to this table with your calculation formula
In your script, make a new record in this table, set the parameter fields, fetch the calculated field value to a variable, then delete the record.

In this way, you should be able to force the actual calculation to happen on the server side. I can't guarantee that is what will happen all the time, so you should definitely test various scenarios. Also, one caveat. If the calculation result is a container value (like a picture, file, or sound) then you'll run in to trouble if you delete the helper record before you use the variable. You'll want to copy the data from the helper record, store it in some field somewhere (or use it, export it, or whatever you need) and then delete the helper record. This is because when you put container data into a variable, FileMaker holds only a reference to the field value in the variable. If the original field goes away, the variable won't work. Let me know how it works out. Geoff

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:15:37 +0000

Hi, do you know if there is any way to force FM to evaluate a plugin function on the server rather than the client during a script? Cheers

By: Geoff Coffey

Geoff Coffey — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:20:33 +0000

@Jason: Unstored calculations are *always* evaluated on the client side, so far as I know. So you will need to put the plug-in on the client machines. You can see this article for help getting plug-ins onto every client.

By: Jason Fleming

Jason Fleming — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:28:23 +0000

Love you website (both content and design). I am curious how UNstored calculations that use plug-ins work in a hosted environment. We have a database of all of our customers (~3000 records). A great deal of our business is repeat customers, but we often end up with duplicates resulting from spelling errors (i.e. ‘Crump’ and ‘Krump’ or ‘Fleming’ and ‘Flemming’). I created a simple plug-in that utilizes Levenshtein Distance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levenshtein_distance) to find names with similar spellings. Each customer record has a Match_Field: an unstored calculation that compares the name against a Global_Search_Field using the Levenshtein plug-in. When a customer calls to make a purchase, the end-user enters the customer name in Global_Search_Field and then triggers a script that finds/sorts based on Match_Field. If I enable this plug-in on our server, will the server make the calculations for this find/sort, or will it occur on the client?

By: Geoff Coffey

Geoff Coffey — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:49:42 +0000

@deepak: Most any plug-in will work with a database hosted on FileMaker server. But the plug-in needs to be installed on each client computer that uses it. Some plug-ins, though, can be installed directly on the server, and will operate in meaningful ways for all connected clients. In some cases (as this article explains) calculations happen on the server, where a server-installed plug-in is needed. In other cases, they happen on the client where a client-installed plug-in is needed.

In most cases though, plug-ins are used with scripting, and scripts *always* run on the client side.

Hope that clears it up.

By: Deepak Mahat

Deepak Mahat — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:08:08 +0000

Hi, I was wondering what do you mean by plugin compatible with FM Server. Am i right that if a plugin works with FM9 pro advanced, it may not work in FM9 Server??
I have a plugin which has fmx file as plugin file and a dll as support file for it. I want to put them in server and copy it to client, as the client access those database. What will be the quick idea on how to for me in this situation. The plugin is to interact with Microsoft office documents so need to operate in each of client environment.
Many Thanks, Deepak.

By: Jim Randell

Jim Randell — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:45:40 +0000

Thanks Guys !!!

By: Geoff Coffey

Geoff Coffey — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:09:49 +0000

@Jim: Thanks for the kind words You’ll have to check with your particular plug-in vendor to find out about server compatibility. In the case of Events (from Worqsmart/Waves in Motion), I don’t think this problem applies because it isn’t used to calculate legitimate stored text values. You might use a stored calculation with Events in some cases, but you don’t actually care about storing the result in the database, so it is fine to add a new field for this purpose. Hope that makes sense.

By: Jesse Antunes

Jesse Antunes — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:09:09 +0000

@Jim – Welcome! Glad you like the blog. I’m not really sure I get your question though. If you’re plug-in is registered through the use of a text file or a serial number this problem with stored calculations will affect you. You would have to use the techniques described above to create your stored calc. I hope that helps. If not, just reply again and I will see if I can make any clarifications