The Six Fried Rice blog · 2007–2010
Ideas, experiments, and a few hard-won lessons from our early days building with FileMaker. All 67 original posts, by Geoff Coffey, Jesse Antunes, and Daniel Antunes.
FileMaker 11 added just one new object trigger, and it is a strange little dude: OnObjectValidate. This trigger fires after you edit a field, before it is validated. If you thought FileMaker already had enough after-you-change-a-field triggers, you were…
Read articleWe start our return to semi-regular writing with a small-but-awesome custom function: Pop. If you grew up in the American mid-west like me you might think I'm talking about [soda|soda pop|coke|soft drinks]. But I'm actually talking about stacks. In the…
Read articleLet me start by saying: "Ouch." It has been far, far, far too long since our last article. Someone much wiser than me once said something like this: "My only comfort is that I tried. My only regret is that I failed." I'll leave it at that.
Read articleIn the last post about the Six Fried Rice methodology I went over the concept of data separation and why we use it. That is essentially the starting point for how we structure the files of our system. One file contains all of the UI components and scripts…
Read articleA funny thing happened while I was stumped over the question of how to allow one of our clients to select and deselect multiple items in a list. Multiple people would be using the list at the same time. I was struck by the fact that I've been making…
Read articleIn an earlier article we explored an isolation technique that was specifically designed to work on ID's and that's it. There is a lot more that can be done with the new Set Field By Name step and in this article we'll take a look at a slightly more complex…
Read articleFileMaker 10's new Script Triggers feature just keeps delivering. You might, at first, think triggers are limited to layouts and fields, but it turns out your triggers can fire with all kinds of objects. In this article we'll show you how to run scripts…
Read articleFileMaker 10's most visible new feature is the completely redesigned Status toolbar (formerly called the Status area). Perhaps because of its prominent position, or because it is such a striking departure from a 20-year FileMaker mainstay, this change has…
Read articleFor years, FileMaker developers have been devising various filter techniques. The idea is that you type all or part of a name, part number, description, etc… and a list of results filters down to show relevant matches. As handy as these techniques are,…
Read articleScript triggers have in many ways completely changed the game when it comes to Filemaker development. The fact that I can launch script triggers on mode changes opens up a whole slew of possibilities, one of which is being able to have a huge amount of…
Read articleJust a quick announcement for those of you in the Phoenix area. I'll be presenting FileMaker Pro 10 with a focus on practical uses for Script Triggers at the next Phoenix FMPug meeting. We'd love to see you there.
Read articleIf you're a male, do you really need to be asked you if you're pregnant when you are at a clinic? If your female, do you need a prostate exam? Probably not. There are little nuances to data entry that occur with just about every solution that make it just…
Read articleThere are some things that are easier to explain through examples. Putting the Set Field By Name script step to work is definitely one of them. It's not a complicated process, but seeing the new Indirection capabilities that Filemaker 10 has to offer makes…
Read articleAdding Script Triggers has opened up a world of possibilities for FileMaker developers. Each different type of script triggers has it's own nuances and pitfalls to be aware of. In fact, with script triggers, FileMaker, in some ways, begins to expose the…
Read articleAt long last, 10 has arrived! After all the tantalizing little glimpses that we got last devcon, I for one am glad we finally have something we can get our hands on. There are a lot of new features and changes to go over, and I'm going to mention them all…
Read articleIn our article about FileMaker 10, we promised some tips on using the new Set Field by Name script step, which gives FileMaker the power of indirection. This is a complicated concept, and we'll be posting some real world examples along the way, as well.…
Read articleIf you thought FileMaker 9 was a big update (and we clearly did) you'll be thrilled with number 10. It starts with some flagship new features like Script Triggers (finally!) and infinitely more useful Sub-Summary parts, plus the usual round of small tweaks…
Read articleWhen I came to Six Fried Rice as a novice developer, I was essentially a completely blank slate in terms of development style and processes. Luckily, Jesse and Geoff are anything but novices at this. They've been working with Filemaker long enough to have…
Read articleMy previous post led me to YouTube, which reminded me of a few screen casts I did for O'Reilly when FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual was released. I could only find two on line, but I thought I'd link them here in case anyone finds them useful.
Read articleMany of you may not know that in order to be accepted as a speaker at the FileMaker Developers Conference, you have to submit a "speaker demo," which is a short self-made video of yourself presenting some topic.
Read articleAn interesting question popped up on the TechNet discussion list this evening:
Read articleFileMaker's Save Records as PDF script step is, like, totally awesome. But there's one teeny tiny issue: it sure likes to crash. We use this feature a lot with our customers, and under the right set of circumstances, we can see crashing on half or more of…
Read articleComparing dates can be confusing. It's tough to tell exactly when FileMaker will treat the values that you are trying to compare as dates or as numbers or as...something else. Hopefully, I can point you in the right direction.
Read articleDuplicating 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.
Read articleOut of Date: If you're using FileMaker Pro 10 or later, you can accomplish the goal in this article more easily using script triggers. See this newer article for details.
Read articleMany people were surprised by Tuesday's announcement from FileMaker Inc.: A new "desktop database" application called Bento. Nobody I know had any idea this was in the works, and I'm pretty sure it is the first product from FMI that is not directly…
Read articleTab 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…
Read articleOne of the common complaints our customers have is that they can't tell which field they are in when using FileMaker. Before FileMaker 9, there was no way to fix this for them. With the addition of conditional formatting, not only can you highlight the…
Read articleThere's a lively discussion on the TechNet mailing list right now about the pros and cons of FileMaker Pro's Object Grids feature. This is certainly an opinionated discussion, and there is clearly no "right" way. A lot of people find Object Grids annoying…
Read articleThis is a quickie: If you were using the beta release of the PHP API for FileMaker, there are some things you should know.
Read articleSince many people were impressed with my named parameters article, I decided to write up another post about the dictionary functions. Actually in all fairness I think three people actually liked it. Vincenzo Menanno, Chris Wack and Sam Barnum this post's…
Read articleToday's Find mode article is short-and-sweet. If you ever feel it would be easier to tell FileMaker what you don't want it to find, the Omit checkbox is your friend. In fact, you can use this esoteric Find mode widget to create incredibly complex queries…
Read articleYour 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…
Read articleDid 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…
Read articleIf you have a relational database (one with several connected tables) and you do any scripting at all, you'll almost certainly ask yourself a question at some point: How can I tell if the record I'm on has related records? This article explains the…
Read articleWe're thrilled to let you know that FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual is now available for sale. This sequel to the best selling FileMaker book out there was written by yours truly (Six Fried Rice co-owner Geoff Coffey), and the amazing Susan Prosser.…
Read articleDate values (and to a lesser extent, time values) are exceptionally common in database applications. And it isn't at all unusual to want to ask you database interesting date-related questions, like "How many orders do we get on Tuesdays?" or "What was our…
Read articleOnce you've mastered multiple requests, you're ready to move on to the next Find Mode gem: Find Symbols. Using these bits of punctuation, you can tell FileMaker, when it goes about matching records to your find criteria, to be a little more flexible, or a…
Read articleOne 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…
Read articleDevCon Day 2 featured two sessions by a couple of FileMaker insiders. Andy LeCates showed off some really slick implementations of Conditional Formatting and some innovative ways to use tab controls. Jon Thatcher eliminated a lot of the confusion about…
Read articleThe show has officially started. I'm seeing faces I haven't seen in ages and having a blast. Here's a quick recap of the highlights of DevCon so far, from my perspective.
Read articleI'm excited to let you all know that Jesse and I will be participating in a cool new dealio at DevCon. If you haven't heard about it, here's the scoop: Chris Kubica (author, developer, and all around FileMaker powerhouse), arranged for a special booth at…
Read articleBack 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…
Read articleFileMaker 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…
Read articleFileMaker Server 9 represents a pretty significant redesign of the FileMaker Server product line. One consequence of all the changes is that things may not work properly without reconfiguring your firewall(s). Improper firewall configuration can lead to…
Read articleFileMaker's find mode is a great feature. You can tell because, like all great technologies, it is easy to understand the first time you try it, and yet has a depth of capability that can be unlocked if you know a little more. Unfortunately, many FileMaker…
Read articleCreating a random number with FileMaker is a seemingly impossible task. Fortunately for us, FileMaker provides us with a very useful calculation function to help us along the way: Random. Alas, this function isn't quite what you think.
Read articleDuplicate data always seems to creep it's way into your system no matter how hard you try. Unfortunately, in FileMaker there is no easy way to deal with junk. Or is there?
Read articleAnother day, another awesome new FileMaker 9 feature. Today's special: so called data URLs. In a nutshell, you don't need a web site to use web viewers anymore. Now they can easily (read: without crazy exports and obscene path hacks) show data pulled right…
Read articleWouldn't it be nice if whenever you need a parameter you could just ask for it by name? Lets say that you have a create order script and you want to pass the script the name, street and zip code of the customer. If you were stuck with just the regular old…
Read articleThis question came up on Macintouch:
Read articleScript debugging has received an overhaul in FileMaker 9. FileMaker 8 launched a great feature with the data viewer but FileMaker 9 has made it an indispensable tool. Not to be outdone, the debugger also received some updates that make it a much more…
Read articleOne of the most annoying parts of FileMaker development is when I look on my screen and see: "Some Guy" is modifying these items. You cannot use these items until "Some Guy" is finished. I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about... You need to…
Read articleWe just rolled out 1.0 of Rfm It's an awesome object-oriented API for Ruby. With it, you can talk to FileMaker server.
Read articleHow many times have you wanted to produce a report that showed two different lists of records? Or a couple pages of summary information, then a list of raw data? Or a title page, then a few pages of charts, then one list of data, then a few more charts,…
Read articleOne of the least talked about features of FileMaker 9 is a new calculation called Self. Although the primary purpose of this function is to facilitate the Conditional Formatting feature (which can perform calculations on such unnamed items as text objects…
Read articleThere comes a time in every FileMaker developer's life when she needs to export a file temporarily. Maybe you're exporting records only to import them right back in again later. Or perhaps your creating a PDF file that you only want to email to someone.
Read articleFileMaker Pro 9 has another awesome new feature: Autoresize. Now your layout elements can stretch their legs when you give them a bigger window. Auto-resize lets you tell FileMaker how different elements on the layout should stretch and move as the window…
Read articleIn the old days, we used to joke that FileMaker's user interface tools were stuck in the 1970s. You could make a long list of things every application in the world did that were hard to do in your own FileMaker-based systems. In the last several years,…
Read articleOne of the most exciting new features in FileMaker 9 is Conditional Formatting. I think this is awesome because now you can apply dynamic custom styles to layout elements without adding dozens of crufty unstored calcs to your table. When I first started…
Read articleI can think of hundreds of times when I found myself pounding my head against the desk because I had to define yet another global field just to pass a simple value from one script to another. Like you, I myself hate to have lots of cruft clogging up my…
Read articleNo this is not an AP class on FileMaker Errors. FileMaker Error 401 refers to the dreaded, script killing, FileMaker Error 401. Many of us have encountered an annoying pop-up stating "No records match this set of find requests" in the middle of our…
Read articleThe FREE XSLT stylesheet makes it a breeze to access FileMaker data directly from Javacript or any other JSON-capable language. Ideal for dynamic web applications, Dashboard Widgets, Vista Gadgets, and more.
Read articleSo you've heard about the new FileMaker PHP API. You want to put FileMaker data on the web, but you're not sure where to start. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but using PHP to publish FileMaker to the web is easy, fun, and totally awesome. This…
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