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In this article we cover how to build a beautiful sliding drawer menu that works on both FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go. The menu looks and feels exactly like any other sliding menu built in any other development platform. FileMaker Go is where it really shines, providing a user experience no different to if they were using a drawer on any other native app.
Click here to check out the full article at FileMaker Weetbicks
G'day all! Just posted a new article over at FM Weetbicks, hope you enjoy it. This is a technique that I've used in a few solutions now, mainly for login screens or splash screens where I want to present a pretty backdrop image. The issue is that when the user resizes their screen or rotates their device, the image can often stretch, distort, or end up with gaps of space if it is set to maintain aspect ratio.
This article presents a way around that, hope you enjoy!
https://www.teamdf.com/blogs/dynamically-resizing-backgrounds/
QuoteIf background images are used sensibly, they can provide a beautiful backdrop to areas of your solution, such as a login screen, splash screen, or indeed the entire solution. FileMaker allows the user stretch the window both horizontally and vertically in any ratio they wish. Anchoring has allowed us to try and compensate for this in our designs, but often images suffer because they are themselves a fixed aspect ratio, and deviating from that ratio will either stretch and distort the image if 'maintain aspect ratio' is off, otherwise result in blank space around the image edge if aspect ratio is on - both options are not ideal for a background image.
In this article we present a technique that allows you to resize an image and have it re-generate a thumbnail version upon resizing of the layout. This thumbnail version is a cropped version of the original, but respects the original image's aspect ratio. If you choose your image sensibly, you can make a layout background that looks great no matter what dimensions your window is set to.
Hi all, new article just posted over at FM Weetbicks, blurb and link below, cheers!
QuoteSearch is an integral part of any solution, and can take many forms. FileMaker provides us with a useful native find mode, along with quickfind. Often though this is unintuitive for users, or just does not fit in with the design of a solution. In this article we present a slick, great looking search box UI design pattern, and explain how it is built. We also incorporate a number of native FileMaker techniques to achieve this (no plugins or webviewers here!).
Back in 2014 we wrote our most popular article to date about integrating FileMaker with the online email service Mandrill. Recently, Mandrill have announced that they are ceasing their free service and are turning it into a Mailchimp add-on service that will cost a fee.
In this article we detail how you can switch to using SparkPost, a free mail service that is the preferred alternative to Mandrill (even Mandrill themselves recommend it!) We provide a demo file and information on how you can easily make the switch, along with some important things you need to know along the way.
Click here to read the full article…
New in FileMaker 14 is the automatic “reconnect to server” feature which I particularly love. But there are some catches to getting it to work nicely, and things you can do to make the most of it. In this article we cover it in depth and outline some limitations and possible workarounds.
This is the first time we have ever reviewed a product, and may be the last. The fact is we just love Developer Assistant so much that we had to write about it. We'll cover some of the major features of Developer Assistant and why we think this should be in every developers toolkit.
Click here to check out the full review at FileMaker Weetbicks
Four years ago we wrote an article about how you can refresh portals and relationships without the need to flush the entire cache. The technique involved using a Cartesian Join. Now, over four years later FileMaker 14 has given us a supported way to do this with the Refresh Portal script step. In this article we demonstrate how the step can be used by comparing it to the example given in our first article on the subject. We also cover some situations where cartesian join may still be the preferred method of refresh.
Buttons have had a major overhaul in FileMaker 14. In addition to a brand new user interface for button setup, you now have far more control over a buttons appearance, including adding an icon (that is not an overlaid image!) In this article we cover some of the new features of button setup including adding your own icon sets for button usage.
It's been quite a while since FileMaker introduced a new layout part, but with FileMaker 14 we have one. Known as the Navigation part, on the surface it may appear similar to it's cousin the header. However the more you delve into its properties the cooler it gets. In this article we explain the properties of the Navigation part and why it rocks!
FileMaker just keeps getting better! With 14 we have more flexibility than ever before when it comes to creating gorgeous looking solutions. A number of a new layout styling options help make this possible. In this article we cover some of the new layout object styling options.
In this article we show how you can build a button bar to become the main navigation bar for your solution, and how it can be abstracted as much as possible so it can be pasted across multiple layouts. We also cover some of the limitations that using a button bar will present.
Click here to read the full article
The new Script Workspace allows you to add script steps simply by typing them directly into a script. It will attempt to auto-complete your entry and find matching script steps. With a little practice and habit you can easily learn the best shortcuts to use to save you the most time when it comes to finding the specific step you want to add. In this article we provide a demo file that gives you a number of variations of shortcuts you can use for every script step, as well as going into detail as to how the auto-complete works.
The biggest feature overhaul in FileMaker 14 is that to the scripting area, now known as the script workspace. This is the biggest scripting change in years and with it comes a number of areas where you can gain in efficiency when writing scripts. In this article we document all of the areas of the script workspace and list as many features as we can find.
Placeholder text is a great new feature in FileMaker 14. With it you can specify by calculation what label text is to appear in a field that is empty. You can also have complete control over the styling of that text. In this article we demonstrate how to setup a placeholder and some of its benefits over standard labels. We also show how placeholder text can be used as a powerful user interface tool for displaying virtually any calculated value direct on a layout without the need for fields or variables.
Click here to check out the full article at FileMaker Weetbicks
FileMaker 14 is here! To celebrate, FileMaker Weetbicks has written 14 articles all about FileMaker 14. Over the next few weeks we will be releasing these articles to the community. We cover all the cool new features (and some hacks!) and take things further as we usually like to do 
Stay tuned!
How do you turn a File in a container into interactive content? If the contents was inserted using "Insert File" then in the past your only option has been to export and re-import it as an interactive stream such as image, pdf or audio/video. In this article we introduce an elegantly simple single step method to turn all of your old File based containers into beautiful interactive machines in an instant!
Hi all,
Just posted the first FileMaker Weetbicks article for 2015 about a neat hidden feature of data viewer and the ExecueSQL function which allows you to get meaningful error messages when debugging SQL queries used with the function.
You can check it out here - Unlocking Hidden Error Messages in the ExecuteSQL Function
Look forward to peoples comments and further findings!
Cheers,
Daniel
FileMaker WebDirect is the exciting new replacement to Instant Web Publishing. With it you can access your database via a web browser and do *almost* all of the things that you can do in FileMaker Pro. However proper printing is not one of them. In this article we present a framework and example file for doing proper printing via WebDirect - from basic record printing to complex sub-summary reports and more...
When it comes to creating child records records in FileMaker we have a couple of different options available. The first is to enable “Allow creation of records via this relationship” on the relationship graph. This displays an empty set of fields in the last portal row so that the user can enter data and create a record. The second method is to create a button located outside the portal that creates a new record ready for the user to enter their data.
A new feature that we have been using extensively in FileMaker 13 is the ability to conditionally show and hide objects. In this article we will talk about combining the creation of records in a portal row and the conditionally showing and hiding of objects. This will allow us to create a nicer way for users to create records...
In this followup to the Sliding Drawers article, we take the technique one step further and apply it to the popover object. We discuss the differences between drawers and popovers in relation to the mouse-over technique, and how the process has been modified to better suit popovers...
The slide control is an exciting new layout tool introduced in FileMaker 13. In this article we are building an animated sliding drawer that responds to the users mouse position to open and close. There are a number of cool techniques and features being used to achieve this effect so check it out!
UPDATE 27 March: The demo file included with the article now supports Insert from URL ! Both plugin and Insert methods are available in the example file. The article has also been updated to reflect this.
When sending Email from FileMaker the most popular methods are the 'Send Mail' script step or a plugin. In this article we explore another method through using Mandrill - a free online service that is easy to setup and integrate into FileMaker. We go in depth in the article to explore what Mandrill is and its benefits. We discuss how we set up Mandrill and integrate it into FileMaker. We also provide a handy example file containing everything you need to know to get started.
Check out the full article here: http://www.teamdf.com/weetbicks/sending-e-mail-from-filemaker-using-mandrill/224/
Thanks,
Daniel
A grey fill on the active portal row. For years it has been something that simply 'was'. Well no longer. In FileMaker 13 we can finally easily eliminate this rather annoying design feature, and take back full control of portal fill colours...
Check out the full article here: http://www.teamdf.com/weetbicks/a-portal-grey-area/223/
By Daniel Wood,
Building FileMaker solutions for iOS introduces a new set of challenges for developers and requires UI controls that make it easy for users to interact. This article gives a very quick and simple technique you can use to make selecting tab controls much easier for FileMaker Go users on iPad and iPhone.
Read the full article here: http://www.teamdf.com/weetbicks/big-tabs/220/
One of the cool things that conditional formatting has allowed us to do ever since its introduction in FileMaker 9 is to build inline field labels that become hidden when the field contains text. With the introduction of field state formatting in FileMaker 12, we can take these inline labels even further and make them even more awesome.
http://www.teamdf.com/weetbicks/even-cooler-inline-labels/200/]click to read the full article…
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