FileMaker Weetbicks

A Clever CSS Chat Display

Hi all, I have just posted a new article at FileMaker Weetbicks entitled "A Clever CSS Chat Display". I hope you like it. In this article I present a very easy to implement CSS-based chat 0 which is perfect for implementing a messaging system in your solution. The chat display is presented as a standard instant messaging format with a two-sided conversation. It is also able to handle formatting, and messages of any size. As always an example file is included which should contain

March 21

A Cooler Color Picker

Hi all, I have just posted a new article & example file entitled "A Cooler Color Picker". In this article we present a javascript based color picker utility which can be reused multiple times on a layout, or across multiple different windows at once. We present it in both popover & card window varieties (so it can be usable within a portal). We also show a quick and simple way to generate a color swatch from the chosen hexadecimal code, as well as some other interesting tidbits in t

March 10

Best of 2021 - Idle Record Release

Hi all, The final technique in our best of 2021 series sees a nice way to silently commit idle users who have left a record in an uncommitted state. This is great for situations where a user locking a record has the potential to impact other users (or developers). You can check out the article & example file technique here Thank you for reading and supporting FileMaker Weetbicks in 2021 and we look forward to bringing you more content in 2022 - Merry Christmas!

December 22, 2021

Best of 2021: PSOS Helper

Hi all, Number four in our best of 2021 series is a wee bit of code I have utilised many times throughout the year to run a script server-side using Perform Script on Server. This has proven a real time saver being able to write a script and then add one line of code to the top of it to force it to run on server - ideal for those times where you need to run a script quickly You can check out the article along with an example file with the code here Cheers! Daniel

December 19, 2021

Best of 2021 - Keystroke Tester

Hi all, Part 3 in our Best of 2021 series is a little utility I built to help developers interrogate pressed keystrokes and modifier keys - very useful when writing scripts where modifiers or keystrokes are used. You can check it out below. Stay tuned for the final 2 articles coming in the next few weeks. Check out the article here Regards, Daniel

December 15, 2021

Weetbicks Best of 2021: Get Record as JSON

Hi all! Number 2 in our Best of 2021 series is how to easily grab a record in JSON notation, with just a single script. A neat little tool which can aid in API integration as well as proving useful as a tool when trying to debug end user issues. You can check out the article below along with an example file that illustrates the technique so you can use it in your own solutions. https://www.teamdf.com/blogs/get-record-as-json Thanks for reading Daniel

November 28, 2021

Best of 2021 - Multi-Row Portal Selection

Hi all, 2021 is nearly over and so I thought I would take look back and share some of my favourite techniques and code bits I wrote in 2021. I've picked my favourite 5, starting with Multi-Row Portal Selection. This technique is all about intuitive OS style row selection utilising modifier keys - example file included as always. Check out the best of here! Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more of my favourites. Weetbicks

November 17, 2021

Reporting

Powerful Pivot Table Presetting

Hi all. I've written a new article at FileMaker Weetbicks entitled Powerful Pivot Table Presetting. In this article we take a look at pivot tables, their use, and their integration into FileMaker through using the PivotTable.js library. We look at others who have pioneered this integration before, and then extend on those by building in saving and loading of presets. This opens up a world of possibility for your end users who can now build and save their own pivot table configurations.

Daniel Wood in Reporting

September 30, 2021

Lovely Logos and Pretty Profile Pics

Hi all! In this article we showcase a range of Logo and Profile picture retrieval APIs and how they can be integrated into your FileMaker solutions to automatically download images for your contacts. We also show how background content can be removed from these images, again through using background removal APIs. Finally, we talk a bit about why using these could benefit your solution and when all else fails what other options are available for adding some visual presentation for

August 30, 2021

Prominent Color Coolness

In this article we show you how to use the contents of a FileMaker container field to produce beautiful gradients and solid background fills based on the container images most prominent colors. We also show how to render solid fills without the use of a web viewer (for portal display) and how to determine optimal color for text placed on top of your background fills. As always, an example file has been lovingly crafted to help you explore these techniques You can read the article

August 18, 2021

Add-ons

elemental_dropzone has landed - Drag and drop multiple files with ease

We're thrilled to announce the release of our fist add-on called elemental_dropzone. With this really easy to use add-on you're given the power of dragging multiple. files directly into your solution all at once. You can even drop entire folders into your solution. Once dropzone is installed just drag it onto your lay out and specify a script for the dropped files to be sent to for processing - it's really that simple. Best of all it is 100% free.

Daniel Wood in Add-ons

May 4, 2021

Audit Logging

Announcing the release of elemental_log - audit logging made easy.

It's been almost 18 months since the release of elemental_ux , and we haven't been resting.... elemental_log is our take on audit logging. Built to be super fast to log changes and even faster to integrate into your own solutions. In just a few minutes you can add a full JSON based audit trail to your solution that can track changes to whatever fields you want. We've also included an intuitive configuration tool for choosing what to log - no hard coding required. Other Features

Daniel Wood in Audit Logging

December 3, 2020

Easily Print or Capture Web Viewer content

In FileMaker 16 we lost the ability to print web viewers. With the recent rise in popularity of using javascript in FileMaker solutions, printing a web viewer is now a key problem to solve. In this article we give you a really quick and simple way to print any web viewer in our solution, without the need for a plugin. Check out the full article here! Thanks!

September 24, 2019

Take the Short Cut

Learning and using keyboard shortcuts in FileMaker is the absolute number one shortcut to being a faster and better developer. In this article we take a look at why shortcuts are useful, and then present a way for you to add even more useful shortcuts that do not come bundled with FileMaker. We go through some of the more cooler ones in depth and show you a few tricks along the way... You can read the full article here

July 1, 2019

FM Weetbicks - all about Elemental

Hi all, To accompany the release of Elemental I've written an article at FileMaker Weetbicks all about it, it's features, and what extra goodies you might find lurking in the solution. You can check out the article here: https://www.teamdf.com/blogs/elemental-has-landed/ And you can download Elemental here: https://www.elemental-fm.com Thank you . Daniel

June 17, 2019

Elemental for FileMaker Released

Hi all, Today I'm happy to announce the release of Elemental for FileMaker. This is a free fully unlocked solution containing some cool user interface and design stuff that I hope you find useful and can incorporate into your own solutions. You can grab a copy now at https://www.elemental-fm.com In Elementals first version you'll find the following: Avatars Over 20 API integrations with avatar generators. These are uniquely generated based on a name y

June 17, 2019

A Variable Way of Writing Recursion

Hi all, Back with another article this time about everyones favourite topic - recursion, woohoo! We go through what recursion is and give a basic example for beginners to wrap their heads around. For the more advanced developer we talk about a new way of structuring the recursive function using local variables as a means to pass information between recursive calls. Check it out, something for everyone. https://www.teamdf.com/blogs/a-variable-way-of-writing-recursion/

March 21, 2019

Easily View Microsoft Office Files in FileMaker

Viewing Microsoft Office files directly in FileMaker has always been a real headache for developers, until now. In this article we demonstrate how to easily use Microsoft Offices online app viewer tool to view your office documents directly in FileMaker. We also talk about Google's similar offering, and how files can be easily placed online for viewing using the file.io service. Check out the article and accompanying example file at the bottom of the article. Read the article here

February 27, 2019

Modal Magic!

Hi all, Back with another article this time all about Modal Dialogs. Here we present a technique for modal dialogs we have used at Digital Fusion for over 10 years, and it still holds up. This method allows us to initiate modal processes from within an originating script, and have our modal process return its result (generally an ID, or an action followed by a resulting ID) back to the originating script in order to continue its execution. It's a nice simple scripting framework that works g

November 12, 2018

Better Breadcrumbs

Hi all, Just posted a new article over at FileMaker Weetbicks all about building a breadcrumb navigation control using just a simple tab control object. Here's the blurb & link, thank you for your time. https://www.teamdf.com/blogs/better-breadcrumbs/ A breadcrumb menu is a really useful navigation design pattern for both websites and applications. They greatly enhance the way users find their way around and are also a key visual aid in indicating the location of a user withi

October 3, 2018

Building a Multi Lingual Application

Hi all, Just posted a new article over at FileMaker Weetbicks all about building multi lingual applications in FileMaker, we walk through the whole process and cover some of the challenges involved and how to overcome them. Also included is a thorough demo file. Check it out here, thanks !

August 31, 2018

Swipe-Out ! Building a native Swipe-Down Gesture on iOS

In this article we introduce a technique to implement native swipe gestures in all directions for FileMaker Go that can be used to trigger a script upon these gestures. The focus here is implementing a swipe-down gesture to dismiss a drawer menu that slides up from the bottom of screen Check out the full article here, thanks!