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SeedCode

A blog by John Sindelar in Affiliate Blogs

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Entries in this blog

Sync Based on Current Location (example file)

This video and example file demonstrates how to sync just the records relevant to your current location. This is a very common workflow in offline solutions and it helps keep the found set on your mobile device nice and small: meaning faster syncs and a better experience for folks in the field who don’t have to page through a bunch of irrelevant records. Filtering using Find Requests Todd Geist put together this sweet example file and video to show off the filtering in GoZync 5. “Filtering” le

WebDirect – Some native stuff that works great.

Pleasantly surprised at how some of the native behaviors we thought we’d have to script for WebDirect are working really well. Find mode – we’re using a dedicated find layout here but no crazy scripting. Quick Find Native sorting in WebDirect Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. The post WebDirect – Some native stuff that works great. appeared first on See

The New GoZync5 – Faster FileMaker Syncs

Todd and I spent a week in Seattle together finishing up the latest version of GoZync: version 5. (GoZync is our scriptable sync framework for FileMaker: free and pro versions are available.) It’s hard to believe GoZync is now 3 years old, the first version having been released in June 2011. We’ve synced a lot of files since then. =) Faster FileMaker Sync You’ll see substantial speed improvements when pulling records down to your mobile device thanks to the new Perform Script on Server (PSOS

FileMaker 13 Animated Slide Panels

A colleague was asking how to simulate a drawer effect in FileMaker where an animated slide panel appears to withdraw completely into the window edge. This is pretty easily done but there are a few tricks to keep in mind (below). Animated Slide Panels Download the demo file, based on the Invoices starter solution. Click “slide panel demo” in the header to show and hide the panel. Slide panel “closed” Slide panel “open” Here are some tips to get this working smoothly: The slide con

Perform Script On Server: Faster Calendars

Perform Script On Server (PSOS): Overview The “Perform Script on Server” script step was introduced in FileMaker Server 13 to let clients of a hosted file run scripts on the server. So with some careful planning, you can have the server do a lot of the heavy lifting the client machine would normally have to do (finding, sorting, processing, other data manipulation, etc.). This means you can sometimes avoid moving large amounts of data over the network, which is what normally happens when the cl

Schedules and Perfectionism

Schedules suck. Each time we make a schedule, we do so despite two glaring problems: 1. It’s really tough to estimate or forecast any substantial development project. (That’s the long version of “schedules are useless”.) Looking at any large successful software project in hindsight your estimates and schedules appear naive if not ridiculous 2. We also can’t deny that schedules themselves (or is it deadlines?) are a huge cause of stress. Assuming the wrong time scale causes a ton of stress, bu

Hiding Objects & Flashing in Web Direct

If you’ve been building layouts for Web Direct you’ve likely seen that Web Direct may draw your objects before conditional formatting or hiding are applied. This never happens in the desktop, where rendering is now double buffered on both Mac and Windows, but it happens frequently in Web Direct. The video below shows this in action and suggests one technique to make it less obvious. The movie is taken from optimizing our Pro Calendar for Web Direct. We’re also rewriting SeedCode Complete for We

Minimize Flashing in Web Direct: do as little as possible

Since layout redraw is one of the slowest things a Web Direct (WD)  layout can do, you’ll want to do whatever you can to minimize those redraws (which can appear your users as flashing or as a spinning busy icons). So, “do as little as possible”. This often means wrapping your commands in If() statements to see if they’re necessary. We don’t need to do this in Pro because we don’t notice things like “Revert Record” if they’re not needed. But in Web Direct, you really see Revert Record even if t

Time Scales, Kaizen, and Urgency

Doing some  financial planning a few months ago, I was thinking about how to budget for all the stuff we’re trying to get done next year–remodeling on the house, some travel, finishing the van/mobile-office/surf wagon–and I just couldn’t get the numbers to come out right. I had this spreadsheet showing how much we’d have available each quarter but it just wasn’t working. And I was getting pretty stressed out about it. But then I added 6 more months to my spreadsheet and everything balanced out.

The FileMaker Web Viewer as a Javascript Calculation Engine (CSV to JSON example)

The FileMaker 13v2 update has generated a lot of excitement about the fmp: protocol now being available for running scripts in all deployment situations.  Previously, locally running files handled the protocol differently than their Go and Hosted counterparts.  This made some of us a little hesitant to use this powerful new technology. However, it’s not just the UI power from Javascript that we get, although that certainly is the jewel. We also get access to a rich library of data manipulation

Schedules & Teams

I’ve been thinking a lot about schedules lately–software production schedules, deadlines, sprint plans, etc.–and I ran into this from my Pause On Error session 4 years ago: Below, I’ve proposed 8 “blockers” that, if true, seem to reinforce my skepticism that you can’t really share FileMaker development: that anything bigger than “one developer – one project – start to finish” starts to break down pretty quickly. 1. We have no accurate way to quantify the productivity of a developer. 2. Yet we

FileMaker Publishes Case Study featuring GoMaps and GoZync

“In our industry, we don’t get big game-changers very often.” – Jason Larson Jason Larson’s sweet mod of GoMaps for Braun Electric. We’re very psyched to see FileMaker, Inc. recognize Braun Electric’s very cool FileMaker Go deployment using GoMaps and GoZync. Read the full case study here. Learn more about the SeedCode add-ons used in this solution: GoMaps – plot your records on interactive, muti-pin google maps. Available for the desktop as ProMaps. GoZync – reliable, scriptable sync

Run Your Own Scripts from Google Maps: fmp urls in FileMaker Pro

SeedCode’s ProMaps lets you add your own links to Google Maps: users can click on a pin and run your own FileMaker scripts–going to that pin’s record in your FileMaker layout, for example. While ProMaps could always do this for hosted files, FileMaker’s 13v2 update now lets scripts like these run locally, not just when your FileMaker file is hosted. Learn more and download a ProMaps demo to see how this works. If you haven’t downloaded the 13v2 update, you’ll want to do so now. This update ext

Why you can’t sync with Import Records

Todd Geist has put together a great video showing how imports will let you down when you’re syncing records. Tricky stuff, but the basics are very well explained in this video. (Import failing begins at 11:40) FM13 demo file from Todd’s transaction demo; you can download this here. Todd’s article/video also includes a pretty cool demo file for showing how the sync / import works. It’s not fully fleshed out (i.e. it’s a demo) but it’s unlocked and has got a really nice FM13 interface. Of cou

Preview: SeedCode Calendar in Web Direct.

Needless to say, we’re pretty psyched about what’s possible in Web Direct… SeedCode’s Pro Calendar in Web Direct Editing a record in Web Direct. An alternate theme for the Pro Calendar in Web Direct. Learn more about FileMaker’s Web Direct. So when can I get it? I’m Already Using SeedCode Calendar Good news: the Web Direct add-on should be available as layouts and scripts you can paste into your existing copy of the Pro Calendar. This will be a paid upgrade, but existing u

FileMaker DevCon 2014: The Year in Review

John Sindelar will be presenting The Year in Review at this year’s FileMaker Developer Conference. “I get to see so much cool work from other developers over the course of the year, I’m thrilled for this opportunity to showcase some of it. I’ll be highlighting what our peers are finding most valuable in the newest version of FileMaker 13, and demonstrating new techniques folks can put to work in their own files.” “As always, the goal is to find ways to make your FileMaker solutions faster, si

Leadership: change the story

“Q: How do we change the future? A: Change the story people tell themselves about the future they will live in.” “Seen through this lens, effective leadership is made up of of just two core disciplines: Forging plausible, inspiring stories about the future we wish for ourselves, our families, our companies or our communities, and Sharing those stories with people in a way that allows them both to embrace them, and to make them their own.” From http://www.crashdev.com/2014/02/t

Game Developer Wanted (to be)

That’s the restroom key at DevLocal where FileMaker-Seattle meets. Are we all just frustrated game developers? I know that’s what got me excited about computers and I wonder how much of that original impulse still motivates what we do. Is that why we’re so into the animations and effects afforded by FileMaker 13? Is that why folks found FileMaker IWP so frustrating for so many years: because it could make nice *looking* apps but couldn’t make things that had nice behaviors? How does Web Direct

Calendar Mods – Screenshot

Got this great screen shot in from Brent Foster at fastcuts.tv where they use our calendar layout to schedule video production… Brent’s addition of Out, Room, Users, and Resource columns to the calendar Most developers don’t take enough advantage of how easy it is to add columns to the day view of our Pro Calendar: easy and looks great. Thanks Brent. • Learn more about our Pro Calendar add-on: built solely with FileMaker Pro scripts and layouts. The post Calendar Mods – Screenshot appear

Syncing Found Sets

Developers love that GoZync can be set to pull just a found set of records down to an iPhone or iPad. Folks use this to deliver just one user’s records–usually very specific things like “my customer visits for today” or “my active orders in this territory”. The QuickContact example file from GoZync: modded to sync flagged records. Less well known but almost cooler is that you can give your users the ability to “push” just a found set of records back to the office. This is great for when yo

Best-Of: FileMaker 13 Animations — Go To Layout

Overview Example file (link below) The animations introduced in FM13 are great, but they still don’t let us animate the transition from one layout to another. This is something we’re looking for as it’s often used in iOS apps to move from list to detail and back again. However, using full-layout slide panels, we can animate layout transitions as long as we’re careful to get the timings right. Our unlocked example file demonstrates how to do this in your own solutions and introduces using

Under the Hood with Sync: GoZync Webinar Recording

Syncing FileMaker Go If you’re looking to learn more about syncing FileMaker Go, this Jan 7 webinar features demos of some of GoZync’s features along with a good deal of Q&A from the audience. Enjoy! Learn more about Syncing FileMaker Go with GoZync: GoZync download, demo & screenshots. The post Under the Hood with Sync: GoZync Webinar Recording appeared first on SeedCode. Source

iOS Calendars (that work with FileMaker)

I collect all the new calendars for iOS, even the terribly strange ones (for example, try to use–or to even pronounce–”Schelandars“). Add an event in iCalendar One of my favorites is currently iCalendar which has a nice clean display and a simple interface for linking contacts and places to an event. Of course any of these iOS calendars can show events from FileMaker if you’re using SeedCode Subscribe: once you add a Subscribe URL as a source on your iPhone it’s available to any calendar

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