FileMaker Hacks

My Very Own Twitter Impersonator

Dear Reader, There’s an old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but having experienced it first hand, I’m not feeling even remotely flattered. Pissed off? Yes. Violated? Yes. But not flattered, and not amused. Here’s the short version: Me: The Impostor: Here’s a longer version (and I hope you’ll read to the [...] Source

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1,309 views

Kevin Frank
January 7, 201313 yr

ExecuteSQL: Using IN with Faux Dynamic Variables

Editor’s note: Today we have a guest article written by John Weinshel, whose knowledge of SQL in general, and FileMaker+SQL in particular, runs deep. John’s contributions in various online forums are always worth reading, and it’s a privilege to present his thoughts on this topic here. The new ExecuteSQL() function in Filemaker 12 does not [...] Source

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1,368 views

Kevin Frank
December 15, 201213 yr

Thinking About Value Lists, part 4

First off, a bit of housekeeping: we now have bright, shiny Print and PDF buttons at the top right of every article. They work like a charm, and I appreciate the suggestions from several of you that motivated me to install them. Well, we’ve reached part 4 in this series that has been going on [...] Source

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1,383 views

Kevin Frank
December 3, 201213 yr

Thinking About Value Lists, part 3

Welcome to the third installment in this series. We’ve been exploring various issues and behaviors in connection with 2-column value lists (VL’s), and today we’re going to look at, and propose a work around for, an issue with filtered value lists in Find mode. All of today’s demo files feature a basic expense submission system, [...] Source

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1,195 views

Kevin Frank
November 25, 201213 yr

Thinking About Value Lists, part 2

In part 1 we explored a particular type of value list: the field-based two-column variety, based on all values, and set to show values from the second column only… …and today’s article assumes familiarity with that material. This time around we’re going to look at some challenges and issues that can arise when using filtered [...] Source

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1,346 views

Kevin Frank
November 7, 201213 yr

PDF version of FM 12 ExecuteSQL Reference

Beverly Voth has produced a PDF version of The Missing FM 12 ExecuteSQL Reference with some additional material not available in her original posting from October 19th. And the SQL4_fmdev2.fmp12 demo file has been updated with new queries. Thank you Beverly for this major contribution to the FileMaker community. Source

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1,306 views

Kevin Frank
November 2, 201213 yr

The Missing FM 12 ExecuteSQL Reference

There seem to be many questions about the usage of SQL (Structured Query Language) with the ExecuteSQL function in FileMaker 12. This tutorial attempts to explain some of the SQL terms, if you are new to writing SQL statements. Since there are already many examples of how to write the ExecuteSQL queries, links to these [...] Source

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1,382 views

Kevin Frank
October 19, 201213 yr

Outer Joins in FileMaker 12, part 2

Last week in part 1 we looked at four “outer join” reporting approaches. Two of them involved ExecuteSQL, and I ended that section with the plea: Of course it’s possible that you, dear reader, know some FileMaker SQL voodoo to speed things up, and would be willing to share? Well Dr. Osamu Noda of Japan [...] Source

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1,796 views

Kevin Frank
October 12, 201213 yr

Outer Joins in FileMaker 12

Recently I had an on-screen reporting challenge, and decided to try several different approaches to see which would be fastest. Starting with two tables: one containing 20 Employees, and the other containing 2,000 Sales Data records for the current year… …display daily sales totals per employee in a seven-day grid, like so: Of course, as [...] Source

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1,253 views

Kevin Frank
October 3, 201213 yr

An In-Depth Look at “Export Field Contents”

Have you ever wanted to export a single field and maintain all the characters in that field? This article explores the possibility with XML Export and the use of a simple XSLT. But first we’ll explain the good, the bad and the ugly of some different standard ways to export TEXT out of FileMaker. Using [...] Source

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1,946 views

Kevin Frank
September 23, 201213 yr

Aggregates in Filtered Portals

The question on one or more of the FileMaker forums was asked and answered. Q: How do you get the Count() of the related records in a filtered portal? A: (paraphrased) duplicate the filtered portal and make it one row in height. Place the related summary field, “Count of…”, in the single row filtered portal. [...] Source

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1,572 views

Kevin Frank
September 13, 201213 yr

Thinking About Value Lists, part 1

In July and August we explored several esoteric value list techniques. This time around, and over the next few postings, we’re going to step back from the cutting edge, identify some common value list challenges, and propose some solutions to those challenges. A few thoughts before we begin: Some of the material in this series [...] Source

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1,324 views

Kevin Frank
September 10, 201213 yr

FileMaker Blogs

Recently a question came up on one of the lists asking about intermediate-to-advanced FileMaker Blogs. Here are some I’m aware of, and I’m sure I’ve missed some good ones, so I apologize in advance for any inadvertent omissions. Cimbura – http://cimbura.com/tech/blog DB Services – http://www.dbservices.com/articles FileMaker ’n’ the Web: Lessons Learned – http://blog.jsfmp.com FileMaker Weetbicks [...] Source

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1,614 views

Kevin Frank
September 1, 201213 yr

Fixed Width for EDI and Other Reporting

Editor’s note: Today it’s my pleasure to present a guest article written by Beverly Voth. Like many other developers, I have enjoyed and benefitted from her ongoing contributions to the FileMaker community. I do a lot of text manipulation for EDI (Electronic data interchange – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_data_interchange) and plain text exports with fixed-width field data. Some [...] Source

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1,296 views

Kevin Frank
August 30, 201213 yr

More Fun with Value Lists, part 2

As promised last time, today we’re going to look at a technique from Dr. Osamu Noda, which uses FM 12′s ExecuteSQL to create what appears to be a value list when in fact there are no value lists defined at all. This technique, like some of the others we’ve seen recently, is decidedly esoteric, but [...] Source

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1,498 views

Kevin Frank
August 19, 201213 yr

More Fun with Value Lists, part 1

One of the things I love about FileMaker is how many different ways there are to skin the proverbial cat. Following our recent look at “Magic Value Lists“, I received thought-provoking FileMaker 12 demos from John Ahn and Dr. Osamu Noda. I’m going to save Dr. Noda’s files for next time, but today we have [...] Source

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1,590 views

Kevin Frank
August 13, 201213 yr

Magic Value Lists

Folks, we have a superb demo today (MagicValueList), which comes courtesy of Andries Heylen of BH&A… But first a bit of background. Prior to July 18, 2012, if anyone had told me you could base a value list on an unstored field, my response would have something along the lines of… What app are you [...] Source

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2,563 views

Kevin Frank
July 25, 201214 yr

FM 12 ExecuteSQL “Unconference” Session

Yesterday I had the pleasure of co-presenting a DevCon “Unconference” session with John Ahn on the topic of ExecuteSQL. I wasn’t sure if there would be much interest in this somewhat geeky subject, but the room was packed, and the audience ran the gamut from SQL newbies to SQL power users. We started out with a [...] Source

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2,336 views

Kevin Frank
July 19, 201214 yr

Wim Decorte’s FM 12 Trigger Reference

The other day I had a question about some nuance involving script triggers. The details of that particular question aren’t important, but I recalled that when script triggers were first introduced, Wim Decorte had produced a detailed, color-coded reference. I wondered if he had updated it for FM 12, and it turns out that he [...] Source

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2,333 views

Kevin Frank
July 15, 201214 yr

A Simple Backup Script, revisited

In October 2011 I posted a simple backup script that has made my development life easier, but of course that version was for .fp7 files only (the release of FM 12 being six months in the future), and when I began converting files to FileMaker 12, I realized that the backup script was not intelligently [...] Source

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1,505 views

Kevin Frank
June 25, 201214 yr

Dwindling Value Lists, part 2

One thing I love about this blog is how much I learn from your comments. Having said at the end of part 1 that I couldn’t think of any serious use for a DVL on a check box set, Michael Rocharde kindly provided this example file (Conditionals), which I am sharing with his permission. This [...] Source

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1,605 views

Kevin Frank
June 11, 201214 yr

Dwindling Value Lists

A few months ago I mentioned “dwindling value lists” in passing, and said I would do a proper article on them at some point in the future. Well, then FM 12 was released and I went on an ExecuteSQL binge, so I’m just now getting around to honoring my promise. Dwindling Value Lists (DVLs) are [...] Source

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1,330 views

Kevin Frank
June 10, 201214 yr

FM 12 ExecuteSQL: Robust Coding, part 2

In part 1, I listed six scenarios that could potentially cause ExecuteSQL code to break: …and managed to get through the first five before running out of steam. This time, we’re going to look at #6 on the list, as well as some other observations, and I invite you to download and follow along in [...] Source

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1,388 views

Kevin Frank
May 21, 201214 yr

FM 12 ExecuteSQL: Robust Coding, part 1

[Note: Some of the material in this article, and in today's demo file ExecuteSQL Sandbox, previously appeared in my March 2011 article, Custom Functions for Internal SQL.] The other day a colleague remarked, “You know, it’s going to be interesting to see if you SQL guys are still so excited about ExecuteSQL when something gets [...] Source

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1,578 views

Kevin Frank
May 13, 201214 yr

FM 12 ExecuteSQL: Dynamic Parameters, part 2

This is a quick follow-up to part 1, with a couple more observations about dynamic parameters. a) I can’t believe I forgot to mention this the other day: A major ExecuteSQL headache that dynamic parameters can alleviate is the dreaded “embedded apostrophe” problem. In case you aren’t familiar with it, if your text string has an [...] Source

0 Comments
1,318 views

Kevin Frank
May 8, 201214 yr

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