Development Standards

Hi all, I need to prevent a child table from creating a record when the value already exist ONLY in relation to its parent table. Table = Party (Parent) Party ID 1 Party ID 2 Table = Party Names (Child) Party ID 1 Party Name ID 22 = John Doe Party Name ID 23 = Johnny Party Name ID 24 = John Doe (This is what I want to prevent) Party ID 2 Party Name ID 25 = Sally Sue Party Name ID 26 = Sally Party Name ID 27 = Sally Jane Sue Party Name ID 28 = Sally (This is what I want to prevent) My current solution: A text field with …

I noticed an anomaly when viewing data in Table View: The values in the primary key field, in this example, should all have primary key type values - not any other value like a "name". I have checked my data through my filemaker field values in Form View and even exported to data to Excel to verify the data in the primary key field throughout all table records and they are all correct: only primary key data. I noticed that I placed the primary key field in a tab for development purposes (so I can see these values so I can validate things are looking okay). I wondered if the field being placed in a "Tab" area was causing some display issue in Table View. So …

I am retired and I thought that this would make my mind work so I took up Filemaker. I want to calculate taxes, for example gross of 6500.00 first 29000.00 at x% the next 29000.00 to 45000.00 at y% and so on.

Hello, (1) I have a ready set value list table with the following fields: -ID -Name -Photo (Container) (2) I would like to do the following: when I choose field (Name) from a dropdown menu, I would like another container field (Photo) to auto populate automatically and show the photo based on the same (Name) in the value list. any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Not sure if my title makes sense or not :). I'm building a nutritionist meal planning program for use with my coaches/clients. Currently I have it set up so that if the user selects a meal plan, and then clicks 'edit', it imports the meal plan's foods into another table and then opens a card window for editing. Once they close the card window and select the 'save changes' option, it then imports the records back to the original table. This seems to be working fine, but it did require a lot of new table occurances (there are tables for foods, food weights (various units of measure/their gram weight), nutrient definitions, nutrient data, meals (recipes), and a few other…

Hi, Are there other option to create a DDR? Thanks Rudy

Since launching Fireside FileMaker just over a week ago, we've had well over 1000 downloads so thanks to all. Today, we released a new podcast 'Understanding the Development Process' https://firesidefilemaker.podbean.com/e/understanding-the-development-process/

I develop on a Mac (10.13.6) using FMPA 17. I would prefer to code in a text editor, and have recently become aware of the TextMate + FileMaker Bundle option. From my initial test drive, I prefer this environment to working in Script Workspace. But before I make the investment, I wanted to see if anyone has found an option that is better still. (The path of least resistance for me would be for FileMaker to be a language option in BBEdit, but I haven't been able to find that anywhere.) My primary desires for this coding environment would be choosing my own font (and size), code coloring, code folding, snippet expansion, and the ability to control everything from the keyboa…

Hello guys, good afternoon from the Philippines here. Which is which, Filemaker Developer or Filemaker Programmer? Which is right? I'm excited to hear your answers gurus.

After a lot of research, I have not yet been able to understand how to recommend / fulfill my client's wishes. I created a management software (FMS16 on the client hardware server) for a travel agency, which at the moment communicates with customers with exchanges of e-mails and pdf, automatically generated by FM. Now the agency would like to allow customers (say 20 max concurrent users) to log in on the internet and exchange all the information, in the various pre-trip and post-travel phases, via the website: - secure web login, password generation, forgotten password management, etc. - entry of travel data on specific pages dedicated to the customer - possi…

Hi there, I am creating a database for client payment management. I would like to be able to scan documents to be viewed within Fmp easily. What is the best way to manage scanned documents with Fmp? Best practices? Should they be saved remotely? How can I link a client file to show scanned documents in a portal?

Hi Guys Been developing with Filemaker since version 6 and stopped at 12. Now with 15 there are many better ways to achieve results. I have an Invoice table and the products table have sub components. E.g a Laptop has a cable and carry bag as sub components. In the old days after adding the main item I would go to the sub components table via a relationship and loop through the records adding them to the order. Just wondering if there is a better way now with V15. Cheers Ron

Dear all, Please Help.. I am not an expert with Filemaker and I want to build an inventory for my small company to keep all stock items. Please give me some light on how to do it, if possible, do you mind share a sample one to help me on quick understanding.. ?? Thank you -

Forum Post Text I am a big fan of Excel have always used it for analysis and reporting but I see the potential of Filemaker (Pro 14 Advanced) and want to see if it really can provide what I need. I am a complete Filemaker novice, but through the forums I have built up a reasonable level of basic knowledge. Also, I have looked at the many ‘sample’ solutions and videos posted here and elsewhere, which are a great help. A background in Excel modelling has also been a great help as the functions and their logic are often the same, or very similar. I have decided to try and convert one of my Excel models into a Filemaker solution and would like to post my planne…

Hi till now whenever any updates needed doing to my solution i would do it on the live file as not many users were using it at all the time therefore i could of put it off line when needed to updatze thing. however as my solution and company are growing i can`t really afford that , i would like to know how i would be able to update easily my live solution which contains the data with my updates which i now create on a cloned file. please can someone help me out with this. i tried using FMrefresh however fall into error. please can anyone let me know of other similar plugins that do this service simply and smoothly. thanks

I need some basic table/relationship help. Although I am not listing all of the fields and tables, I am hoping to get some general theory guidance on proper setup. The solution simply tracks courses that are taught and the costs associated and seems to work fine. Within a teacher layout, I have a dropdown to select the Step, which them populates the salary, and ultimately shows me the cost of the course in a Courses layout. However, what I failed to think about is historical data. As teachers move up the Step ladder and I change the Step in the Step field all data changes for courses they taught to the most recent step salary. I need a way to 'store' all of the Steps of a…

I am trying to learn the best way to update a single file database being hosted with Filemaker 14 Server. The updates would be needed for several clients. I am hoping there is a really easy way to do this with the latest Filemaker version. Is a script required to export the data for each table (probably 40 of them)? If this is the case, is there a recommended export type? Thank you for any help as I can not seem to find any current discussions on this in the forum.

I'm preparing a sub summary report from a selection of records in my found data set. The report needs to have a detailed, record by record section at the top part and below this, summaries of the remaining records. The problem I'm facing based on the layout below is, because I need the records for Groups 3,4 and 5 in my found set in order to calculate their summarised results, they're appearing as detailed records because of the layout set up I'm currently using to allow details to show for Groups 1 and 2. I feel like I'm missing something very simple here, appreciate any help. Thanks in advance Group1 DetailsRecord1 DetailsRecord2 Summary of Group1 Group2 D…

Assistance Needed - Creating the right relationships based on the information below. Being in the print, packaging, promotional and apparel industry, I am trying to build a "One Click" solution for processing client's print JOBS and invoicing them out accordingly. Each JOB requires the following: JOB NUMBER (JOB). Maintain the same job number from initial JOB SPECIFICATION through INVOICING, and versioning of JOB NUMBER based on changes. For example: If I create a new JOB and it's number is 1001 and then I modify it at some point, I would like to capture the initial JOB number 1001 and then have a revised JOB number that reads something like, "1001r2". This give…

Hi I’m new in Filemaker, but I see lot of advantages using this solution. I have two similar excel one is work schedule and next one is order schedule. I would like to have them in FM. My problem Is to build database which keep the visual and functionality of excels WORK SCHEDULE: The main part of this excel (SCHEUDLE) is connecting dates, workers and type of work to do. I would like to keep the visual form of this excel but it should work as a database. Work to do is editable list of work type. At the upfront you can see date, week day and time start of each shift, colors are pointing different line production (usually there are 2 shifts day/night and we ha…

I am writing a database to gather information on student's degree pathways. I have 4 years of intake; 2011 - 2014; the discipline - maths, arts etc - 7 choices; then the subjects they have completed or are completing. In total this is 900 fields. This tool is not for official records; it will be used to calculate which subjects certain students still need to complete. So record numbers will not be large. My question is this: should I break up the table into years? This is the way I am planning to design the file: a student will login in via IWP (moving to 14 eventually) then select a year and a discipline - this will take them to the appropriate layout, to enter their da…

I have a UK client with some US customers, and they would like the next version of their system, which manages printing, labelling and quality control at the edges of the medical field, to get their quality control and printing system validated - for FDA approval. Does anyone have experience of doing this with FileMaker as the core component, who might be prepared to share pitfalls especially?? Not necessarily expecting all advice to be free... Links to other helpful discussions welcomed. Thanks John

Hi to all, I'm new of this forum and new of the fm software. I'd like to ask you a little advice if I can: I have to make a warehouse database where I can store my werehouse items, and official prize catalog. These catalogs will be imported from xls files. The problem is that I have to assign for each item in my warehouse an item from the catalog (so i can see the formal description of the article). These catalogs are very very very extended something like 6500 record for each catalog. So do you think: 1. I have to make 1 table for the catalog that contains all the record of all catalogs with an ID an Brand. so i can make search through one single table.…

Hi guys, I've been tasked by my manager to find or create a program that will take into account availability and the target number of hours per week for each person and schedule shifts. can this be done in Filemaker? how hard is it? am I barking up the wrong tree? thanks

How are others handling the process of moving code from Dev to Staging to Production? Generally FMP sucks at this but SM360 makes it even more important. How are you managing source control? How do you migrate between systems? Are you using off the shelf tools or custom tools for these processes? Hoping to start a prolonged thread on how these things are managed. What do I do? I keep LISTS. Big monster lists of everything I need to do for a particular release when moving between environments. Then I track those changes per environment in a checkbox fashion so I can know what changes are applied. I keep the changes uniquely numbered so that I …

Hello forum, We all know we should not make schema changes to a file while Users are in the system and how, even opening the options on a field can interfere with User experience and even cause auto-enter serial to fail, new record creation to fail etc. We also know that if a served file crashes (or even a file opened locally), that it should be replaced with a (pristine) backup version rather than the potential risk of file damage. What is not clear to me, and other developers I've talked to, is whether it is safe to design over WAN. In my case, our connection is very slow and drops quite often. I have always preferred having the file on my desktop where I c…

In FM13, if you create a new record, but never commit it, then calling "Revert Record" will delete the record entirely. In FM13 it's also possible to set up a Script trigger for OnRecordCommit to block the auto-commit when the layout has "Save record changes automatically" checked by calling a script that returns a zero result. However, it seems that calling Revert record in such a scenario does NOT delete the record, even if the OnRecordCommit script returned zero. Is there any way around this? I really like the feature where Reverting a record auto-deletes it...

Hi All, I am after a bit of advice on how I might be able to format my report a bit better. I have built a report based on a table and have a portal that then displays all related records. The report works fine in 50% of cases. The scenarios where it doesn't work is where the amount of related records exceeds the amount of rows shown by the portal. A scroll bar is displayed to the end user and the records can be seen by scrolling but this report is designed for printing. Some records will have 1 related record, some may have 50. I need to find a way of catering for both of those senarios on one report. Can anyone help, I feel that the portal is a gre…

Hi All, I have a FM database that has a generic login. The system is used by ipad users mostly, and accessed from FilemakerGO without a prompt for user login. There is one layout on there that everyone should be able to access and one that should be security limited. Is it possible to limit access to layouts by logged in user? If so can I flash up the login box from a button click and check that the credentials entered have the relevant permissions to view that layout? Many thanks

We currently use Subversion for version control of our FileMaker development, but we're starting to explore moving to Git instead. We've heard some rumors of people experiencing file corruption when using Git for FileMaker files, but I haven't been able to track down any real sources. Is anyone using Git for version control of FileMaker Pro files? Other than needing to close the files completely before committing, have you had any issues?

Hi. I have a table called PRICING that contains a field PRICE. I have a list of vendors in a table called VENDORS. Depending on the project, I may want 5 or so vendors (selected with checkbox field) to enter their price in the field PRICE. So its the same record, but the field PRICE would be separate for each vendor. Do I determine which vendor is checked, and then duplicate each record with PRICE, and add the specific vendors foreign key to it, thus creating a duplicate for each vendor? Thanks.

Hi group, I have an estimating db that I have a table for items and one for assemblies and one for assemblyItems. The assemblies are like a header table where I have a title of the assembly and I add items from my items table into my assemblyItems table. This creates a actual cost for the assembly. So an example is this; (I am an electrical contractor) Office with 2 Lights, 1 Switch and 3 Receptacles. $328.00 4 hours of labour. This has the following items in the AssemblyItems table that will make up the cost of the assembly. 2 2x4 Troffers c/w lamps $68.00 2.4 hours of labour. 1 Box $4.00 .02 hours of labour Wire, etc.... …

I've got what appears to be a simple issue, but I can't find any answer to it. Here it is: (1) I have a large table with 50+ columns, and all of the column headers are in Spanish. Call it data_table. (2) I have another table with 2 columns. These two columns contains all the Spanish titles from the first table, and the English translation. Call it translation_table. (3) I want to create a third table that has all of the data from data_table, with the translated column names from translation_table. So just a new table, with the data of data_table, with the column names translated. This seems like it wouldn't be difficult, but my Googling around hasn't fou…

I am new to Filemaker, which after reading this you will probably realize. I have a database of about 200 datapoints, obviously too large to put on one layout, I want to spread it across four or five layouts. My question is how do you do this such that the end user, using an iPad, can enter the data on the first layout screen, swipe to the second and continue data entry, and so on. I know where the slide control is, and can put it on the layout, but how do you tie the layouts together?

Hello, Complete newbie to FM, so apologies if this is a bone stupid question. I'm attempting to build a weekly rota table for a site that has highly flexible staffing levels (40 on day 1, 87 on day two, 25 on day three for example), so I need to be able to rota people on day by day with no discernible pattern. There are a finite number of shift options (8), but need to be able to change them on a daily basis. I don't think using a portal would be an option, but can't seem to be able to fathom how to get differing values for each day? Currently have three linked tables, one for people, one for shifts, and one for the rota table. Apologies if this makes …

I have FMP 13 installed on my MacPro desktop at work, and on my MacBook Pro laptop at home. BTW, I'm very new to FMP. I have started developing a DB at work on the MacPro and thought I'd store it online via "Copy" (similar to DropBox) so that I could access it at home as well. Am I going to have problems with this? The reason I ask, is that the other day I made a change to the layout of a table at home, but when I got to work it the change wasn't there. Before I go further, I'd like to make sure that this will work. Mike G

I need help with Time Billing. We are a service business and bill clients only for our time, we have no products and no inventory. We have a very basic file where employees enter their activities by creating a new record each time they work on something. Fields are: Date | Employee | Job Number | Client | Activity | Time | Rate | Total I need to generate invoices from the records in this file. What is the best way to find all the time posted to a particular job number, sorted by activity? Should this be in the same file with 2 layouts or in 2 separate files? Invoice should show a single dollar figure for all employees who performed a certain activity on the…

I am looking for general advice regarding an unusual use of FileMaker.  In my work I use FileMaker to track content for museum exhibition design. This is basic stuff: what does the artifact look like, what are its dimensions, what is the text label, what display case does it go in, and other related data. I have experimented with creating a layout that works as a â��digital labelâ�� in FileMaker Go or in kiosk mode on a touch screen that uses the data collected in the content management database, indeed, they can be the same file.  FileMaker makes it easy to have a really great label with swipes, pop-ups, images, everything that a museum visitor would want to le…

Hi, Im trying to figure out the best way to set up a checklist/task style table for my projects. Each Project has different stages of development; I would like to have a list of tasks for each stage. Currently each new project record defaults to enquiry stage. I would like this to populate a list of tasks automatically and then when the user changes the stage of development to "appointment", for example, a new set of tasks would be generated. My initial thoughts are that I need a big script which creates a bunch of related records in the tasks table each time the stage is changed. I was hoping for some input before I start making the script. Any he…

Hello, I am new to this and I am interested in finding out if any templates exist for the personal property appraisal business either for art and antiques furnishing, collectibles etc.. This is not complicated stuff - it amounts to a customized inventory form. I am a past Bento user - but did not use it for this that purpose, it appears that Bento would be a enough to accomplish this. But Bento is being phased out. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Dear Sir, I have created Stock Inventory file with the help of Inventory FM Solutions. Yet I have customise according to my requirements. I have two stock inventory locations one is at Go down and another is at Shop. First materials received at go down then transfer to shop. So for as this I have make each items twice but in different ID and also suffix them with location name. For example a item name as aluminium foils 162 mm (Go down) and another is aluminium foil 162 mm (SHOP) in item list. Stock transaction is maintain by month wise of each item with month wise stock transaction id. I create new record of stock transaction month wise. My query is that at presen…

HI, A client has come to my company with a question that I am not sure how to handel. The client wants us to find a way where they can send a questionaire to their subsidary companies asking them questions about if they provide things such as medical insurace, life insurace, dental plans, ect.. also it includes quetions about who holds their 401K plans and Defined benefit plans. What the client wants is when the companies respond to them they want a master list created that shows Company A provides medical insurace, life insurace, no dental or vision ect... they way it has been described to me is they want to manually update the master list as the reponses come in or do …

A user creates a new record (using a duplicate record script) in WebDirect (OS X (10.7 I believe)) (tested in Safari and Firefox) (I haven't been able to test with FMP yet), and enters legitimate data in a text field. The field has Validation > Require > Unique value , with a custom message displayed if not unique -- and that message works when I've tested with another user in the same privilege set. The user goes to a next or previous record (or runs the duplicate record script), returns to the original record, and the field is blank. Enter the same data and repeat, and the data is committed. (If the user tabs to another field before changing records, t…

Hi I am having a few problems, when I ask FM to duplicate a record it duplicates everything other then any characters that are listed. I cannot understand why it is not copying them over, the same thing happens when I try to input data from another database that is the same field names, it imports everything but will not let me copy over the characters. Please can someone help. I had a database that contained all the information for 143 scenes and wanted to import them into this new improved version that had more button options etc etc, but I don't really want to have to write out the characters again for every seven. can anyone help me please. I hav…

Hello, I think I need help from the experts in the big community.  I am new to filemaker and my boss wanted to create a database that will track dealers, invoices, inventory and sales. I am almost complete but I don't know how to create a genealogy for the dealers. The business is direct selling, and for the dealers, we need to track the recruiter of the new dealer. OR the number of recruits of the dealers.  It is just like a simple family tree with more extending branches. You know, like a hierarchy with the first dealer on the topmost. I really need help guys coz I don't know what to do.  Please see attached file for reference. Thanks!

Hi I am wondering if anyone can recommend any good template sources for filemaker pro. I have tried a few google searches but most seem to direct me to the filmmaker pro start solutions. I am hoping to build a sort of employee time tracker database that replies on them scanning themselves in and out and working out the costs and overtime etc etc. As I am a novice I was hoping to get a time tracker database template I could look at and learn dn then try to work out how to extend it, the over time and extras we pay employees is complicated so I wanted to work that out once i had the bare bones of the scanning in and out. Thanks Sarah

As a general question, I'm curious if there are any guides to setting up Filemaker development on a Mac to minimize mouse usage? And more specifically... When you open the Set Variable Options window, is there a keyboard shortcut to open up the Specify Calculation window? I can TAB over and highlight "Specify..." but if I press Return, it just clicks the "OK" button. And that question relates to all Filemaker windows that have buttons on them. Pressing return only executes the default button, regardless of whether or not another button is highlighted using TAB. Any general solution for this so I don't have to keep reaching for the mouse? Also... is ther…

Has anyone used Nagios to monitor the FileMaker xDBC service? We've got it set up and monitoring the basic FileMaker service over 5003, the XML publishing and the web publishing. Trivially easy to set up and runs really nicely. However we're running our Nagios on a CentOS server, so there's no ODBC driver for it. So i suppose we're going to need to use a JDBC connection to monitor the xDBC service. Naturally it's the service we're most interested in monitoring as it seems to be the least reliable of the FileMaker services and it tends to fall over once in a while - though infinitely better than it was back in Server 11 world. So has anyone set that up before? or …

Hi there, first post from a n00b in filemaker, hope the question isn't too dumb... I'm a dba in mssql and oracle but as said new in filemaker. I'm wondering if it's possible to generate filemaker tables using a script à la http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174979.aspx ? I would feel much more comfortable porting my solutions from development to test and later production by recreating the database/solution using a script. But, perhaps my old ways made me blind; if this is a stupid idea can someone explain to me what would be the filemaker way of doing this? Thanks in advance for your time, Regards, Bert

I'm using Stacked Column Chart. This output has to be printed in black and white. So it has to be easy to judge what color means what column. I thought it's possible to chose color for each column but I cannot find how. Is it possible to do so? If not, what color scheme pattern is the best for black and white only prints?

I am trying to create an Income Statement by using this fields: -Field 1: Expense Type (Payroll, Operating, Marketing,..) -Field 2: Expense Amount -Field 3: ? I need to know how to create totals for each expense type using the field 'expense amount' and need to be able to add and subtract the totals between expense types. Example: Suppose I have multiple sales, Field 1: California,Texas, and Florida; Field 2: Revenue amounts. And I will need to be able to subtract/add sales only from Texas & California. How do I create a field to allow me to do this?

I am trying to setup 123sync to aid in the pushing of invoices from Filemaker to Quickbook. The problems I faced was in: - Step 2: Relationships -- I linked the primary key of my own fm solution to the qb's primary key, which led to Step 3 where I got an error in refreshing the list. - I skipped Step 4 and proceeded to Step 5: Field Mapping. When I clicked on the drop down menu to choose the fields for matching, I couldn’t see the whole list of fields (it was unscrollable) so I could not go ahead in setting up. More precisely, I am using the demo version of 123sync (I wanted to test it before purchasing the license), ReckonAccounts Premier 2013 (Australia version) an…

Hello All, This is my second post. I'm currently playing with my sample file, which based on watching on youtube and reading forum posts. I have three text fields, and three global fields. I want to use a modal window for entering a new record. below are the scripts that I used based from what I read and watch. Create Project script Allow user abort [off] New Window [Name: "New Project"; Height:1; Width:1; Style:Document] Show/Hide Toolbars [Hide] Go to Layout [New Project] Adjust Window [Resize to Fit] Perform Script ["Center Window"] New record/Request Pause/Resume Script[indefinitely] Set Field [Modal window:: Project Name; Modal window::Project…

Hello, So this is a weird question I find and I am sorry for any confusion. I am developing a database for a bunch of doctors and I already deployed it on FM server. It is working great but the docs have a weird request. Usually I would update the database and make tweaks directly to the DB via the administrative account by remotely connecting to FM server. It was working great but for some reason the docs want me to create a "new" version of the DB. Rename it and then transfer all the data from the old DB to the new. To be honest I have no idea how to do that because I can just update it "on the fly" by connecting to FM server on our dedicated server. Right now …

What is the best method to maintain the current tab and object (popover) orders during script execution? I am having difficulty in searching out the answer in the forums. I assume there must be a solution. Thank your for any help.

Hi thanks for looking. I got some advice on this board a couple weeks ago that really helped me out, so I thought I'd ask this before I went any farther. I'm building a database for an eBay store, and without going into too much detail, what I'd like to know is this: Is there a way (I imagine there is) to have one table that contains all of my records, and different tables that separate them by category? I'd like them to be interactive, so that as a record is added to a categorical table, it is also added to the main table, and the same for deleted records. I think that I might have to build relationships, but I'm a novice and don't understand them well. …

Hi there, Â I am creating a database for our film school's camera equipment. It is an asset management application much like a library system. I need help with the process of designing a form to batch assign assets to a contact. Â In short, one student can check-out several pieces of equipment at once. Â The best template I have found out there is FM Starting Point (see attached screencap), which already has relationships established between Assets and Contacts (On the Asset layout, you can check-out an individual asset to an individual contact). It also has Condition, History, and a list view for all Assets. This is definitely a step in the right direction. Â …

Hi there, My name is Luis, i'm portuguese and i'm new to FileMaker. I've just downloaded the trial version of FM Pro 13 to see if i can do what i want with it and noticed that there are already built in solutions to use right away. So i'll post here what i'm looking for, and maybe, with hope, there's already out there something like this. I have a gaming group (www.spielportugal.org) and once a year we run a 3-day convention for boardgamers here in Portugal, called LeiriaCON. I'm looking for an application that can manage the check-in of all attendees, the games that they bring to the common "library" and the management of all in and out movements from the library…

I'm still working on my schedule solution. So far I have created "Schedule", "Person" and "Shift" -tables that are joined through other tables such as: "PersonShift" and so on... I have connected my persons to the right shift and my shift to the right date in my schedule. My problem is now how to add the right persons to each date. To add persons and dates to shifts was fairly easy with your help but now it is a whole other thing. My table looks like this: __kp_ScheduleShiftPerson _kf_Schedule _kf_Shift _kf_Person 1 1 2 2 …

I want to build a voice interface onto Filemaker 13. It would use voice commands to search / find records, convert field text from text to speech, then play back the audio one field at a time. Any ideas where to start? Anyone know how to do it?

Hello, I have been developing applications in Visual Foxpro for a couple of decades and am currently evaluating a demo version of FM Pro 13. My plan is to re-create a few of my apps currently in VFP9 to FM Pro 13 Advanced. I haven't used this version of FM yet but it appears to be the one I would purchase when my trial is up. So far, I really like what I see. I know I have a lot to learn and don't know if I my 30 day trial will be long enough to answer all my questions. So, I'd thought I would throw out a few to you experienced FM developers: 1. My goal is to create standalone applications I can distribute. It is my understanding that this is a feature of Pro …

Hi All, Has anyone done the integration of Logic Control Pole Display device with a FileMaker POS application for MAC OS X users? http://www.bematechus.com/lt9/ Is there any plug-in available to do this integration? Any help is appreciated! Thanks Stiti

Hello all I've started using FM and so far have been blown away by the power and ease of use. I've managed to get an application up and running in no time. I have previous experience with Sql scripting and MS Access, but I'd say I'm still pretty novice. I'm building a DB that will be used for guest booking in a hostel where I work. I have the following tables: Guest Rooms I keep contact info in Guest and the room and dates they are staying in Rooms, linked by ID. I want to map out per day who is in what room. As we have multiple people in each room, i want to see how many people are in room 3 on a given date. I'd like to display this in a rolling c…

Scenario; I developed a database for  a client that has appr. 7 employees that work in a call center. Each employee is assigned 500 accounts / customers to work. As a default all accounts are imported in the "STATUS CODE NEW"....(SEE SOFTWARE SCREENSHOT- below)....As they work the accounts they change the status code to whatever happened on the account (ie) - if they called and left a message for a customer they then change the status code to (1st attempt) - NOTE: there are 15 different status codes...  Now with 7 employees as they are all working there assigned que of accounts, the status codes are constantly changing within the que...  What I need is a layout …

I am creating a database at work for use with both Ipad and PC/Mac Desktop computer. Have searched for a solution, but I don't seem to find any reference to this. Any ideas how to centre a form would be appreciated Regards Tore

I name table occurrences in the plural and the foreign key in the singular, such as Contacts table and ContactID, Invoices table and InvoiceID. I name the primary key always simply ID. But what about a plural table occurrence name such as People? What should be the foreign key? PersonID? PeopleID? Or do I name the table Persons so I can then say PersonID and it sounds consistent? Upon Googling, 'Persons' doesn't appear to be used much any more. Sometimes it's the little things that can drive me nuts. Opinions appreciated.

we have a large solution that will be bound and distributed, and we hope to update about every 6 months over the next few years. i've been working on my import/upgrade scripts and keep reading about all the troubles with the built in auto-increment ID's that filemaker uses. we have been using them up until now, putting some descriptive text in front of the number. example - our equipment table numbers each record Equip100, Equip101, Equip102, etc.. because we have to reference the equipment by it's number occasionally (like in value lists in related files, etc.) i wanted to keep the number relatively simple. all the solutions i've seen for custom generated keys are long …

Hey guys, was reading some articles on FM Advisors website and saw some other references to an almighty TOG Model that a frenchman wrote. I was wondering if anyone knew where that article was either on fm advisor or any other website so I could read it and improve my development capabilities through organization Thanks in advance for any help!

I've been developing a database for the past few years and been learning as I go. My abilities have been proficient enough to develop a database that does almost everything we want it to. We use ours to manage a retail, wholesale, manufacturing business so records deal with customers, vendors, orders, purchase order, products, parts, shipments, etc. However, there is an issue of speed. Locally hosted, it works fine. (Although now that we've integrated more CRM functionality - including a dashboard - it is sluggish on load.) But we rely on remote access for some of our users and it can get very slow on some layouts and pages like the dashboard are not usable. We do not ha…

Hi to all, After lots of googling i am posting this topic . I am getting very strange thing in my application. when i ran a script on layout where chart (using deleimited data) and set calculation fields repetition there)is placed, taking much much time in script running completion. as i removed that chart, its running very fast.my problem is that i cant removed those charts. also i tried move to new layout then run that script then back to originnal layout but still it just save my 1 minutes.because when it come back to original layout it again calculated the calculations of chart. Please give me suggestion, how i bypass this chart during running script. …

I am starting a new project and could use some direction. I am familiar with FM "tutorial" basics and have built databases in the old DOS days. So I'm not totally new to the basic concepts The project is for the company I work for. I am a regional sales manager and am trying to develop some tools to manage business better. We are a very large plumbing company and our database is an old old green screen type program. I get a weekly excel sheet with the commercial jobs we did that week. About 200 records per week. Here are the critical fields: Ticket number : The job number for that one job ( we replaced a faucet at the Dunkin Donuts on 12, Ma…

I've been playing around with the Invoice starter solution in FM 11 advanced. Wondering the correct approach to add inventory and keep a log. Maybe a layout similar to "Record Detail-Invoices" where once clicked "Update Inventory" adds the amount to "Products::Amount In Stock". Thanks.

Hi all, I have a very simple table with the following fields (product , from_location , to_location , quantity and date). How can I create a three column report that to shows totals received, issued and on hand for each location. Thanks.

Our solution references PDFs that are stored on a NAS drive. Each PDF is stored by its DocID in a directory that is calculated from the DocID, so that we end up with about 100 PDFs per directory. It's been working great for 3 yrs. However, we don't have a way to split this directory structure across more than one volume. Perhaps we'll need to in the future? Not sure. Aren't we heading for trouble and won't we eventually reach volume capacity? This is a system that stores applications to a competition and their associated PDFs and so logically we can split documents by competition (which has an ID). And so, we're starting to think about doing so. Our path would t…

Hi guys, is there a way to make a record not modifiable? I would like to do so, so that an user can browse lets say Invoice records but not being able to modify them. Do you have any suggestion/idea? Thank you G.

After 6+ years developing on a live database I am looking to switch to an offline development approach. However, I am finding that documentation on best approaches very hard to come by. So I am looking for recommendations from those currently using this model. I have looked at the data separation model as a solution, however we a very organic database. Changes are made to layout, script, and tables constantly. We are also a 24 hour 7 day a week operation. There are very few days when a field is not modified or added to the table structure. Our current setup causes frequent record lockouts on the user side while data is changed. Also on our larger tables with c…

Does anyone know of a filemaker database that has a drop down field with values "hot" "warm" "cold"? Infact, any documentation about Filemaker and copyright / intellectual property could be really helpful... I have someone trying to sue me for use of the english language! Any help hugely appreciated!

I'm looking for some general ideas and suggestions here, rather than direct answers. Although those would be appreciated too My company has had a customized FM solution running for several years now. It's been a policy to never delete/remove any data. But that has caught up to use with bloated filesizes and slow performance levels. Using SyncDeK, we've set up a second server that will not only mimic all of the records/changes of the production system, but will also hold all of these 'archived' records. We've setup rules to delete 'archive' records from the production system, but never from the archive system. We're not too concerned with the performance/siz…

We have a "Daily Log" database at work that's a little buggy, that I'm thinking of restructuring. I have a few ideas about how, but I'd like to get some suggestions before I start. The database is used to log events in an industrial plant. Log entries are made for different pieces of equipment when they are started/stopped or maintenance is performed. The main table looks something like: Daily Log Date Time User Log Comment Comment # It seems pretty straight forward, but where it gets confusing is how to handle the navigation, viewing and sorting to provide a user experience similar to making entries into a book of paper logs. The main layout shou…

Does anyone have any advice on how they setup and manage development and production environments? How do you push your changes to production from dev without overwriting data or corrupting scripts? We do a lot of PHP integration as well, so the way we've been dealing with everything is we make our changes to production, copy the production files and then rename them as testing files. Then we can create all the testing data we want. Can anyone recommend any good articles on how I should better deal with this? Are there way to copy scripts, layout and table structures? Thanks.

Hi Guys, Just curious, has anyone normalized (I use the term loosly here) their FileMaker database (i.e. found a way of separating calculation/subsummary fields with normal data fields). Im looking at creating a system from the ground up, so I've got no legacy issues here and been reading alot of data normalization as I've been working with other dbs - thing with FM is, you need the calculations stored in a field or subsummary data again stored within a field and before you know it, you have all these additional fields within your table. I know you need these additional fields as there is no other way of getting calculations/subsummaries etc working in fm (and I don…

I am using FM 11 04 in OSX Lion I am 'compiling' in Parallels with Vista. When I 'run' my app in OSX or Vista it works. When I create and run an runtime version, an 'included' file isn't found. Here is the setup: Main application: Members.fp7 Support : calendar2.fp7 Building my app seems to work. But, when I hit the 'Calendar' button, I get the dreaded '.... file not found...' message. If I browse to the Calendar2.usr file in the app directory and click it, it opens and runs as expected. I have made sure File/Manage/External Data Sources shows the Calendar2 file... What am I doing wrong? Thanks

I originally had table names that were upper-case acronyms, followed by an underscore, and more text: "MAC_address", "IP_address", "DNS_name". After reviewing some of the AB materials, it struck me that there could be two problems in using those names in AB. First, the uppercase acronyms could confuse things, since we (already) have (three character) upper case AB abbreviations in use with a specialized intention in AB. Second, using an underscore would make (human) parsing of them in AB less obvious (since the underscore is an AB delimiter). The best I've come up with so far is upper camel case, and no underscore for the source table name: MacAddr…

I actually started with v3 but these I did with 5 ... I think. Anyway! Over the yrs I have learned a lot from different people in here (mostly ... and THANK YOU! ) and incorporated/changed/added/deleted/corrupted .. well you get the idea ... these files. I have 5 different files with multitudes of scripts, calculations and fields. One file which tends to want to crash things from time to time. This last time I hadn't backed up my changes yet (always adjusting things) and I've had it. SSSssssssooooooooo since my structure was below novice to begin with it's time to fix it!! I would appreciate ANY input on the subject: 'If I could start …

I want to do what I can to improve the efficiency of a few procedures that are much slower than I would like, particularly when the client is not on the host's LAN. I'm hoping someone can clarify what kinds of fields can slow things down. (1) I think I can get rid of most of my unstored calculations in tables by moving the calculations directly into scripts, where they will be evaluated when needed, or onto layouts, e.g., in the form of conditions for conditional formatting. My question: Are unstored calculations in tables a problem in general for speed, or do they cause a problem only when they appear on layouts? If the latter, then is there any pressing need to exp…

Howdy, all: I decided to wise up and start using the FM Development Conventions guide since I want my solutions to be held to a standard other than my own creative one. The problem is that on page 23 the guide discusses using zz__FieldName__(storage)(type)(repetition) for Utility fields: other than the terse description of them on page 19, what are some examples of Utility fields (where I would use the zz__ nomenclature)? By the description on page 19, it sounds like anything other than a field an end user pops data into would fall into The Utility Zone, but that doesn't sound quite right. TIA for your help! Rich

PDF Merger est un logiciel professionnel de combineur PDF qui peut facilement fusionner des fichiers PDF. Avant de fusionner PDF, le puissant PDF Merger permet également d'ajuster l'ordre des fichiers en cliquant sur "Haut, Bas, Déplacer vers haut et Déplacer vers bas" sur le fond de ce logiciel. En outre, avec PDF Merger, les utilisateurs peuvent définir l'emplacement du dossier de sortie et le nom du fichier à leur gré. Téléchargement gratuit peut avoir un essai. PDF en Image Convertisseur PDF en HTML Convertisseur PDF en Fax Convertisseur

I have a Contact Estimate Invoice solution that I began years ago with the earliest versions of Filemaker. I evolved it along with Filemaker very well up to a point, but now I need to back up, rebuild, and get it right. Fortunately, I have a solid set of data files to work with. So what I am looking for is some discussion or recommendations on how best to set up the structure in a systematic way, powerful and flexible but no more complex than need be. Since this is probably the most common type of solution I'm sure there must be some recognized best practices for organizing and creating the ERD. If there is a great open solution I can use as an example, please point me to…

Greetings, I apologize if I posted this in the wrong forum.. couldn't determine the best choice. I am wondering if anyone knows of any built in tools that would report Database Memory usage. Right now I have a database that is about 3GB. I have determine that about 1.3 GB are images that users have added. I plan to go through the images and shrink them to more "web size" levels to shrink the database size down. But I am still curious what is causing the mass inflation of my database. I do have lots of records, but still, I feel some users have been adding things rampantly that aren't following my size guidelines... (PDF's, excel documents, word fil…

We are testing the concept of using FM as our front end (UI) to our MySql server. One of the big question how to you control multiple developers working on the same database. And the second question is how is revision control/updates controlled?

I'm wondering whether there is a system-generated id that one can be sure will be unique to a session. Searching the get functions doesn't seem to yield anything useable. I have a schedule of workshops, and I want to be able to send out emails to prospective presenters offering them only a selection of all of the offerings for a given year. So I'm thinking I'll mark all of the workshop records for that year using the unique id, display those records in a portal, and then further mark the sessions to keep track of the ones the user selects by clicking a button that runs across the whole row. A script will generate appropriate email text offering just the selected work…

Hi all I would like for advice on the structure of an estimating program we are starting to work on. I have the basic written down and included a PDF of what is will look like. The first layout has about forty or more fields with about 2/3 of the fileds being unique to that particular item wich would be the main component. The second filds has a bout thrity fileds. These two layout have only about 5 or 6 fields in common. The question is, Would your use one table too house all the records although many fields would not be completed per record for a component. example a separate table for LWN a separate table for WN Flanges a separate table for Steel P…

Need to move from an old "flat file" voucher based bookeeping system (www.wwwrench.com/files.zip) into something else with some minor changes and updates. Wondering if Filemaker is the direction I should go? Spent some time working with that other database only to find out it slows down considerably with a few thousand entries. Will need to do split voucher transaction, sub accounts etc. I've liked what I've seen in some other filemaker applications. Is it possible for filemaker to work with Btrieve databases as well.

First of all, let me quickly explain where I'm at in terms of capability. I'm quite inexperienced when it comes to developing FileMaker Pro databases. I've played around with a lot of existing solutions and am confident that I can become more familiar with more active self training. Basically, I've been asked to create an invoicing and sales database. I'm coming here because I want to get some ideas as to what the standard practice is for creating a database like this. The person wants to be able to track when contacts make a purchase (subtracting from existing inventory), and when new inventory comes in (adding to existing inventory). As far as managing relat…

I need to set up a regular export of a lot (100s of fields) of data to another organization. Sensibly, they want a Data Dictionary spreadsheet which includes FieldName, Type, and Description. Is there any way to automatically get this info directly from filemaker? I have Advanced so I can run a DDR but that puts out way too much data. If I do an 1 record export from each table, then I'll have field names, but it would be great if there was some way to also get the fieldType, and especially the field Comments into the export.

I recently started to read up on the practice of using Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs or GUIDs) for primary keys instead of the built-in auto enter serial method. I see a lot of merit in using UUIDs, yet I think I still see most people on the forum recommending sticking with FM's auto enter serials. I'm curious to know how many of you out there use UUIDs vs serials. If you are using UUIDs, can you elaborate on what calculation/CF you use to generate your UUIDs? I'd also be interested to know if anybody can point out any good reasons not to use UUIDs. Feel free to discuss either method (or any other method) in this thread.

I'm a low-end intermediate user and am beginning to overhaul a database (currently 35 tables) I created a few years ago. It needs cleaning before I start adding many new sections and this time I'm trying to establish all my conventions / schema before proceeding. I'd like to reduce the number of tables by creating a single line items table for each section. For example: the Contacts line items table would contain fields for: phone, email, fax, address, and notes. I'm thinking each would have its own fk for use with individual portals on the Contacts "Form" layout. This is a huge undertaking for me and I haven't heard much about this concept (except from a user…

As I edge closer to finishing my latest solution I have a question for you seasoned developers: In many of my scripts--where a user can perform a Find before a print request to pare down a found set--I don't include Show All Records script step at the end of scripts since a user may want to do something else with the found set he or she created. Then I got to thinking, "Wouldn't that annoy the end user?" because s/he would frequently have to manually click on Show All Records to bring back their full set of found records after a script executes. So the question is, should I just add Show All Records and assume that end users won't recycle the found set to …

Hi As I am new in FM development. Had a training on FM Development. Also have experience SQL Server, Oracle, Access, FoxPro. From my understanding, FM is mostly click/drag-m-drop based friendly application development engine. Where Relationship and Table Occurrences are the main base for all type of processing and calculation. Bearing the above background, my thoughts are still stick to Stored Procedures, SQLs, batch updates, Triggers. I do not have problem with Catalog, Archive type databases because those type of databases uses less functions/calculations/processing of batch records. But when I think about building financial type where Monthly,Yearly …

I would like to know if anyone can give me the pros and cons of having a solution that is maintained by more than one person. I have built our system from the foundation up (6+ years by myself) and am now being pushed to allow additional individuals in our firm to assist me. While I like the idea of being a "supervisor" in terms of advancing my career, I have some reservations about the integrity of the database. Any insight would be appreciated.