Lisa M.

Update: that did it 😉. Thank you again for another fabulous solution!

Yes, I’ve seen the one possible flaw you mention; that’s just a user training issue. the entire thing is trying to be a directory for say a small office (since not everyone uses a PBX phone system with the same settings (extension length, extension start digit) or even uses a PBX (say everyone communicates using IM, or work issued cell phones the entire extension concept would be useless in that scenario thus the ability to turn extensions off in application preferences)

Hello: here's what I've got: 1) a table (AppPrefs) with 1 single record with the Fields "IsUsingExt", "G_IsUsingExt", "ExtStart", "G_ExtStart", "UserDigits", and "G_UserDigits" the "G_" variants are global fields that get their values from from their non-global counterparts. 2) A Layout based on (AppPrefs) with 3 fields that use the non-global variants of the fields; the fields are "Are You Using Extensions" (yes or no from a value list), "What digit should all extensions start with" (PopupMenu from value list with custom values of the digits 0-9 called "digits"), and "How many digits should an an extension contain AFTER the start digit?" (again same settings as the start digit setting above). 3) three variables defined in my startup script $$IsUsingExt, $$ExtStart, and $$UserNumber that represent the three fields identified above that are pulling the global fields as expected My objective is for that these preferences should be set one time and take effect everywhere and here's how: 1) each person record contains an extension field. Based on the preference for "Are you using extensions" the extension field should either be required or not 2) based on the extension start digit and number of digits after start digit values the extension field should populate (if start digit is 2 and user number is 3 then simply entering 123 would result in 2123) thus you put in X digits (all the way up to 9 and the system adds the leading digit Y on commit. If the field doesn't meet these criteria (using the same example as above but this time entering 12, then get an error) 3) if the "Are you using extensions" is set to "No" then none of it really matters and it should be allowed to be blank. When I look at the data viewer, all the variables populate like they should, when I enter a new extension based on the settings I specified in preferences (start digit is 2 and user number is 3, using extensions is "Yes") then click out the field tries to populate with 8 plus whatever I entered rather than start digit plus whatever I entered it's set to auto-enter calculation with the formula being PersonExt= AppPrefs::G_ExtStart & PersonExt So the question is how do I make this work the way I want (if extensions are set to "Yes" then they should be whatever is entered proceeding by the start digit. Whatever is entered should have a length no less than or no greater than the value for user digits also extensions should be unique. if extensions are set to "No" then it's OK to leave it blank but don't allow any value in the field for the anyone's extension. Thanks for any help on this one!

That is exactly what I’m doing. In the meantime. Right now everything works under the current windows 11, however shed something blowup in my face as it often does then I can fall back to running FM 12 and applications as such in a virtual machine. If I wanted to sell my solutions then Clearly, this would not be the way to go as who would want to pay for a separate VMWare Workstation License, which vmware is my preferred virtualization platform of choice.

Well, I’m currently on 12 and that’s mostly a desktop app solution

Hi, I’m still working in 12 as I’m very slow to upgrade or make changes for medical reasons. The next FM update I’m planning on making is vista or 7 but just like my OS choices for medical reasons (My systems only go that far as 7) Thus this is where I am. I understand my concerns are regarding now-outdated technology; but I’m not the only one

According to the FileMaker Documentation, if I provide certain legal warnings about removal of admin rights, presence of passwords only I know, etc. they will not assist customers in recovering files in its on a layout called “About” my question is as follows: 1) can I place my contact info elsewhere (e.g. in a tab called “Support Information” and thus modify the language in the warning to read “…Author listed in the Support Information tab…”? 2) What is FMI’s process for recovering damaged files? Is it any different than just using the “Recover” option in the menus?

Hello: I want to ensure that my stand-alone runtime solutions are protected from software piracy, rather than trying to make a serial checking algorithm myself, I have a software protection system that wraps my runtime EXE in a shell that then keeps track of the trial limits and handles entering of registration keys. My questions are as follows: 1) my software protection system can protect a handful (literally 5) of “Additional files” (namely *.dll, *.ocx, *.exe); which files that get created with my runtime app should I add to the additional files area if any at all, should just protecting the runtime EXE be ok? 2) to allow mac users to try my solution using FileMaker on Mac or FileMaker Go on mobile (or if they want to test in a networked environment) what kind of barriers can I place within my file itself to make the demo unsuitable for production use (e.g. record limits without the presence of a separate key file, auto-delete all records on exit, etc.) and how would I implement those to allow for evaluation in a network environment or on mobile? thanks again for the help

Hi: I understand that Runtime Solutions are designed to be single-user, but could a runtime solution be deployed on a Windows Terminal Server and there be no ill effects, or would the thing just refuse to run under such conditions? I know that when I installed my copy of FileMaker Advanced 12 on a terminal server; it didn’t like that too much as apparently my key isn’t enabled for that. So would a runtime app also complain?

Hi everyone: given that a runtime app is a stripped-down fileMaker with just enough FileMaker to make the thing go; I would assume that just the runtime environment and the data file’s minimum system requirements would be very similar to if not slightly less than the System Requirements For The Full FileMaker Pro 12 or 12 Advanced applications as stated by Claris/FileMaker does anyone have an idea as to if the requirements are less than, greater than, or equal to those linked above? If the minimum requirements for runtime apps differ in any significant way; please specify how they differ. thanks for the help

I really appreciate your help 🙂 thanks! Edit: here's the little blurb I placed in my help file about record locking: " If you are using this product in a networked environment via either FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Advanced, or FileMaker Server; many people can be looking at the same data at the same time, but only one person can be actively making changes. This is not a bug of our product or the FileMaker platform, this is a feature called Record Locking; and its purpose is to ensure data integrity. The FileMaker database platform uses what's called a pessimistic concurrency model meaning that once a user has begun to edit a record, that user has exclusive control of that record and no one else can edit it until the first person commits the record; however, many people can view the record. Find below an example of how pessimistic concurrency works: Background: Let's say that we were working at a bank and a customer (let's call him John for the sake of example) and his wife (let's call her Susan for example) were both at separate teller windows trying to make changes to the same joint account (in this case let's say moving $20 from the joint account to their personal account). Before either of them get to the teller window, the account has say $100. Scenario 1 (Pessimistic Locking): John is called up first and asks for the balance of the joint account ($100) then he decides he wants to move $20 to his personal account. The teller makes the transaction. In the meantime, Susan is also called up to speak to the next available teller and says that she wants to make the same transaction; however, the teller helping Susan cannot make the change until the teller helping John commits their changes. All the teller helping Susan can do is just look at the current state of the account. Scenario 2 (Optimistic Locking): Let's use the same example and the same events as above; but this time, assume that the teller helping Susan can make the requested change before the Teller helping John has a chance to commit the record: the teller helping Susan would commit first and the teller helping John might lose their data depending on how the particular database is set up. Scenario 3 (No Locking): Let's assume that all of the scenario and background was the same from scenario 1 but this time John makes his transfer and the teller does not commit thus the balance is still showing $100), Susan's teller makes her transfer (the account shows a balance of $100 when it should show a balance of $80). At the end of the day, record locking no matter what form it takes is designed to prevent two or more users from being in the same place at the same time making changes on the same record. Think of it like a runway; only one plane can be on the runway at any given time (all of us can watch as the one plane takes off, but there will only ever be only one plane on that runway at any given time)."

Hi, I’m curious how record locking is handled in FileMaker 12 (optimistic concurrency or pessimistic concurrency) thus i can put it in my help documentation thanks again for the help

That was it... That fixed me 🙂 at least as far is integrating my *.chm into it! I simply get the location of the executable (either the FileMaker runtime or the full FileMaker app) and prepend "file://" and then tack on "h360.chm" to the end (the url used to construct the path is: [code]"file://" & $$dblocation & "h360.chm"[/code]) where $$dblocation is a global variable set at startup to grab the above mentioned executable path) where $$dblocation returns as follows: /C:/Project/ thus that whole calculated URL would return "file:///C:/Project/h360.chm" which is exactly what the open URL script step needs! againm I cannot thank you enough!

so sorry for the late reply; been dealing with some personal issues lately. Great news is that was it... that fixed me 🙂 You are an absolute rockstar!

Hi: My dialog looks like this: