costello_ryan

I recently installed FileMaker 8 on a network where the network admin refused to install service pack 2 for XP due to compatibility reasons for other software. The FM 8 installer detects the version of XP and refuses to install on XP without SP2. In case anyone else comes across this issue I thought I would just post the 2 ways I got around it. 1) Install SP2 from Microsoft, then install FileMaker 8. Then, simply uninstall SP2. FileMaker 8 seems to work properly (although it may have unkown ramifications, but it seems ok so far) 2) To avoid having to install SP2 on every computer I exported the FileMaker registry settings under HKLM and HKCU and then copied the installed FileMaker files from the default install location (c:program filesFileMaker). Then I simply created the the directy structure on each computer, copied the files in and created the registry settings from my registy export. Once again, everything is working fine so far.

I'd be intrested in a Mac version. I've been progamming on Windows for years, but I don't know where to start on a Mac.

I have a couple free ones on my site: http://costello_ryan.tripod.com/download.htm I'm working an a new free one right now which should be neat. Basically it's a reverse lookup on a phone number. Pass in a phone number and if it is a listed number in Canada and USA then you will get back information like first name, last name, address etc.

If you're on Windows, you can use my free plug-in to do this. http://costello_ryan.tripod.com

With Windows XP, you should use MS Visual Studio C++ 6.0. With this, you can open the sample plug-in that is included and compile it to a plug-in. The plug-in is just a DLL that has the extension .fmx. From there, you can see how the plug-in is constructed and alter it to do what you want.

I am a bit suprised they didn't include running a script on field exit. If you're on Windows you can still use my free plug-in that will do this trick at http://costello_ryan.tripod.com I was mainly hoping for them to include a VBA engine like MS Word or Excel. That would have been cool. I sure like the new file format though, with multiple tables in the same file.

I may possibly be interested in adding this functionality to the plugin I am currently developing. Please email me at inquiries@fptelephony.com if you want to talk about it more.

We have just developed a telephony plugin for FileMaker (it is under beta testing right now. If you want to check it out its at http://www.fptelephony.com) that allows you to interact with the phone system using tapi. I did a bit of research and I found that to add SMS functionality to our plugin would not be a large amount of work. If I was to receive enough feedback that this would be a feature that many people would want, I would certainly consider adding it. I could not justify the effort and expense though if it would only be useful to a couple people. Let me know at inquiries@fptelephony.com if you would buy a plugin with this feature.

Have you ever wanted to integrate the telephone system into your FileMaker solutions? Now you can! FP Telephony Inc., have been working to integrate FileMaker with Windows tapi devices since the spring of 2002. Now as we prepare to launch this dynamic plugin we are asking for your assistance in a limited public beta test. We hope to get enough responses to complete our testing to make sure our new software is ready for market. If you assist us we will provide you with a free license for this very powerful plugin after it is officially released. This is what you will need to participate: 1. Windows OS (98, Me, W2K, XP) 2. Voice modem or telephony board 3. FileMaker versions 5.0 or higher 4. Call display on your telephone line (recommended) This is what we ask of people who are interested: Send an email to inquiries@fptelephony.com stating your desire to participate in the beta test (or if you need more information before deciding), including the following 3 pieces of information: 1. A valid email address you can be reached 2. The make and model of your voice modem / telephony device 3. Your FileMaker and Windows version After receiving this information, we will contact you shortly by email and let you know how to download our beta version of the plugin. After that, we will want you to install the plugin, test the included examples out, and then fill out a short questionnaire on what you have found. We will give more specific information as to exactly want we want to the people who express interest in participating. It will not be an excessive amount of work for beta testers, estimated at 2 to 5 hours. The FP Telephony plugin is a powerful FileMaker plugin that will allow you to create robust computer telephony applications easily. It uses the Windows tapi standard so it will work on a wide variety of hardware devices from inexpensive voice modems to full featured telephony boards. Unfortunately since tapi is a Windows api, this plugin will currently only work on the Windows platform at this time. Some possible uses for the FP Telephony plugin: - log all incoming calls with caller ID in a Filemaker table and cross reference them to a contact table - create a full featured answering machine - create a voice response IVR system - create an auto-dialer announcement application - allow customers to check their account information over the phone - take automated credit card orders over the phone - record all incoming and outgoing conversations for future reference Thank you for your assistance, we hope to hear from you soon. FP Telephony Team

I am using the local data access companion with ODBC to insert and select records in a filemaker database with a Visual Basic front end. (Windows 2000, fileMaker 5.5, VB 6.0) Everything works fine except that after a week or so (and it's amazingly consistent) filemaker stops taking all ODBC requests and it has to be restarted to continue working again. Is this a know issue with FileMaker ODBC? Do other people have this problem, or am I just lucky? Is there any work aroud (besides restarting FileMaker)? Thanks, Ryan

Before trying to use any plugin I would do it manually first. Go into regedit and go to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareFileMakerFileMaker Pro5.0Preferences (the 5.0 key depends on your version of filemaker) The Printer key will tell you the exact string you should use for the current printer tray. Close regedit, then change the printer tray in filemaker using the print command. go back into regedit to the same key and see how it has changed. Using this info, you should be able to use the plugins to change your tray. I'm not positive on how the other change printer plugins work, but mine uses this exact regestry setting string.

If you on windows you can try my plugin for the changing, bonus is its free. The link is at the top of the page at: http://costello_ryan.tripod.com As far as changing trays one the same printer goes, what you probably want to try is change the printer tray and then going into the registry and check out the default printer string in the filemaker printer key and see what is different based on changing the tray. Use this info for your script.

Weird. You're right I get it too. It doesn't seem to want to link directly to downloads. Anyways, go to http://costello_ryan.tripod.com and the link to the download is on the top of the page. It should work then. Btw, I also have a free plugin to run scripts on field exit if you want it too. You can download that here also

I made a plugin to do this. It took me about an hour to make since it just required chaning a registry setting. You can download it if you want at http://costello_ryan.tripod.com/download/changePrinter.zip and its totally free. It will only work on FM 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0, and there is a different function for each version.

I might be mistaken here, but i seem to remember that the example plugin include with Filemaker developer does this exact number to text conversation.