Dr. Don Levan

Vanguard Custom Software today announced the next Design Studio training seminar for software developers on November 3 -5, 2014 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET in New York City. This immersive three-day learning experience, held at the Basha Studio 34, 45 East 34th Street, Suite 3, will be led by veteran FileMaker Developer's Conference speaker, Dr. Don Levan, president of Vanguard Custom Software. The Design Studio agenda is as follows: Day 1: Discovery & Specification Creating project briefs Conducting design research Deriving requirements from personas and scenarios Day 2: Framework Definition Storyboarding user flows Creating lo-fidelity sketches and prototypes Usability testing designs Day 3: Detail Design & Review Using feedback to improve the solution Creating a style guide Polishing the interface The Design Studio participants learn: How to develop scenarios Find design patterns Sketch to develop ideas Prototype and test ideas Turn their initial concepts into need fulfilling software applications “When these practices are put together in a repeatable process, software developers can reliably produce great work, save money, and deliver on time,” Levan noted. “They also help developers foster cooperation with clients and end-users, and help them sell better projects.” What people are saying about The Design Studio: “This workshop really helped us in the design of the document check-in screen of DocuBin,” said previous Design Studio attendee Jesse Barnum, president of 360Works. “After implementing what we learned, we simplified, re-worded, and rearranged the buttons so that the result of each choice is much more obvious. It's little touches like this that make any software appealing, both to look at and to use." Registration information: The registration fee for the Design Studio is $1,499. A $300 discount is available for those who register before September 30, 2014. Registered participants are encouraged to bring their own laptop computers. Paper, sharpies, sticky notes, and six-up templates will be provided. Participants will receive a recommended reading list, prior to attending the Design Studio. For more information, and to register, visit http://fmcraft.com. About Vanguard Custom Software Since 2002 Vanguard Custom Software has delivered business applications, websites, and training seminars that successfully strike a balance between a company’s business demands and the experience of the people using their products and services. Whether designing software from the ground up, or improving an existing project, Vanguard helps smart companies develop products and services that achieve their goals, while providing the best possible user experience. For more information, visit http://vanguardcs.net.

The Design Studio: An Intensive, Three Day, Learning Experience. Attendees of The Design Studio will learn a formal process for solving complex problems: • Conduct design research • Derive requirements from personas and scenarios • Identify and use design patterns • Develop and refine ideas • Prototype and test designs • Utilize feedback to improve solutions Nine of the FileMaker Inc. staff, have attended the Design Studio. Jesse Barnum, President of 360Works, had this to say of the workshop, “This workshop really helped us in the design of the document check-in screen of DocuBin. After implementing what we learned, we simplified, re-worded, and rearranged the buttons so that the result of each choice is much more obvious. It's little touches like this that make any software appealing, both to look at and to use." Location: NYC CSB Centers 825 3rd Avenue Conference Room A New York, NY 10022 Date and Times: October 22 - October 24, 2012 9:00a.m. - 5:00p.m. Daily Register: http://fmcraft.com What is design? Design is an intentional process in which you elicit, derive, decide, clarify, and plan the solution to a given problem. Sketches, prototypes, technical plans, and finished solutions are the artifacts that result from a design process. Design is also a key differentiator. A minimum level of design used to be enough to demonstrate professionalism, craft, and care. The overwhelming success of IOS, the growing acceptance of web-standards, and the sophistication of the user base, have significantly raised what is considered acceptable. Indeed, applications and websites that look amateurish or have poor interaction design are often viewed with contempt and distrust. How can learning a formal design process help me? It is almost impossible to hit the right solution the first time. Most people and businesses don't know exactly what they want or need. As a result, a lot of time, money, and effort is spent undoing the initial attempts or working around ingenious solutions to the wrong problem. An effective design process saves money by identifying the right problems to solve and by developing effective solutions early when it is most cost effective. Additionally, a repeatable design process makes it possible to have confidence in your estimates and projected timelines, and makes it significantly easier to sell better projects. Who is teaching this course? Don Levan, Psy.D. President of Vanguard Custom Software and the founder of the Craft of FileMaker workshop series, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, FileMaker 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 Certified Developer, and former photo journalist. He was a speaker at the 2010, 2011, and 2012 FileMaker Developer's Conferences and is an accomplished presenter and teacher. He has taught courses and seminars on interaction design, programming skills, and psychology. He founded Vanguard Custom Software after creating a series of practice management systems for the mental health and medical clinics where he was treating as a Clinical Psychologist. What are past attendees saying? "This course is a must-have for all serious developers." — Paul Spafford, FMLayoutmode.com "This workshop changed the way I work forever!" — Marty Thomasson, Gearbox Solutions, Platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance "Absolutely fantastic material, professionally delivered." — James Hea, Project Manager, FileMaker Systems at HSBC Bank Bermuda Limited "I would wholeheartedly recommend this workshop to any serious FileMaker developer trying to bring the best user experience possible to his or her clients." — Richard Carlton, President of Carlton Consulting, Platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance "This workshop provided clear and tangible examples and exercises that engaged us to rethink how we approach requirements gathering and dovetail that into intentional system design." — Adam Aronson, President of FullCity Consulting, Platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance "The workshop was fun and stimulating and will raise the game of those who care about designing databases at the highest level... I learned a lot in a short time." — Doug Gardner, President of Exoteric, Six-time speaker at the FileMaker Developer's Conference “It's a ‘must do’ for FileMaker developers who do not have a background in formal software development. It will save them and their clients much time and aggravation if they apply the process presented in the workshop. Otherwise, they will repeatedly re-invent the common mistakes inherent in a free-form design development process.” — Dale Stuart, Ph.D., Sc.D., President, CEO, StarQuick Solutions, Inc., Makers of TheraQuick What does the workshop cost? Registration for the class is $1,499 US. Where can I get more information about the Design Studio? Dr. Levan presented “The Fundamentals of Exceptional Interface Design” at the 2011 and 2012 FileMaker Developer's Conferences. These sessions provided a high level overview of the process and practices covered in the Design Studio. The slides are available for download from the Design Studio page at http://fmcraft.com. What else do attendees need to know? The Studio is being held at the 825 3rd Avenue (50th Street) in the heart of New York City. The Studio will run from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. each day. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptop computers. Paper, sharpies, sticky notes, and six-up templates will be provided. Participants will receive a recommended reading list in advance of the Studio. Participants are responsible for their own meals. Relevant Links Craft of FileMaker http://fmcraft.com/ Vanguard Custom Software http://vanguardcs.net/ The Craft of FileMaker is a service of Vanguard Custom Software. Vanguard's mission is to “design simple solutions to complex problems.” They incorporate software development best practices, interaction design, and cognitive psychology to create data-driven applications and websites that are efficient for business and easy for people.

The Design Studio: An Intensive, Three Day, Learning Experience. October 24th – 26th, New York City Register by September 1st and save $300. Attendees of The Design Studio will learn a formal process for solving complex problems: * Conduct Design Research * Derive Requirements from Personas and Scenarios * Identify and Use Design Patterns * Develop and Refine Ideas * Prototype and Test Designs * Utilize Feedback to Improve Solutions Nine of the FileMaker Inc. staff have attended the Design Studio. Jesse Barnum, President of 360Works, had this to say of the workshop, “This workshop really helped us in the design of the document check-in screen of DocuBin. After implementing what we learned, we simplified, re-worded, and rearranged the buttons so that the result of each choice is much more obvious. It's little touches like this that make any software appealing, both to look at and to use." What is design? Design is an intentional process in which you elicit, derive, decide, clarify, and plan the solution to a given problem. Sketches, prototypes, technical plans, and finished solutions are the artifacts that result from a design process. Design is also a key differentiator. A minimum level of design used to be enough to demonstrate professionalism, craft, and care. The overwhelming success of IOS, the growing acceptance of web-standards, and the sophistication of the user base, has significantly raised what is considered acceptable. Indeed, applications and websites that look amateurish or have poor interaction design are often viewed with contempt and distrust. How can learning a formal design process help me? It is almost impossible to hit the right solution the first time. Most people and businesses don't know exactly what they want or need. As a result, a lot of time, money, and effort is spent undoing the initial attempts or working around ingenious solutions to the wrong problem. An effective design process saves money by identifying the right problems to solve and by developing effective solutions early when it is most cost effective. Additionally, a repeatable design process makes it possible to have confidence in your estimates and projected timelines, and makes it significantly easier to sell better projects. Who is teaching this course? Dr. Don Levan, President of Vanguard Custom Software and the founder of the Craft of FileMaker is a software designer, Licensed Clinical Psychologist, FileMaker 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 Certified Developer, and former photo journalist. Dr. Levan was a speaker at the 2010 & 2011 FileMaker Developer's Conferences, and will be speaking again at the 2012 FileMaker Developer's Conference. He is an accomplished presenter and teacher and has provided design consulting to FileMaker, Inc. What are past attendees saying? "This course is a must-have for all serious developers." — Paul Spafford, FM Layoutmode.com "This workshop changed the way I work forever!" — Marty Thomasson, Gearbox Solutions "Absolutely fantastic material, professionally delivered." — James Hea, Project Manager, FileMaker Systems at HSBC Bank Bermuda Limited "I would wholeheartedly recommend this workshop to any serious FileMaker developer trying to bring the best user experience possible to his or her clients." — Richard Carlton, President of Carlton Consulting, Platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance "This workshop provided clear and tangible examples and exercises that engaged us to rethink how we approach requirements gathering and dovetail that into intentional system design." — Adam Aronson, President of FullCity Consulting, Platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance "The workshop was fun and stimulating and will raise the game of those who care about designing databases at the highest level... I learned a lot in a short time." — Doug Gardner, President of Exoteric, Six-time speaker at the FileMaker Developer's Conference “It's a ‘must do’ for FileMaker developers who do not have a background in formal software development. It will save them and their clients much time and aggravation if they apply the process presented in the workshop. Otherwise, they will repeatedly re-invent the common mistakes inherent in a free-form design development process.” — Dale Stuart, Ph.D., Sc.D., President, CEO, StarQuick Solutions, Inc., Makers of TheraQuick What does the workshop cost? Registration for the class is $1,499 US. Register by September 1st and save $300. To receive the discount, enter the discount code "early" on the registration form. Where can I get more information about the Design Studio? Dr. Levan will be presenting The Fundamentals of Exceptional Interface Design: The Design Process at the 2012 FileMaker Developer's Conference. This session will provide a high level overview of the process and practices we cover in the Design Studio. Paul Spafford, of Spafford Data Solutions, has written a review of his experience attending the first Design Studio on his blog, FMLayoutmode.com. You can read his review here. Matt Navarre, of MSN Media, interviewed Don Levan on the FM Talk Podcast. You can listen to that interview here: http://filemakertalk.com/sites/filemakertalk.com/files/media/3/10_fmt040_interaction.mp3. What else do attendees need to know? The Studio is being held at the 825 3rd Avenue (50th Street) in the heart of New York City. The Studio will run from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. each day. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptop computers. Paper, sharpies, sticky notes, and six-up templates will be provided. Participants will receive a recommended reading list in advance of the Studio. Participants are responsible for their own meals. Relevant Links Craft of FileMaker http://fmcraft.com/ Vanguard Custom Software http://vanguardcs.net/ The Craft of FileMaker is a service of Vanguard Custom Software. Vanguard's mission is to “design simple applications which solve complex problems.” They incorporate software development best practices, interaction design, and cognitive psychology to create data-driven applications and websites that are efficient for business and easy for people. ____________________________ Don Levan President Vanguard Custom Software, LLC. (917)842-2911 United States don@vanguardcs.net

THE CRAFT OF FILEMAKER SEMINARS: THE FUNDAMENTALS OF EXCEPTIONAL INTERFACE DESIGN with Don Levan and Ernest Koe October 13 - 15, 2010, New York City, $1,850. Use the discount code "EarlyRegistration" if you register by September 23 and save $350. For more information, call (917) 842-2911. To register, visit: http://vanguardcs.net/craft_of_filemaker.php WHY ATTEND? You will learn how to design applications and interactions that your users will rave about, skills that can not be outsourced, and practices transferable to any software development platform - from two veteran DevCon speakers. At the conclusion of this 3-day training course, you will have: A process for identifying and interviewing the stakeholders, conducting design research, and communicating your findings. An understanding of the principles and practices of interaction and interface design required to make your applications easy to learn and and efficient to use. A method to translate your designs from research, to sketch, to implementation of the finished application or interface. You'll come away from this course with the fundamental skills and hands-on experience necessary to design and implement exceptional user interfaces. Don Levan presented a preview of this content in his session at the 2010 FileMaker Developer Conference. You can download the slides and handout from that presentation by visiting: http://vanguardcs.net/devcon.html Who Should attend? Attendees should be intermediate or advanced FileMaker developers with at least three years of development experience. What does the class cost? Registration for the class is $1850 US. Use the discount code "EarlyRegistration" if you register by September 23 and save $350. Where is the course being held? NYC CSB Centers 825 3rd Avenue (50th Street) Conference Room A New York, NY How can I afford a training on Interface and Interaction design? It may be the best investment you can make in yourself. As software designers, our businesses depend on our ability to create products that help people get things done. If your designs are effective, people using your applications may achieve their personal and business goals, feel satisfied, effective, and happy. Happy people are a great source of referrals. In addition, this course will provide you a with a process and set of practices necessary to design and implement larger projects that require less effort to sell. Who is teaching this course? Don Levan, Psy.D. President of Vanguard Custom Software, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, FileMaker 7, 8, 9, and 10 Certified Developer, and former photo journalist. He is an accomplished speaker and teacher. He has taught courses and seminars on interaction design, programming skills, psychology, parenting skills, and yoga. He founded Vanguard Custom Software after creating a series of practice management systems for the mental health and medical clinics where he was treating as a Clinical Psychologist. Ernest Koe is the President and co-founder of Proof. Ernest brings over ten years of experience with database, web technologies to Proof. Before starting Proof, Ernest co-founded inRESONANCE, Inc. and spent seven years as the COO of that project. Ernest is an educator at heart. Before finding himself in the business of incubating technology companies, Ernest started out in the classroom as History and Foreign Language (Chinese) teacher. -- Don Levan, Psy. D. President, Vanguard Custom Software "We create simple applications which solve complex problems" don@vanguardcs.net (917) 842-2911 ________________________________ FileMaker Certified Developer Speaker at the 2010 FileMaker Developer's Conference New York State Licensed Psychologist

Vanguard Custom Software, a New York City based FileMaker consulting group, is growing. We are seeking individuals for part-time and subcontract positions to handle multiple projects for a wide variety of clients. The ideal candidate: - Strong communication and documentation skills - Self-motivated and well-organized - Knowledge of user interaction and design principles - Familiar with FileMaker 7 - 9 - FileMaker Certified Developer - Able to execute clean, well-factored code from prototypes and specifications We would prefer candidates from the New York City area, but would be open to candidates who are working remotely (with an Eastern Time-zone meeting schedule). TO APPLY Send a cover letter and resume expressing your interest to . Please include one to two screen shots of an original application, a brief description of that application, and a description of your FileMaker development, web application development, and software training experience. ABOUT VANGUARD CUSTOM SOFTWARE Our business was founded by a psychologist with a passion for solving problems. Our mission is to create simple applications which solve complex problems. We incorporate software development best practices, interaction design, and cognitive psychology to create data driven applications and websites that are efficient for business and easy for people.

Hi Klwiora, THis is expected behavior. When you click the "run will full access" checkbox, and do a test for privledge set, the value returned is "[FullAccess]". I banged my head against a wall for hours until I figured out this one. Hope this helps. DOn

Hi All, As I have not gotten any responses in either forum about this posting, I thought I would assume that my post is not clear and ask what information I can provide to make it more clear. As I am very nervous about data and structure corruption, I would be most appreciative of any help. Thanks so much, Don LEvan

Hi All, I have having a very confusing problem and would be grateful for any help. Note that a version of this message was originally posted in the accounts and privileges forum, but I pulled it from there because it seems it would be more appropriate here. This is a multi-file solution I have been migrating from 5.5 to 7. The file in question (documents) consists of several tables and table occurrence groups, one of which (contacts) is a legacy of the 5.5 system. The others (treatmentPlans and endOfServiceSummarys) were created using fmrobot. What is happening is as follows: when I go into the accounts and privileges define custom privileges for editing or viewing records calculation box (for any of the privledge sets in the documents file), the "evaluate this calculation in the context of" dropdown is not showing all of the table occurrences for the treatmentPlans table (for which I am trying to set the custom privilege). Rather, it is only showing the table occurrences from the treatmentPlans table that are connected to the legacy "contacts" group. I though that this might be evidence of data corruption so I recovered and made clones of all of my files. However, I now think that this might be a relationship or file reference issues. Evidence for this includes the following: 1)If I open the documents file by itself (by changing the last letter of the file names) so I can not pull open the referenced files, it properly displays all of the occurrences of the treatmentPlan table from the relationships graph. 2). The list of related and unrelated tables in the window below the "evaluate this calcuation in the context of" field does actually list all of the tables in the relationships graph. My concerns are 1) whether is is evidence of further data corruption, 2) if not, what do I need to do to get all of the table occurrences to show up in the calculation context selection, and 3) how choosing a different context for the security will affect my security settings. Thank you, Don Levan

Hi All, There is one other way you can do this. Take a look at this posting on the custom Function forum at cleveland consulting's site. It talks about a way of using custom functions to establish a property list which allows you to set, retrieve, and pass multiple variables by name. http://www.clevelandconsulting.com/support/viewtopic.php?t=59 Don

Hi, That is exactly what I am looking for, thank you so much for your help and prompt reply. I think I basicaly understand how it works. I will be taking it apart and trying to digest the mechanics of how it works. Thanks again, Don

Hi all, Is there a way to display the first 10 portal rows, and then by clicking an up or down button change the group of portal rows displayed. For example, you have the first ten dispalyed, then cick a down button to show the next ten. I am trying to eliminate the visual clutter arising out of the need for multiple scroll bars on a layout with multiple portals. Thank you, Don

Hi Ender, I wanted to check back and say thank your for your help. Don

Hi Soren, Thanks for your reply, sorry I have been away for a few days. I was trying to implement the suggestions you guys provided. At first all was working well, I had used the technique described above " not IsEmpty (ctrl..DupesCheck__ingredient.FlavorMatches::zd_ingredient1)" to test for the existance of a related record. This was working fine. I then decided to take the next step of implementing a floating pop-up selection box as that was the final intent. It still will always alert me if the ingredient pair had been previously set, however, it also now gives false positives. What happens is this: If I select eggs and butter as the match the first time (never before seleted) a match is made. If I delete the comination and commit the records in both tables and select the same pair the alert message comes up warning that the pair already exists as a combination (even though the previous pair has already been deleted, and all apparent evidence of this previous pair has been wiped clean. You mention that the reversed order needs to be investigated by yet another table occurence, I am not sure if that would help this situation, but I am open to any suggesetions. Out of currosity, in the example you posted you used a similar relationship to test for the occurence of a related record but used "Count ( Untitled 2::Item1 )" instead of "not is empty". Could you say more about how this function works. In case it is helpful, I have attached images of the relationship graph and pdf's of the two scripts working to perform this function. The first "create new record" is activated when the user selects the button to create a new matching pair. The second, "selection window open" opens the floating selection window and then sets the globals for comparison based on the user's selection. As always, I thank you for all of your help. Don Archive.zip

Hi All, title I have managed to solve to problem. I used a technique described by Queue ]http://www.fmforums.com/threads/showflat...Post112623/url] and ).]http://www.fmforums.com/threads/showflat...ost85361/url]). The technique uses " not IsEmpty (ctrl..DupesCheck__ingredient.FlavorMatches::zd_ingredient1)" to test for the existance of a related record. Though I don't totaly understand it, Queue also describes how this technique can be used in a multi-user sitatuion to test for a related record and then either create a new record or edit an existing record. Thanks again for all of your help. Don P.S., Add to the list of things I still need to learn is how to correctly format the urls so only the title shows up. I tried, but figured after three attemps that there were other things to do.

Hi, Thanks for all of your responses, I read the article suggested (it is a very good book), and found that what I suspected is likley what is happening...the auto enter to concat the two id's is failing and being skipped because it would cause an invaldid condition. I tried doing it the other way ("Relate the two files by the appropriate fields. Add a calculated field to the first which does a lookup to the second. Set it so that the field results in zero if there is no match, 1 otherwise. Delete all records with the value of 1 in that field." ), and it worked but it caused other problems which I am now trying to sort out. I would love to find a way to trap for the existance of a duplicate when combining the two Id's without commiting the record (so that I may revert the record without having to delete, which causes a cascaing delete). I feel like I am going in circles, but I am learning as I go so I don't mind.