Just to keep everyone everyone up to date, we shipped updated training courses for the FileMaker 17 platform this past week.   We also shipped an updated release of FMSP, version 6.0.

We have forked FMSP 5 into 2 releases.  There is an enhanced release which is available only to people who buy our annual training bundle, and a basic version, which is free to the public. The Enhanced version includes what we call "Side Nuggets" of functionality. Items that are fully functional and ready to be used, that live on the side of the layout until the user or developer drags them onto the active section of the layout. There are quite a few of these currently, but we are always looking to add more. The most popular "Side Nugget" by far is our PayPal integration. This allows users to push their invoices from FileMaker straight into PayPal. PayPal then sends an invoice out to the specified customer via email. After the Invoice has been sent, you have the option to check the status of the invoice, cancel it, or send out a reminder email to the customer, all from within FileMaker!

In addition to the above, we've also added a new HTML calendar into both the enhanced and basic versions of FMSP. The calendar include drag and drop functionality that allows you to simply click and drag an event/appointment to an updated time, and the record automatically updates in FileMaker. It's very slick and easy to use, I hope you guys check it out!

We also added a new Master Detail portal, taking advantage of the new feature that was added into FileMaker 17, which allows for a portal based in the main TO of your file, that contains all records in the current found set. 

And finally, as with all great product releases, there were several bugs that were squished, listed below:

•  Issues with Task List not allowing you to click on a task and view it. - Incorrectly sized button and incorrect anchoring settings.

•  Issues with the wrong staff being set as the staff "logged-in," causing issues with the calendar. - Fixed by altering the script to do an "exact find" for the person logging in.

•  Typo fixes in dialogue boxes

•  Issues with invoices not allowing you to edit line items directly from the portal - Checked the box to allow for editing in Browse Mode.

•  Issues with Social Security Number in the staff layout not displaying correctly - Wrong field type, changed from "Number" to "Text"

•  Fixed field alignment issues in many modules

Is there a user manual or docs for new users?

There are videos at their site http://fmstartingpoint.com

 

Does FMSP6 work with WebD, the Calendar has a few issues.

Colonel,

The new calendar does not work on Web Direct. If you are deploying FMSP on Web Direct, you will need to switch the "HTML Calendar" field to "No" in the "Calendar" tab in Preferences.

The rest of FMSP should function just fine in Web Direct.

Thanks,

Jonathan Hogle

On 5/20/2018 at 3:29 PM, Lee Smith said:

There are videos at their site http://fmstartingpoint.com

 

Thanks Lee,

I've seen the videos. It would be helpful to have printed docs for reference while working with the app. Video is useless for me in that situation. Do you know if any conversion is necessary going from FM 16 Pro with FMSP 5 and FM 17 Pro Advanced and FMSP 6?

 

 

I'm getting an error message when trying to sign up for the weekly videos:

http://filemakerfree.com/signupHandler.php'

Error Subscribing: (-1) Invalid Email

I enter a valid email but still get the error message no matter what email address I use.

 

I would like to upgrade from SP 4.6 to SP 6 but I don't know how. I have someone made some adaptions to my needs on FM 4.6 and i am afraid that I would mess everything up.

Everything works fine now, so maybe it's better to keep it this way as long as everything works.

What do you think?

Hello Jose,

 

There are a couple things to consider.  There is NO easy upgrade process for a FileMaker database.  An easy upgrade capability doesn’t yet exist as a feature of the FileMaker platform.  

FileMaker Inc. is aware of this issue and would like to address it in future releases (not sure when though).

 

We have a video that covers a conversation on this topic 

Should I upgrade my copy of FM Starting Point:

 

If you have made layout or script design changes to your original copy of FM Starting Point then there is no upgrade process that will bring over these changes that you have previously made. 

 

To be clear, the automated upgrade script will only take your data from a old version of FM Starting Point and import into a new version of FMSP, it will not move any design changes within the database.

 

So it's sorta up to you, but overall, if you've made significant changes, and your current system is working fine, there is no real reason to update.

 

Thanks,

Jonathan Hogle.