Diary / Calender add-on, plug-in, feature?

[Cambridge]

Hi,

is there an add-on / plug-in / feature for Filemaker Pro 7 which would allow us to use it as a diary / calender solution.

We currently have a database in Filemaker with all our clients and details on it and ideally we would like to integrate a diary / calender with that database.

Is that possible? Or do we have to get someone to create one for us?

[Søren Dyhr]

Or do we have to get someone to create one for us?

Right question, but perhaps wrong forum - Here is where you get help to brew your own. Although your question might seem pretty precise in you ears, would a great deal of the audience have problems with what you ask for.

Yes there exists plugins!

Yes prefab solutions exists!

Yes you can to a large extend continue to live in innocense!

It's very very important that you don't mold you business model around what is availiable to a shopper ...Filemaker is a different bread ...you do it exactly the other way 'round. What is it the calendering should be able to provide your organization with???

--sd

[Cambridge]

thank you for your answer.

I understand your point and I see that perhaps this is the wrong forum to be asking such a question in - I apologise for that.

Being a 'newbie' to Filemaker Pro I am just trying to get an idea of what is possible and what is available in order to make a more informed decision. I agree that a custom designed solution is possibly the best as far as the functionality is concerned but of course there is a cost issue there too.

By surveying the available addons, plugins, etc, I do hope to get a better idea of what might be done, what is typically done and what I might think towards - so I guess this is more research than anything at the moment.

I would be gratefull to hear any suggestions or receive any advice or links etc, since I really am in the dark at the moment.

[Fenton]

A "calendar" is basically a complex database built almost exclusively to present fairly simple data: "who, what, when," in the way that we like to view date-type data: monthly grid, weekly columns with times, daily column with times. In a way it's like a magician's trick, and just about as obtuse.

The good news is that others have already built "templates" that do this. The bad news is that if you need to modify one of them for your own purposes you will need at least an intermediate skill level.

I've used one of the templates at http://www.clevelandconsulting.com, which are good. One problem is that they are (were anyway) a little tricky to tie in to your existing client files. Also they didn't used to have an actual "scheduling time grid" (they do now). I had my own, which I tied in.*

I see now they now have a version which has a real client database ($230), and also has a real scheduling module (with a "time grid", which I consider essential, and which is almost never in free calendar templates, for a reason). You may still want to use your own client file instead. This would be possible, using FileMaker 7's ability to swap table occurrence. In other words, retarget his client TO to your existing file, and line up the keys.

Another problem with working with CC Calendar is that they have gone to great lengths to make the interface attractive. This is good if you just want to use it as is. But if you need to modify or add (which I did, for screen size, for printing, and to show slightly different fields), there are a lot of small interface pieces, global containers, invisible objects, etc.. It can be done, but not by a beginner.

The navigation scripts are similar, very modular, pretty complex. As I said, it's been a while since I worked with their files, and there have been upgrades. There are other templates available, such as Schedula, http://www.lifesuccess.org/agenda.html, which you can also look at. There are others (one in particular, but I can't remember its name); many free ones, but they don't have a scheduling grid. And I don't really know what your needs are for this.

*I've bult my own complete calendar-scheduling module, so I know how they work. I used his calendar because, at that time, mine was recently converted, and not optimized for 7. I've since done more, but I wouldn't want to compete in the shareware market with CC Calendar, not at that price :-].

[Søren Dyhr]

By surveying the available addons, plugins, etc, I do hope to get a better idea of what might be done, what is typically done and what I might think towards

It continues to sound shop'o'holic to me. Why not try to establish what the package actually are abel to manage, without gadgets and and thirdparty stuff.

Try to develope something yourself!!! You need to get the gist of the tool before even guessing where the limits goes. Sometimes does people with skills from other tools try to beat filemaker into being something else than supposed to ...how would you be able to distinguise these from the real connoisseurs???

--sd