My first FMP project - anyone willing to review it?

[Mark Reed]

I am new to FMP, so my first project was a little frightening lol.

I am an amatuer magician and decided to make a database for the effects I know and study - and approach it as a FMP project as if I were designing it for someone else.

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to take a quick look at it and see if there are areas where I did things blatantly wrong, or violated any "unspoken rules of fmp"?

I would really like to become better versed in FMP and even go for the cert eventually.

I have attached the fp7 file and welcome any advice.

magicvault.zip

[Simon K]

Well done for posting - a couple of points come to mind:

The real test is whether the application does what you intended for the user (in this case you) so only you can tell whether it works! a couple of points to bear in mind

1) there should only be one script for the insert image - should have passed a script parameter in when calling from each button ie 1-8...

2) you should not call a script step directly from a button - ie you should create a script even if it only has one script step in it...

Not much else you can say at this stage - if you are serious about FM it will only become clearer to you once to try and do something a bit more complex (more than half the difficulty in FM is understanding relationships and how to exploit them efficiently within the FM environment)

(eg as an exercise try putting the images into a separate table and relating them to the first table and then creating a report than only includes 2 star tricks that require practice (from a script etc)

hth

Simon

[Fitch]

Not bad at all, Mark. To what Simon says, I'd add:

- error trap your Print scripts, so if printing is canceled the user doesn't end up on the wrong layout, or get a "continue with script?" dialog

- neat idea with the Exit Find button, however kind of a funky UI deviation. Consider insead using a calculated container field for the Find button, or using a Find script, which might reveal the status area so you would see the Continue and Cancel buttons. The script would give you the added advantage of error trapping.

- a Show All button might be nice

- how about using actual star graphics for the rating?

- Simon's idea about related images makes sense; that way you could have as many as you like, not limited to 8 tabs.

- maybe materials should have its own field, so you could print out a checklist before you run off to a show without your magic penny.

[LaRetta]

Hi Mark,

I wish MY first database looked as good!

I might suggest moving your logo to its own splash screen which displays upon opening. It seems a bit too overwhelming the size it is. Use only a small logo on the 'working' page. Splash it upon open ... large and pretty - make your statement there with it.

There are many splash screens to check out. I suggest looking at the vs. 9 and vs. 8 demos of Ray Cologon here . He does a nice job with opening splash.

Welcome to the wonderful world of FileMaker design! :wink2:

[Mark Reed]

Yes, there are many things I would like to do to enhance this database -

table for unlimited photos

create a routines feature to assign effects to various routines

etc..

Most of that involves portals and table relations which I am a little weak on currently. I have my O'Reilly Book - The missing Manual... just have to find time to read it now (grin)

I like the idea of a splash screen... I assume thats just a layout scripted on a timer that kicks over to the entry layout?

[LaRetta]

I assume thats just a layout scripted on a timer that kicks over to the entry layout?

Correct. It adds a dash of elegance to a finished solution and allows the Developer to display his/her business. Check the link I referenced and download any of Ray's demos and you'll see exactly how to handle them.

[Fenton]

Here is your file, with the containers moved to separate related tables, both Photos and Files. In the long run you may even want to move the two of them to another (single) Containers files. When you become rich and famous, with thousands of tricks, photos and embedded files, several assistants, etc., you may want to backup your main file pretty often, but only backup the massive container file occasionally. You can't do that if they're all in the same file.

There is only 1 Photo field and 1 File field. The photos are in the same field, in separate records. The trick to showing them independently on different tabs is that they are all inside separate instances of the same portal (same relationship anyway). Each portal is only 1 row, and starts at a different row. So the 1st photo is the 1st row of the portal (1st related record), the 2nd photo is the 2nd row of the portal (2nd related record), and so on. You could have more than 8, but you'd need more tabs.

It was a little tricky to get the Insert to work, if the button was outside the portal; that would require naming the field(s) as objects. Putting it inside made it easier, so I redid it that way instead.

magicvault_fej.fp7.zip

[mr_vodka]

Just as an aside, if you want to have the copyright symbol as part of your popup, you can just enter the sybmol as text.

"MagicVault v1.0 was designed by Mark M. Reed.

All Rights Reserved - © 2008..."

[Mark Reed]

Thank you - everyone! I appreciate the feedback.

Fenton, your changes applied to my project have really helped me get a better understanding of portals and table relationships. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this and help me see the various approaches and methods.

I have to say that the FMP community is one of the best I have seen when it comes to user to user help and assistance.

You guys and gals are wonderful!