Layouts and screen resolution

[Answers]

In Filemaker 13 I thought there was going to be an easier way to determine screen resolution and automatically resize accordingly. I have layouts that are designed for different resolutions. I suppose I can use a Get function to see what resolution is used on startup & point to a specific layout for that device (i.e. desktop, iPhone, iPad, laptop). BUT I thought in 13 there was an easier way so the layout auto resizes.

 

Any help or explanation would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you!

[jbante]

There are 3 features in FileMaker 13 that might be worth using in your handling of multiple layouts for different devices:

 

The Get ( Device ) function can tell you what kind of device is being used:

 

Choose ( Get ( Device ) ;

/* unknown */ "unknown" ;

/* Mac */ "Mac" ;

/* Windows */ "Windows" ;

/* iPad */ "iPad" ;

/* iPhone/iPod Touch */ "iPhone/iPod Touch"

)

 

We could achieve this same effect already with a combination of Get ( SystemPlatform ) and Get ( ApplicationVersion ) in 12, but now that FileMaker Go 13 is a universal app, this function is necessary to distinguish between iPhones and iPads.

 

The Get ( WindowOrientation ) function can tell you if the window is vertical or horizontally oriented:

 

Choose ( Get ( WindowOrientation ) + 2 ;

/* landcape left */ "landscape left" ;

/* landscape right */ "landscape right" ;

/* square */ "square" ;

/* portrait */ "portrait" ;

/* portrait upside down */ "portrait upside down"

)

 

We could partially do this in 12 by comparing Get ( WindowWidth ) and Get ( WindowHeight ), but this function can distinguish between different home button positions on iOS devices, which is new.

 

The OnLayoutSizeChange script trigger runs whenever the window is resized, like when an iPhone or iPad is rotated. This could be used to switch to a different layout for a different orientation. We could achieve a similar effect with an OnTimer trigger, but that didn't work as instantly, and could become annoying as users try to perform operations that randomly don't work because the OnTimer triggered script was running.