Dropdowns in IWP using a mobile device worked fine, but with FM13, IWP is gone.

 

FM says that "FileMaker WebDirect is not currently designed for use on a mobile device."

 

Well, that's a little inconvenient for those of us who own a device which does not support FM Go.

 

I have a system which tracks golf handicaps for my golfing group. The guys enter their scores after playing a round, usually using their phone.  Now it doesn't work anymore.  

 

I have tried Firefox, Chrome and Dolphin browsers. I tried using popup menu and drop-down list.  None work properly on a mobile, all work fine using a desktop browser.

 

Anybody gotten this to work ?

 

 

 

 

OK, I found what i think is the problem, and a partial solution.

Problem
The problem appears to be the keyboard. On a mobile device, the keyboard pops up when you enter an entry field. When using WebDirect on a mobile, you will notice that when you place the cursor in any field, the keyboard keeps appearing and disappearing, making it almost impossible to enter anything. If you do manage to enter a few characters and get one wrong, you will have as much difficulty trying to erase characters. It happens in any field, not just drop-downs. I assume (but cannot confirm) that a mobile with a fixed keyboard won't have this issue.

Partial solution
SwiftKey Keyboard app has an option whereby you can dock and undock the keyboard. If you undock the keyboard, the problem mentioned above does not happen. (Well, the keyboard disappears once only, not continuously). When the keyboard is undocked, you can move it around the screen, however, it might cover the part of the screen you are interested in, so you might need to push the screen or keyboard around so you can see what you are entering. In normal mode, the keyboard will never block the field you are entering. Maybe it's this behaviour that's causing difficulty for FM.

So, a little inconvenient, but if you need to access a database using Webdirect on an android mobile, it does work. (not yet available for iPhone or Windows phones)

Swifkey is available here : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.touchtype.swiftkey

 

New note :  seems that in Find Mode, you can't enter text at all. You'll have to use a workaround for finds.

I use popups over dropdowns now for all mobile applications as it displays the options without the keyboard displaying. FYI