FileMaker Releases iOS SDK

[Josh Ormond]

FileMaker, Inc released this today: http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15531/kw/ios%20sdk

Quote

Use the FileMaker Platform and the iOS App SDK to create iOS apps for your business. Then, deploy these apps to your team through mobile device management (MDM).

 

[Mike Duncan]

Looks interesting. But I'm not sure I understand the limitations. Like if you specify a new URL scheme, the FMP url will not work with this, right?

[Josh Ormond]

I, personally, haven't gone down the rabbit hole that far yet.

One article I've seen so far: http://www.seedcode.com/gozync-filemaker-ios-sdk-updates/

[Josh Ormond]

FAQ from Todd Geist.

https://www.geistinteractive.com/2016/01/12/filemaker-ios-application-sdk/

[Wim Decorte]

14 hours ago, Mike Duncan said:

Looks interesting. But I'm not sure I understand the limitations. Like if you specify a new URL scheme, the FMP url will not work with this, right?

Correct.... because the fmp url is registered to the Go app so you need to register your own url otherwise all fmp requests will get routed to FM Go....

[Mike Duncan]

My hope was that it would work as long as you were in the app. Kind of like how "http" links are handled in the browser you are in, instead of always handing off to the default web browser. Most apps only hand off the URL if they aren't set to handle it, so it *may* still be supported. Will have to test...

[Wim Decorte]

Fair point and I see where you are coming from when everything that is done through the fmp protocol is contained in the app.  Having to customize that is a bit of a pain.

But what if I do some customization in another App that has no idea where I came from or what I want to target?  Then "fmp" would default to FM Go.  Will have to test too but I think that's what the underlying thinking is.

[Claus Lavendt]

Wim is absolutely right.

fmp:// is registered to FileMaker GO. That means that when any app is calling an URL with the prefix of fmp:// the iOS is routing that url string to the application, who have registered that prefix. (protocol)

If you need to use a protocol in order to talk with your iOS app, you will need to register a prefix for your app.

But remember, you only need this, if you are using that for e.g. communicating with other apps via x-callback protocol or if you are using some javascript/html code in a web viewer and need to talk to your database file. So basically, if you are using fmp:// anywhere in your solution, you should register your prefix (protocol) for your app.

A lot of talk on FM Community as well....

When you build a native iOS app with FileMaker's iOS app SDK, you are essentially building your own version of FileMaker GO, but you are able to brand it. The intention is to use this for internal use and distribute via MDM. No one has yet had an app approved by Apple to be available in iOS AppStore, so we really don't know how Apple will look at this. I know Todd Geist and John Sindelar is posting an app now, which would become available in the AppStore if Apple approve it.

[BillyFromHolland]

In X-code you can define your own URL schema. It is pretty clear you have to make your own, FMP:// can only be given to one App.
Creating my first App, I looked around a bit on my iPad and yes, my App is available in other Apps to send pictures etc. to it.
Is is really exiting to see it happen!

And... there comes my question.

The default way of sending an image to FM Go, Go plants it into it's own file system.
No way of having a default Filemaker file to be started, no way of having default parameters to start a script.

In Go, you can open the file system and discover some files has been saved there. And the user must dicide by himself how to act to get it into a container.

Lots of other Apps don't give you the oppertunity to create the correct parameter set.

Knowing that, is there a way of creating a FIAS App, with a default structure of receiving such a incoming picture processed by a script?
I hope that there is a solution within X-code, because you can do a lot more with this tool than you can do in Go.

 

At this moment, my FIAS App is receiving such a picture and I think it saved it into the FIAS App file system.
But no way you can process such a picture into the Filemaker database.
An FIAS App can't open his own file system, because your delivered FMP12 file is the app.
The filesystem within my App will be troubled with unnessecary files.
Knowing that, I want to make a default process for all incoming pictures.

 

Does anyone knows how to solve this in FIAS?

Edited January 21, 2016 by BillyFromHolland