We’re a FileMaker User Group serving the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware Region
Thanks everyone for coming out Tuesday! We had 26 folks here to listen to Matt O’Dell discuss FileMaker Go for the iPad.
I’m going to save a real recap for next week.
In the meantime, I’ll just put the word out that our next meeting is going to feature Alan Deffenderfer, who’s been doing some amazing stuff integrating Amazon Web Services with a FileMaker Bookseller’s management product. More on that to come.
- Colin
I was complaining the other day that I just didn’t have enough social media in my life. This ought to solve the problem, for now.
As with so many things here at Philly FileMaker, it’s an experiment. If it floats, we’ll keep it, if it sinks…you must promise never to speak of it again.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Philly-FileMaker-User-Group/126085994109837
- Colin
Filemaker just released a new update to Filemaker Go this morning, and it’s big!
A particularly huge item that seemed to slip through the cracks of the new features list is:
iOS app developers may take advantage of the newly enhanced URL protocol from FileMaker for calling FileMaker Go. Using the URL protocol, developers can now specify a FileMaker Pro script and script parameters. This allows developers of commercial and in-house iOS applications to extend FileMaker Go databases and provide a wide spectrum of useful solutions such as bar code scanning.
This means that you can write applications for iOS and call scripts in Filemaker using parameters. You can’t even do this in Filemaker Pro! Who needs to to use plugins on iOS, just use iOS apps, communication can go both ways by registering a url scheme for your own app that Filemaker can call to trigger actions.
Filemaker Go Update
- Take photos, add them to the database, and email as an attachment
- Convert records to PDF and email file from the database
- Save a copy of a database and email it as an attachment
- Import records from FileMaker Pro databases to FileMaker Go via scripts
- Be able to require users to re-log onto FileMaker Go after iPhone hibernates
- Solves compatibility issues running on iPhone
I think these have got to be some of the biggest requests on my list. I’m downloading as we speak.
Greetings FileMaker Enthusiasts,
Our next Philadelphia FileMaker User Group meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday evening, September 28th 2010 at 6:00 PM.
The meeting will be held at the IT Solutions Fort Washington Office:
+ 414 Commerce Dr., Suite 150, Fort Washington, PA 19034
+ Google Map: http://bit.ly/d7L05o
As always, pizza and soft drinks will be provided.
Please RSVP here if you are planning to attend this meeting:
http://www.fmpug.com/rsvp.php?eventID=1085
[late breaking: FileMaker Go 1.1 is out! Details here; if you weren’t planning on coming before, you might want to do a rethink.]
Introducing FileMaker Go With Matt O’Dell, Systems Engineer, FileMaker Inc.
FileMaker Go allows you to view, edit, and search your FileMaker Pro records on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. Your existing FileMaker Pro layouts look amazing on the large iPad display screen – no modification is necessary for many solutions. FileMaker Go easily connects to databases hosted on FileMaker Server or FileMaker Pro via a local wireless network or over the Internet using Wi-Fi or 3G. Continue reading ‘Please Join us September 28: FileMaker Go! For iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch’
In last week’s episode I mapped out our goal for this series: learn how to understand Drupal from the perspective of a Filemaker developer.
Following our motto of “Shut up and Fix it”, we’re going to simply create a Drupal web site. We’ll build a storefront that has products and a small blog attached. Once that is running, we’ll attach the Drupal site to a FileMaker back end system. This will allow us to pull product info from the back end system and possibly have users log in and track their orders. That’s the end state we’ll be working toward in this series.
This week let’s expand our understanding a bit by taking a walk through the Content Construction Kit (CCK).
You’ll remember that last week we learned that a “Content Type” is analogous to a Table. By default Drupal gives us two fields in each table: Title and Body. In order to make a useful database, we are going to need to add more fields to each table.
At its heart Drupal is a Content Management System. Since the content that Drupal is designed to manage is typically a blog, the default Content Types in drupal are a Page and a Story.
The Page Content Type is normally for info that doesn’t change often, and a Story is typically used for things that change often. Remember these are only the Drupal defaults; as with Filemaker, you are expected and encouraged to change the setup as appropriate.
We’re going to be using the Story content type for our store blog. If all you are doing with Drupal is writing a blog, you’re basically done. Stop reading here!
For this project, however, we plan to do a bit more, so we’ll need to add some more descriptors into Drupal.
As FileMaker developers, we have all had the experience when a user contacts us regarding a discovered glitch in our systems. And, because users aren’t developers, they may not be able to provide the most accurate information regarding what they were doing on which layout when said glitch happened.
It is possible to set up a FileMaker system to trap for error logs, however. There are a number of tools available to a developer to better track what’s going on with data so that when a user calls you with less-than-clear error reports, you can still track down the source of the problem. Continue reading ‘Building robust error logs in FileMaker 11′
You might have said to yourself after reading my last cheerleading post on starting a FileMaker User Group (Why User Groups Matter), “Well, that’s all well and good, but you’re not the one trying to start a group in a virtual vacuum. Cheerleading’s easy.” Fine, point taken.
I realize that many of you are in regions that, on initial consideration, might not seem fertile ground for a user group. You may feel that being located in a smaller metropolitan area or rural region is an insurmountable roadblock to getting a group started. What’s the point of holding a first meeting if there’s no one else around?
Your first step is finding the 2 or 3 or 10 people you can connect with and agree to meet in person. We’ll get into the meat and potatoes of managing the group later; there’s no point talking about it until you’ve got enough interest to fill at least the seats around a kitchen table or bar booth. Finding people is, admittedly, hard. Luckily, there are plenty of online resources to datamine for prospects.
I ask for forbearance from those of you for whom all of this is painfully obvious. It’s not obvious to everybody, and this suite of blog posts is oriented to those at the beginner/intermediate stage of social networking (remember: user groups were perfecting social networking when Twitter’s founder was still in diapers). Continue reading ‘FileMaker User Groups: Thoughts and resources on getting started (Post #2)’
There has been a lot of buzz floating around the web regarding the content management system called Drupal. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to investigate this growing platform from the perspective of a FileMaker developer. Drupal is not a Filemaker replacement, but there are definite use cases where Drupal is an ideal content management choice. Instead of my regular posts about filemaker techniques, I will explore how Drupal is similar and different from my platform of choice. With a nod to a good movie about exploring other cultures (Crossing Delancey) I am calling this series Crossing Drupal.
In this first installment I would like to simply lay out some simple terms, so we can all speak the same language. A rosetta stone if you will.
Continue reading ‘Crossing Drupal’
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