Someone on one of the Facebook FileMaker Group pages recently asked for a simple method, using AppleScript of creating a folder on the Desktop. FileMaker Pro can generate a variety of file formats, including Text, PDF and Excel, and it is possible to script the names of these files. It is also possible to script […]
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Record and Field Locking Strategies
February 14, 2014 
4 Comments
I was recently asked by a client about how to set up a record locking system. The idea of record locking is that when some event happens a record becomes no longer editable, preserving the contents from change. I have used two different strategies for record locking before and they are both useful, depending upon […]
Continue reading Dialing Phone Numbers using SkypeOut from FileMaker Pro
September 3, 2013 11 Comments
A while back, I found a technique to launch Skype and using the SkypeOut URI scheme, dial a number in Skype. I tested the ability recently and was surprised to see that the technique seems to be broken. Back in 2006 Skype announced on their blog that a FileMaker plug-in had been created by Premium […]
Continue reading FileMaker Navigation – Go to Layout Script
July 10, 2013 1 Comment
This is a demonstration of a simple navigation system. FileMaker has had layout tab objects for a while and they are great, but in many solutions you actually want to move between layouts to view different data tables. I show the way I like to do it and then an alternative that works in some […]
Continue reading Building a Barcode System in FileMaker Pro
December 18, 2012 11 Comments
I had a discussion recently from someone wanting to know how to setup FileMaker Pro with a barcode scanning system. I have setup a FileMaker Pro system called PassTracker that employs barcodes to keep track of membership activity at gyms. I was able to provide him with an overview of how to do this and […]
Continue reading Getting Foreign Exchange Rates into FileMaker
November 19, 2012 10 Comments
2016-10-16 Update: Apparently this parsing code for XE.com broke. XE.com changed the html formatting of their currency table. I have created an updated version (in .fmp12 format) and it has replaced the demo file link below. Here are the steps I changed: In the script “Get Exchange Rate Batch of Currencies” Change these variables (Set […]
Continue reading UTF, WTF! Writing HTML and JSON from FileMaker
September 5, 2012 9 Comments
Recently, I was working on a Timeline creation database. A FileMaker Pro database is used to store the events that will be displayed on the timeline. When the data has been entered, the database is designed to export two files, one an HTML file for the main page display and the second a JSON file […]
Continue reading How to Automate ‘Paste and Match Style’ in FileMaker
August 28, 2012 6 Comments
Copying text from another application, such as a Web browser or Word document, and then pasting that text into a field in a FileMaker database field, can be annoying when the text pasted arrives with an undesirable style, color, font, or font size. In many programs, such as Numbers, Pages etc, there is the capability to […]
Continue reading Made changes to a FileMaker Layout and want to back out of it?
August 14, 2012 1 Comment
Ever modified a layout and then wished you hadn’t? This is a common occurance for FileMaker developers, or at least me. If you are like most developers (or me), you long ago turned on the option for Saving Layout changes automatically. Up until FileMaker 12, there was only one Undo move available. With FileMaker 12 […]
Continue reading Simple Static Map Overlays in FileMaker Pro
July 2, 2012 7 Comments
This is an idea I had about creating static map overlays in FileMaker Pro. The gist of it is to create a base graphic map using a program like Photoshop and then add a number of transparent overlays to the map. Save the base map and overlay layers as transparent PNG files and import them […]
Continue reading Making FileMaker interact with Google Translate
June 5, 2012 8 Comments
2017-12-31 Update – It has been a while since I looked at this file. Reader Jose, informed me that it was no longer working, so I set out to modernize it using the new JSON functions in FileMaker 16. I have created a new demo file, which requires FM 16 to use. The interface is […]
Continue reading WordPress FileMaker Sync price dropped
May 17, 2012 5 Comments
WordPress FileMaker Sync | Send FileMaker Data to the Web in Minutes. There has been a large price drop on the FileMaker to WordPress plugin. It was $500 and is now down to $149. I looked at this plugin a while ago, when it was first published and was impressed, but reluctant to purchase […]
Continue reading Searching for Email Addresses in FileMaker
April 12, 2012 Comments Off on Searching for Email Addresses in FileMaker
The @ symbol used in email addresses has a use in FileMaker that predates email. FileMaker started using this symbol as a wildcard to search for missing characters. For instance if you were looking for something that ends in ‘smith’, you could search for @smith, which would bring up silversmith and goldsmith etc. Apparently, database […]
Continue reading Creating Google Cluster Maps from FileMaker
February 17, 2012 87 Comments
2014-12-17 Update: The FileMaker Pro 11 demo works well on Macintosh, but there are some issues with Internet Explorer on Windows. If at all possible, it is recommended that you use FileMaker Pro 12 or 13 on Windows. Here is a link to the FileMaker Pro 12 Demo. 2014-01-25 Update: Working with the demo file in […]
Continue reading URLs in PDFs – Yet another reason to shorten URLs in FileMaker
January 25, 2011 9 Comments
Long URLs in FileMaker If you have a long URL in FileMaker, it is no problem. You could just have a button to open the URL from a text field. However, if you export the same URL to a PDF to circulate the information to others who don’t use FileMaker, you can hit problems. The […]
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