This idea has been documented before, (Using a Web Viewer as a Field) but I rediscovered it myself recently and thought I might have something to add. As was pointed out in The Support Group article, sometimes as a developer, you want to display a long chunk of text (anything that requires scrolling within a field) to the user, but not allow them to edit that text. Some examples might include displaying a block of help text, or a long software agreement. It is obviously possible to format your text using HTML to achieve this effect, but that can become complicated especially if you are not that good at HTML. Fortunately FileMaker offers a much simpler way to display formatted text this using the GetAsCSS function.
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Smart Phone Caller ID Triggers Customer Search in FileMaker Pro Database
October 19, 2015 
4 Comments
A while back, I did a blog entry on capturing Caller ID to look up FileMaker database contacts using a VOIP system. I thought it might be interesting to see if the same thing could be done with just a mobile phone, such as an iPhone or Android device.
Continue reading Alphabetic Search Buttons using Button Bars in FileMaker 14
August 10, 2015 Comments Off on Alphabetic Search Buttons using Button Bars in FileMaker 14
FileMaker Pro 14’s new button bar brings a new twist to an old technique for creating alphabetic searches of your data. Instead of creating 26 individual buttons it is possible to create a single button bar object and then easily reformat it using text style changes or FileMaker CSS style changes. The button bar can also be repurposed to horizontal or vertical layouts. Finally I demonstrate how to use the same script from different contexts to perform different searches — a list search and a portal filter.
Continue reading Automating Webcam Photo Capture within FileMaker (Windows)
May 25, 2015 Comments Off on Automating Webcam Photo Capture within FileMaker (Windows)
OK folks, here is a hack for you. The Challenge: Capturing images from a web cam into FileMaker on Windows. I was able to achieve this previously on a Mac using AppleScript, but there is no similar easy inter-application scripting language on Windows. FileMaker Go on mobile has the ability to grab photos right from […]
Continue reading Create Folders from FileMaker Pro Using AppleScript on a Macintosh
May 14, 2015 11 Comments
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 […]
Continue reading Tools for New FileMaker Developers – How to make a million bucks…
November 10, 2014 Comments Off on Tools for New FileMaker Developers – How to make a million bucks…
FileMaker has a bit of a push on right now to get new developers into working with the FileMaker Pro platform. They recently launched a webpage on their main website to encourage new developers considering the platform. At the recent FileMaker DevCon they talked it up and encouraged developers to help enlisting others to the […]
Continue reading Applescript Notification from FileMaker
October 31, 2014 Comments Off on Applescript Notification from FileMaker
FileMaker developers (and other app developers) are always looking for better ways to communicate information to their users. System level notifications have proven to be an effective way of sending short ‘dissolving’ messages to users. These Notification messages show up in the top right corner of the users screen, make a little chime, hang around for […]
Continue reading Exporting vCards from FileMaker Pro 13
October 22, 2014 Comments Off on Exporting vCards from FileMaker Pro 13
I wanted a simple method of adding vCard export capability from my FileMaker databases to get Contact information into my Contacts application. This is my first attempt at Modular FileMaker (as defined at modularfilemaker.org) although I do generally try to make my code as portable as possible. Update 2014-10-23: I forgot to credit Donald Clark […]
Continue reading Hiding in Plain Sight: Using Invisible Tab Panels for Pick Lists
September 30, 2013 5 Comments
Recently I attended a FileMaker UI/UX Masterclass (UI = User Interface, UX = User Experience) session put on by FileMaker Canada in Vancouver. The session’s main presenter was Yann Liqueur-Salzédo from Infografix in Nice, France. Yann’s innovative design work wowed the crowd at the 2012 FileMaker DevCon in Florida. He has recently launched a web […]
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 Drag and Drop Images from a Web Viewer in FileMaker Pro 12 on a Macintosh
July 29, 2013 3 Comments
The Problem: FileMaker Pro 12 is turning out to be a great document and image management system with some of the new features to do with Container Fields. However there is one little annoying ‘feature’ holdover from previous versions —when using Drag and Drop of images from a Web Browser or Web Viewer (Sarari or Firefox) into container […]
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 […]
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