Fireside FileMaker

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

In this episode, John Mark and I discuss all the 179 script steps in FileMaker 18. We tell you which ones you should know intimately and which ones you should avoid using. It's a lengthy topic and this is Part 1 of 2 parts;' the second part will be released on April 23.

A mea culpa from Michael Rocharde.

Apologies to all our listeners for the long delay between episodes; it's completely my fault but there are, of course, extenuating circumstance including a move to Spain (took almost 2 weeks to recover from the jet lag and exhaustion) and being placed in lockdown two days after arriving. We'll now be back on our normal schedule but releasing a new podcast every 3 weeks, instead of every 2).

A special thanks to all who wrote and asked when we were releasing a new episode.

Working with Client Solutions

In this podcast we are once again joined by Marc Larochelle, President of Productive Computing, for a far-reaching, and absolutely fascinating, conversation about data migration, the Separation model (we get Marc's insights and opinion on this subject so its not just a rehash of stuff we've already talked about), live updates (working on a live copy of the database at the same time as other users are working on it), syncing and some different ways of implementing it, setting developer flags on new scripts for testing; having separate servers for development, testing and production, using a terminal server (remote machine) to perform tasks locally where it would take too long to do it over a WAN and finally performing scripts on servers.

You did what?

Inexperienced developers often program FileMaker in a particular way because they saw someone else on a video, blog or other resource perform the same series of steps. It even happens because the developer simply follows the client’s request. There isn’t one set of programming for generalized solutions. It’s up to you as a developer to think about the best way to solve a programming problem with all the tools at your disposal. In this podcast, we examine the pros and cons of Quickbooks integration, calendars, web enabling, the data separation model, live development, main menus, dashboards, reporting, progress bars, building solutions from scratch as opposed to using a starter solution, un-stored calculations, custom menus, backing up, organizing the relationship graph and testing scripts and calculations as you go.

Should you modularize?

Modularization, generally, refers to scripting where you take a section, or sections, of one script and create a sub-script from that which is subsequently called (or invoked) from the original script. There are lots of reasons, and some significant benefits, as to why you might want to do this but there are also a number of gotchas and reasons why you might not want to. In this podcast we discuss the pros and cons of modularization so that you can make your own decisions as to whether it is right for you or for the solution you are working on.

Developing In-House

You need to develop a solution for your business but you have little or no FileMaker™ expertise. Should you hire an expert or do you want to take the time to learn FileMaker? If the latter, do you have the time to learn it and is it a good use of your time? Many in-house developers drastically underestimate the amount of time it takes to learn FileMaker, let alone actually program a complex FileMaker solution. And don't forget about the time it will take away from running your business to produce the solution. In this Podcast, we'll explore both options and if you choose to do it yourself, discuss some of the available resources that you can use to learn FileMaker.

What if ... ?

"What if?" is, perhaps, the most important question that you will ever ask yourself. It's the starting point for all our FileMaker development! We ask ourselves this question all the time when faced with challenges. It’s a philosophy for creating the best FileMaker solution possible. It enables you to create faster, better and simpler code that ultimately benefits your client with a more sophisticated FileMaker solution. Come join as we discuss how FileMaker is the best platform out there for trying out new concepts and getting immediate feedback.

Keeping It In Sync

Today we talk to Jesse Barnum, President of 360Works and one of the best known people in the FileMaker community. We talk mainly about synchronization and their new product, MirrorSync6, but the conversation goes far beyond just that; plugins, FileMaker Cloud, Claris Connect and other subjects. You should find it fascinating listening; we certainly did.

Are You Secure?

It's more than safe to say that Steven Blackwell knows more about, and has had more influence on, FileMaker security than anybody in the industry. His contributions are legendary and his knowledge is extraordinary. We are honored that Steven accepted our invitation to discuss the subject and we hope you will join us for a fascinating conversation discussing all things security.

Your Host Awaits

With the release of Cloud 2.0, hosting a FileMaker solution has become more complex due to a myriad of choices. With our special guest Marc Larochelle, we’ll go through the assortment of hosting options while comparing and contrasting them. By the end of our conversation, you should have a good idea what flavor of FileMaker hosting is best for your business.

Supporting documents you might find useful

FM Server versus FM Cloud for AWS: https://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-cloud-for-aws/compare.html

FM Server versus FM Cloud 2.0: https://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-cloud/docs/fms_vs_fmc_wwe.pdf

FileMaker Cloud for AWS tech specs: https://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-cloud-for-aws/1-17-technical-specifications.html

FileMaker Cloud Tech Specs: https://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-cloud/2-18-technical-specifications.html

FileMaker Server Tech Specs: https://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-server/18-technical-specifications.html

FileMaker Platform (version 18) deprecation list: https://support.filemaker.com/s/article/Deprecated-and-removed-features-in-FileMaker-18?language=en_US

 

Keeping Things in Context

In FileMaker, context is everything but what does that mean? How do you know if you are in the correct context and what happens if you're not? Most programming errors are due to being out of context. In this podcast, we discuss everything related to context, using real world examples, so that developers fully understand this most important concept. We also talk about all of the different places where context is important, starting with the relationship graph. In the process, we discuss relationships, the differences between tables and table occurrences and explain anchor-buoy, perhaps the most commonly used method for managing the relationship graph.