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People like to have things their own preferred way. Wasn't there some slogan for 40 years somewhere that said "Have it your way."? If people - developers in particular - can control the output, then life is good.

Within FileMaker, value lists are one of those areas where you may feel like you simply don't have the amount of control you should have. It's neither obvious nor inherently possible to control the order in which values are presented in anything other than an explicit value list. You know, the one where you type in the literal values.

The problem is, most value lists are not static. They're typically coming from the data within your solution. It's either all values from a given field or related values through a relationship.

FileMaker only provides you with one type of output, an ascending sorted value list according to the index of the field.

You can't programmatically add to it, nor can you subtract from it. You also can't control the sort order. At least not intuitively!

In this video, I show you a simple solution which provides all of the functionality missing above. You can combine both dynamic and static values and you can also control the order in which they are presented. Need more control over your value lists? This video and technique file will provide the answers!

Outside of plain text, you can't get much more standard than HTML and PDF. They're pretty much agreed up by all major operating systems and the users who use them. FileMaker certainly supports embedding PDFs within container fields and HTML is quite easily integrated into Web Viewers. Using HTML within FileMaker is one of the most flexible ways to present information.

About the only thing you could wish for, (Yes, I'm sure you could wish for a lot of things) is any easy way to convert your HTML into a PDF. Here's the cool thing, it's already been done!

Using the open source tool wkhtmltopdf, you can populate your web viewer with whatever information you wish. Need a pivot table? Need more display control for your printed Invoices than FileMaker's native Layout mode? Need to integrate information from multiple sources out on the web? Need to just attach a simple PDF to an outbound email?

You've got the solution now. This video and the provided technique file will get you up and running within a very short period of time. With FileMaker 13 and its Perform Script on Server, this solution is bound to be one of your most powerful tools available!

It certainly would be interesting to know if more information is consumed via plain text in email, text messaging and e-books like PDFs and Kindle or via HTML on the web.

Of course, the format for the information doesn't matter as much as the content, but it sure is nice to be able to easily support a plain text format which easily integrates with the web's ubiquitous HTML. This is why Markdown was created.

Markdown, if you don't already know about, and use it, is a markup format which allows for converting plain text, which can still be read as plain text, into valid HTML.

Using it to compose content within a database, which may have anything to do with the web or even HTML emails, is just plain good sense.

The fact that integrating Markdown, within FileMaker, is so absolutely simple means you should start using it right away! In this video tutorial, I provide all the code and insight necessary to implement and use Markdown within any FileMaker database where you wish to have it. Markdown FTW!

When it comes to solving problems within FileMaker, there's nothing quite so satisfying as visually seeing the result of a cool technique. Especially if it includes a picture of yourself!

Ok, vanity aside, this video and its technique file are just such a solution I had an immediate need, and put the technique to the test. It was all about collecting a variety of images from all kinds of different sources and making their presentation unified. Images were emailed to me which came from cell phones, high quality DSLR cameras and more.

I needed to manipulate theses images by cropping them to a specific size and storing them in an optimized fashion.

Limited to only native FileMaker functionality, this is a hard thing to do. You can't drag and image around to position, you can't choose the starting point and how much of an image to crop. You also can't zoom in or out in order to achieve the ideal size.

You can, however, do all these things with the tools FileMaker provides plus a little help from either a plugin or server side installed library.

This video will walk you through all the parts and pieces in order to understand how to both implement and use some pretty cool tech for cropping images right within FileMaker!

The Internet has definitely changed the world we live in and how people interact with information. Your own FileMaker solution may seem like an island until you throw a web viewer onto the layout.

As soon as you do that, you're thinking about how much easier it would be if you could just "click a button" to interact with the web site being viewed.

Fortunately, in today's Internet world, the interconnection of things is extremely pervasive. There aren't too many solutions which don't provide some type of API where you can connect with and exchange information as desired.

You can even turn your own FileMaker database into a web service which other FileMaker solutions can connect to. Ultimately, the goal is making things happen between various services. In recent versions of FileMaker, new functionality was added. The Insert from URL step allows for POSTing information and interacting with basic web services.

The limitations, however, can be bypassed if you're willing to add a bit more power to your workflow.

In this video, you'll make the best investment you can about getting started and knowing how web services can be used in FileMaker. Whether shortening urls, posting to Twitter or Facebook or connecting to Quickbooks online or Salesforce, you certainly need to know how the connections are made!

Using portals, for the purpose of record navigation, have their downsides. The most obvious of these, is the fact that portals reset when moving from one record to the next.

This can be disconcerting to the user who is familiar with user interfaces which do not "reset" your sidebar and seemingly adjust your selection.

In 2011 I showcased a solution to this problem called Portal Navigation Consistency.

With the release of FileMaker 12 and higher, the functionality previously covered had broken. Not only that, there were newer solutions made possible which allow for a less complex implementation.

Within this video, you'll not only find how to maintain the selection of your navigation portal, but methods for capturing details about the way a user is using the portals. You'll also be treated to a simple solution which will adjust your navigational portal no matter how the user navigates to the target record!

One of FileMaker's biggest strengths for working with outside web services, as well as your own data, is the convenient Web Viewer. This one layout object allows you to reach outside of your database and reference anything out on the Internet.

My personal subscriber's database for managing this very web site uses a number of dedicated web viewers within a multi-pane tab panel.

The most useful aspects of web viewers is being able to either pull information out of them, via the GetLayoutObjectAttribute() function or something as simple as using the Copy[] script step.

In this video, I showcase how I use a variety of Get() functions in order to determine the current user context and then provide enhanced functionality for making it easier to accomplish common tasks such as searching for data.

Enjoy making your solutions more powerful? Then this video should spark your imagination with what's possible.

Over my many years of FileMaker Pro development, I’ve often heard the following, “Why can’t they just build that feature in?”. This type of request pretty much applies to everything you can think of.

I can even recall wishing personally that simply flipping a switch for automatic audit logging would be nice. While having that wish come true would still be a nice convenience, it would take away from the learning and understanding one can have when implementing such a feature. It may also rob us of the flexibility we so often enjoy when working with FileMaker.

I’ve seen a lot of audit logging solutions and they all have their various approach. Some use a plug-in in order to access the full set of FileMaker’s SQL support. Others take a native approach and simply try to account for all fields on the layout and replicate the data into a single table. I’ve seen complex systems which add a lot of extra fields to a dedicated audit log table where they track the layout, the table occurrence, the base table and more data than may be necessary.

With some solutions, those provided for purchase, you’ll get the full suite of features. These include creates, deletes, changes and rollback support. However, in many cases, you may just need something simple which keeps track of the changes made to records.

In this video, I showcase an advanced level of knowledge wrapped around a very simple approach to audit logging. If you’ve never considered, or even avoided implementing an audit log to your solution, then you may be surprised at how easy it can actually be. This video will provide you with the insight and know-how in order to implement a powerful audit log in a quick and easy fashion.

When you spend a lot of time developing in one specific environment, you tend to pick up your own “way of doing things”. This applies to pretty much every developer and everyone has their own suite of favorite tools.

Because I’m asked this question often enough, I’m providing you with this video about the tools and tips I use which make my development experience with FileMaker just a bit more enjoyable.

If you’ve found a workflow, plug-in or tool which you enjoy using, then please leave a comment on this article’s page.

If you’ve not invested the time in making your development within FileMaker a bit easier and more efficient, then I’m sure this video will have a least something which will make you glad you watched!

Have you discovered the big advantages of FileMaker’s Popover objects? Not using FileMaker 13 yet? This video may have all the reasons why you should switch as quickly as possible.

In this video, I showcase how simply powerful a Popover button can be. I was deciding whether I should call the video and file “Single Step Coding” because so many of the objects within the popover only use one single script step. I decided, however, that what I was really showing was how much power you get when you pack a lot of functionality within a Popover object.

Within one little Popover, I show you how to create, edit and delete data without ever closing the popover. This is all done in a very elegant fashion making your solution seem very clean, yet quite powerful.

Because of FileMaker’s Popover objects and sliders, your user interface may need a serious overhaul. These UI elements are game changers in how users interact with solution data. Long gone are the days of “show it all” layouts!

Personally, I’m all about the time-savings. I think most people are. If I can accomplish anything, without sacrificing quality, in a shorter period of time I’ll take it!

Well, this video is going to be worth its weight in gold if you’ve spent any amount of time within FileMaker’s Layout mode doing a ton of repetitious tasks working with layout objects.

You see, FileMaker is a very powerful tool, but, it does have its own shortcomings. It suffers from a serious degree of “dialogitis”. You often have to drill down through so many dialogs it can take hours to implement an interface which uses a lot of similar elements which only change by a tiny degree - typically by a simple incrementation.

This is where you stop and say “Isn’t there a better way to do this?” Why YES! There is. Using a very simple tool, built in FileMaker, and a freely available plug-in, we can save many hundreds (maybe even thousands) of hours of development time over the course of a FileMaker career. This video will show you how!

When was the last time you used FileMaker's Extended Privileges? Never? Well, how about taking advantage of them in such a way that you gain a double level of control over individual user-based privileges.

Using one single privilege set, it's possible to control which specific users can view, edit or delete records from your database. You can also turn off, or on, a specific privilege such as editing an invoice for a whole group of users or one specific user.

It's already hard enough to figure out how to make access privileges specific to users. Implementing this easily within FileMaker's own convoluted security is our ultimate goal.

If setting up security is the last step you take, then watching this video will hopefully reveal how easy it is to set things up at the beginning, or at any time in your solution's evolution.

Since FileMaker Pro provides the Extended Privileges section, there's no reason not to take advantage of it. Let me show you how!

When first learning structure and schema within any development environment, including FileMaker, the question of “Am I doing this the right way?” always seems rear its ugly head. The answer to that question, however, is not “Yes” or “No” but the more frustrating “It depends”. The reason for this ambiguous response is that the needs of the solution often dictate how it should be structured.

True, there are common pitfalls which should be avoided when planning out the structure of your database. Also, understanding fundamentals, like using a join tables, and how to get at the data you wish to display always depend on where the data resides. In this video, I showcase one of many approaches to managing groups of people. Information about how breaking down a common sentence of requested features can reveal a lot, and how to formulate your angle of attack.

If structuring data is something you’ve always had an issue with then this video may have the insight to help move you along.

FileMaker Server attempts to provide the holy grail of software development. That is, code once and run universally. For the most part, it accomplishes this pretty well. At least when it comes to looks.

Of course, there's always some type of trade off somewhere. With Web Direct, you don't control the output. FileMaker Server does. You can't add in your own JavaScript, sprite images and many of the other whiz bang features you find on modern day browser-based software sites. You also can't expect too much from Web Direct in terms of scalability - at least, not yet.

However, what you do get is a high fidelity replication of your exact FileMaker layout with interaction that provides the core of what's needed in most cases. The best part is the data interaction just works. It's a very cool thing to see your FileMaker solution work on the desktop, on a tablet and within a web browser. While currently, Web Direct does not cater to the mobile responsive trend, it's goes without saying that it will inevitably have it.

The trick is currently designing something which will work on all three platforms and with a minimal amount of fuss. Sure, you can create a desktop interface, a FileMaker Go mobile interface and a web facing interface, but why? That's three times the work and who likes extra work? It's certainly possible to create a universal layout which will look just fine on all three platforms. This is the video which will provide the insight in accomplishing that very task!

Learning how to create an efficient FileMaker database requires multiple disciplines. How to efficiently store data, how to present data, how to optimize for performance and other similar objectives such as readable code and ongoing maintenance. Much of what you know now will evolve with what you learn as your solution grows. I’m often saying it’s important to know that how you store data may be much different than how you present and interact with that same data.

It really all depends on the solution objectives. A database which groups people based on their area code needs an area code field - obviously. However, in many cases, the data itself simply needs to be stored. The degree to which data is broken out, from the outset, really depends on the requirements. If all you need to store is a phone number which can be looked up in part or in whole, then a single field, used to store more than just a phone number, may be what’s needed.

This video is about how simple it can be to structure and interact with data in a very efficient method. It focuses on how data can be categorized and simply identified within the table where it’s stored. Determining how to classify the data is simply a matter of recognizing its obvious pattern in relation to all other data being collected.

Because humans create so many patterns, these patterns can be used to make things easier when collecting data.

It's great to be able to build all kinds of things within FileMaker. It's those few times when you find yourself saying "I wish FileMaker could just do such and such".

Of course, once you come to the point where you realize that FileMaker has access to all these other great technologies, you find yourself saying "I wonder how", instead of "I wish". Along the way, someone comes upon some discovery which allows you to do more with FileMaker than was previously known. Sometimes, using a hack that the programmers of FileMaker never even intended, yet there it is, ready for you to use.

It's actually pretty funny that much of what FileMaker users/developers stumble upon are unintended features by the FileMaker engineers. Then, somewhere down the road, these features become integrated as native functionality.

Well, one of those features is support for a hover event. While FileMaker doesn't offer them natively, you can certainly do this within a web browser. Combine the fact that FileMaker can trigger scripts using a url and you now have Hover Popovers and pretty much any other type of script being run as a result of hovering over a FileMaker object.

This video presents all the information needed to take advantage of hover based events. Even though it is sort of a hack.

In the world of programming, the notion of code which breaks, especially as a solution grows and is used by an every increasing number of people, is known as 'software brittleness'. This is, obviously, something you don't want within your FileMaker solution.

What's cool about FileMaker is the fact that, by itself, the software is quite robust and flexible. You can easily develop a solution in an evolutionary way. As you learn new skills, and ways of doing things, your solution can accommodate these changes by allowing you to rename and move things around pretty easily.

FileMaker's notion of context is one of the things you really need to be worried about. If you opt to perform another script using the Perform Script step or you choose the Go To Layout step then selecting the standard options won't cause much future pain.

However, if your solution starts to use any degree of abstraction, then you need to make sure to code things defensively. When you starting using steps like Go To Layout [by Number], Set Field [by Name] and use other abstracted methods of doing things, you need to ensure your code will be up to the task.

This video is all about how to safely and defensively approach FileMaker's nuances. While the functionality was originally created for a totally different reason, the fact that it's there means we can take advantage of it.

Inside of FileMaker is one of the most powerful engines you could ever hope for. It's not even the native FileMaker calculation engine. It has almost two decades of optimization applied to it, and much of the world's most popular software takes full advantage of it. It's JavaScript - and you have access to it.

If you don't (yet) know JavaScript then you can't say "Oh, I just do FileMaker". Because doing so is the same as saying "Oh, I don't really care about solution speed."

In this video article and technique file, you'll find some of the most powerful code for accessing things FileMaker can't currently do and this extends well beyond the topic of sorting.

When it comes to sorting data, not records, there's no native 'filemaker' way of doing this. The solution is typically either FileMaker's custom functions, some creative trick with sorting records or using a plugin.

However, with the use of the readily available JavaScript, you can sort all kinds of things in all kinds of ways. This video will gently introduce you to using one of the tools you should certainly have in your mental toolbox!

Imagine driving your car without a speedometer. You still know there are laws where a ticket will cost you if you drive over a certain speed. You need information. You need to know how fast you're going. Now flip that around for FileMaker and what you need to know is how slow your scripts are running.

When it comes to creating your FileMaker solution, in particular your scripts, in many cases, you don't know how fast they're running. You just know it "takes some time", and the general approach may be "Well, it takes the time it takes" and leave it at that.

Or, you can take just a small amount of extra effort and benchmark what you've done, then try to find a faster method.

Many times, there are so many inefficiencies, that it's the developer who has caused the slowdown. Maybe the layout is the slow point, maybe it's the number of steps, maybe it's a particular combination of functions being used. You'll never know until you benchmark and compare.

That's what this video is all about. How you can benchmark your scripts and evaluate what direction to take. Right off the bat, I can tell you that using Perform Script on Server will be a huge time-saver for many of your scripts. Beyond that, there may be all kinds of optimizations you can make. What you really need is a simple way to do some benchmarking.

So, watch this video and try out the technique file - you'll be glad you did!

User navigation is one of the most fundamentally obvious features of any software solution. How easy this navigation is, is often a mix of the platform/device being used, the process flow, and what the developer knows about providing navigation based features within FileMaker.

As well, one of the most exhilarating things about developing a clean feature within your database is knowing it's a low-impact, high value feature. Something which makes life easier for users and adds that little bit of extra "coolness" to your solution.

That feeling of exhilaration was exactly what I felt when I implemented this technique for the first time. I know the users of the system will receive a lot of value, given they spend a lot of time jumping around within the same list view - especially just after performing a search.

While scrolling through a few records in list view is tolerable, it can quickly become a hassle when you have a lot of records to move through.

Fortunately, FileMaker provides some really nice features in List view when sorted by a sub-summary. Not only can you obviously use summary fields to show all kinds of aggregate information, but, FileMaker will keep the list sorted when taking actions like omitting records.

This technique of jumping through sub-summary list views is an excellent example of working with the data on screen. If you've not had the realization that if FileMaker can show the data, then you can access it, then this video is for you!

Working with subsets of data is an extremely common activity within a database. Automating the selection of subsets is also a common objective. In this video tutorial, the various ways to select, identify and mark a range of records is what's covered. If you've found yourself wondering what the best method for marking a range of records is, then look no further. The technique file provided and the associated video will both educate and inspire you when working on your own solutions within FileMaker Pro.

Using the common task of marking a record, the technique file provides a variety of ways to extract the identifying key values for each of the records within a sub-group. Once the key values have been acquired, you have the option of what to use them for. This can be as simple as marking the subset or adding or removing the values from a larger subset.

With the primary objective of not changing the state of the user interface, learning how to deal with similar automated processes will help you become a better FileMaker Pro developer.

One of the fastest ways to load records into a found set is to simply perform a Find. What becomes a bit difficult, beyond your most basic single field search, is filtering the results of what the user has specified by the requirements of the solution.

What needs to happen is a plain and simple hijacking of FileMaker's Find mode.

This can easily be done with the features provided by FileMaker Pro. You just need to know where and how to hook things up. Most intermediate to advanced users know about FileMaker's Custom Menu Sets, and that's a great place to start, but, what if there was an easier way to limit search results based on a very simple implementation which you may not have considered before?

That's what this video is all about. The features which provide you with the greatest amount of control over what happens within FileMaker's Find mode. Ever wanted to hijack FileMaker's Quick Find? You can do that too. You control what a search returns when you know how to hijack Find mode!

Bad joke: How do you know when your database has a problem?

Answer: Simple, you make a query about it - and have it notify you.

Ok, all jokes aside, you're taking the time to create a wonderful work of technological art by creating a database which will solve all kinds of real world problems.

The problem, however, is you may not know when things go right, or wrong, within your database. Probably, because you haven't taken the time to code in some type of notification system. Fortunately, this is quite easy.

There are all kinds of possible notifications you can use, starting with your most common, which is email. However, email isn't always the most immediate or effective. What about SMS? Or, how about a native (and immediate) smartphone notification system?

Using notifications, you can not only enhance the usefulness of administrative communications for your database, but use the same features for your users as well.

This video and sample file will provide you with the steps and knowledge necessary to make an effective database notification system. If you've never integrated your database with a third party system, and using some of FileMaker 13's new features is on your bucket list, then make sure and give this video a quick review!

Oh, the wonderful navigational aid of breadcrumbs. It always seems like the web has it all. Yes, you can do pretty much anything within a web viewer.

But wait!

You don't want to use a web viewer?

Shouldn't you be able to make this happen natively? Well, sure. Why not? You can make it happen with FileMaker 13 and higher!

This video and its technique file present a native way to implement navigational breadcrumbs. It accomplishes this task with a minimal amount of effort and can be localized as well. It won't break if you rename your layouts and supports as many levels as you desire.

Need a bit of FileMaker breadcrumb love? Then watch this video for all the details!

Do you really have a full hour for learning almost everything there is to know about generating barcodes from within FileMaker?*

No? Then just skip this video, because it certainly does cover all the bases about using and generating barcodes.

Whether FileMaker native, plug-in based, Javascript, Java, apps, command line or just simple barcode fonts, it's addressed in this video.

If you ask the barcode question at an online forum, you may get a few responses, but those you receive will likely be based on the author's personal experience.

In this video, I'll provide you with enough information to make a truly insightful decision about using barcodes within your own FileMaker solutions!

* Note, can I really cover EVERYTHING? No, but I can certainly provide a ton of useful information!

There's often a time when that fateful question is asked while developing in FileMaker. What's the question you ask? Well, it's this one.

"Wouldn't it be cool if FileMaker supported native hyperlinking?"

Well, now that's an idea. Maybe it doesn't support it natively, but you sure can make it happen. It's all a matter knowing what FileMaker provides in order to make it a reality.

Using some built-in FileMaker functions, in conjunction with fmp:// url and some Custom Function magic, you can certainly make the process of linking inline text to various records a very simple and easy task for any user. Of course, you'll be using a web viewer to display the hyperlinks and with it you get all the nice CSS formatting capability.

What you do with it and how you use it, is only up to your imagination!

When developing within FileMaker, there are often times when I'm surprised at how much "figuring out" is required to solve a problem. In this video article I provide a great deal of information about a problem I was having with managing a recurring import of some inventory data.

The data being imported was constantly changing and came from an external source where only a few fields are controlled by the user. With the original FileMaker system, it was structured in such a way where the "clean slate" approach was taken.

The "clean slate" approach, which you can likely guess, is one in which you simply wipe all previous data and simply import a whole new set. While this works well with small record sets, the more you import, and the larger the data set, the more of an impact, in terms of waiting time, you'll feel. You also lose the benefits of being able to assign your own internal key values and maintaining those within the schema.

So, what's the answer to the question of a recurring import where a significant percentage of data may not change? It's record modification tracking. You need to track which records were modified in order to know which should be post processed or updated by the logic of your solution.

This video and the sample file demonstrates exactly how I approached the problem and includes valuable information which I am sure will make you a better FileMaker developer. If you've never understood why you might want to use a "hash" for comparing data, or if you've thought you should really look into performing scripts on the server side then, by all means, jump into this video. It has a ton of great stuff to learn from!

Just like fashion, there are certain technologies which often cycle around and find new life in our modern tech world. A great example are animated gifs. And speaking of making the rounds, don't forget about the 20 plus year old tech of HTML Image Maps.

Since FileMaker Pro has integrated Web Viewers and with the addition of FileMaker's fmp:// url, we've long been able to integrate images with irregularly shaped areas offering any number of polygonal objects which are user clickable.

If you deal with any kind of map, seating chart, irregular shaped real-world object which requires specific defined areas, then look no further than HTML Image Maps. No Flash required here.

The biggest issue with using this straight forward tech is the time it takes to generate the defined object regions. That is, unless you know how to use the right software which makes the process a breeze. The rest is integrating into your FileMaker layout.

Using OmniGraffle to generate clickable HTML image maps, you can quickly and seamlessly integrate this old, but reliable, technology within your own FileMaker solutions. Need to make that company blueprint of all the corporate meeting rooms a clickable map? Look no further than this video. It has pretty much everything you need!

For me, it's always been one of those itches I could never quite scratch. You know, the fact that in order to show some of your user interface graphics you needed to store these graphics within your database - along with your data.

In fact, it's pretty much accepted that you create container fields, many times within a dedicated table, to store graphics and resources.

The issue I had with this approach was not that it needs to be done, but the fact that the user interface graphics were not separated out from the rest of my data. I wanted to be able to simply "draw" graphics onto the layout.

Well, this itch can now be scratched with FileMaker 13's new Base64* set of functions. While you still need at least one container field in order to render your graphics, the new additions have reduced the number of fields in total.

Watch this video to gain a full understanding of how this works and just how easy it is to integrate into your own solutions!

For the email purist, the only valid email is a plain text email. For the rest of the world there's HTML email. Currently, FileMaker only supports native sending of plain-text emails.

The available Send Mail script step is certainly a capable solution for sending your plain-text emails - and solves the problem most of the time. You can use your own SMTP servers or send email via a free hosted email account such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail.

If, however, your goal is to join the rest of the marketing world and make your email correspondence appear as clean and professional as the Apple's of the world, then you'll need to know how to make it happen within your solution.

This video provides the code and the know-how in order to integrate HTML Email sending within your FileMaker solution. True, you'll inevitably need a plug-in to make it happen, but with the new Perform Script on Server step, you can have the server send the email for you. No need to mess with client side configurations. Just create the script, put the plug-in on server and send your HTML straight from FileMaker!

One of the fun aspects of working with FileMaker, or any other programming environment, is coming up with creative solutions to using the provided tools.

In this case, it's FileMaker 13's new sliders which provide some really cool functionality. When paired with Get ( TriggerTargetPanel ) you can simply use the Slider control for the purpose of capturing a swipe on a mobile device.

When you combine this knowledge with desired features, such as showing a (theoretically) endless number of pictures, you arrive at a solution which can be used in more places than just the one you've figured out.

If your solution is going to end up with mobile features and you want to use the Slider control for capturing swipes this video will have the information you need.

If you simply want a compact way to present multiple pictures we've got that covered too!

Having access to one of the more recent and most prevalent UI patterns within FileMaker is extremely empowering. Using Popovers and portals, it's now possible to create solution wide menu systems which can be used for navigation, actions or whatever you see fit.

When you combine global variables, with the Virtual List technique and popovers, you can significantly decrease the amount of time it would normally take to maintain even a moderately complex menu system within a FileMaker solution.

It only takes a bit of creativity and foresight to implement solution wide popover menus which can be easily changed. These menus can all leverage the same elements and dynamically change based on any number of variables.

In this video, I walk you through the components which make up this powerful technique and reveal a number of powerful core methods for making it happen. Whatever level you're at, there's something to be gained by watching this video tutorial about popover menus.

Crafting a complex security setup within FileMaker can be a bit daunting. Possibly, because of how you interact with and establish security within FileMaker. Despite what may seem obvious, it isn't just about what FileMaker's default security provides, but how you integrate the controls which you have access too. When solution security setup and testing is the after thought, there's a lot of potential for accidental holes in the security model. However, if you take the upfront steps of setting things up from the beginning, the whole problem is a much easier nut to crack.

This video and the companion technique file will walk you through the process of establishing your security model. It offers some useful tips and tricks for working with FileMaker's cumbersome security dialogs and helps you test your security in a much more fluid way.

If you've felt like your solution was lacking in security and you knew there was more to take advantage of, then you'll certainly learn a few more things in this video. If you've never even worried about setting up security on your FileMaker solution then make sure to watch this video!

Prior to FileMaker 13, my interest in any of FileMaker's default themes was pretty much zero. Being that I personally enjoy the process of designing a nice user interface, I was content with creating, and hacking, whatever user interface I needed. I did this on pretty much every layout, one-by-one, using the Classic theme selected as the default.

Enter the world of FileMaker 13 and my perception of FileMaker themes has now made a full 180. You see, the advantage of custom themes, custom themed objects and the ability to have an unlimited number of these, themed objects that is, makes the process of truly theming a solution an EXTREMELY powerful proposition.

Envision this, your solution needs an update. It's looking a bit tired and some big company, like Apple, releases a new OS. This new OS starts to make your solution look even more tired and you would desperately love to update the look and feel. However, you seriously dread the prospect of walking through hundreds of layouts making individual changes to hundreds of objects - NO THANK YOU! Well, worry no more, this problem is all but solved if you really understand how FileMaker 13 implements new custom themes. If you're still wondering how powerful they are, then make sure to watch this tutorial video for a comprehensive understanding.

If your FileMaker solution doesn't currently have any type of error handling built in, there may come a day when you need to know what's going on. Especially when things don't work as expected. You see, here's the crux of the situation. While you can certainly control the behavior of your solution and how things work on the inside, you can't control the external operating system and other aspects beyond the guts of your own solution.

What this means is your Export Field or your Import Records script step may break on one given client for some reason or another. You've also built logic into your solution in which inevitable dependencies exist. If script A must run successfully, in order for the follow-on script B to run as well, you need to trap for any possible errors which may happen within script A. This is when you need your own error handling for your solution - beyond FileMaker's error handling for it's own environment.

Since error handling is one of the more boring aspects of programming, it's beneficial to have an easy-to-use and quick-to-implement system which can be added to any FileMaker solution. This technique file and video provides just such a solution!