Category: Level: Any

ExecuteSQL, JSON, Level: Any, SQL, Virtual List

October 2025 Full Access Resource Page

Kevin Frank

Here are links to articles and resources related to presentations/discussions I will be participating in at the [Full Access] un-conference Oct 20-23, 2025.

JSON Demo Files

JSON Articles

JSONQuery

Virtual List Demo Files

Virtual List Articles

SQL Articles

ExecuteSQL, Level: Any, Virtual List

October 2025 FM Training Livestream

Kevin Frank

Here are links to articles and resources related to today’s FM Training Livestream presentation: Best of FileMaker Hacks Tips, Tricks and Traps, part 2

YouTube link

Demo Files

FMH Articles

Other Articles

JSON, Level: Any, Version: FM 22 or later, Virtual List

FileMaker Pro 22: Initial Impressions

Kevin Frank

Demo Files

Minimum version to open the file shown in parentheses.

Introduction

It’s been a couple weeks since the release of FileMaker Pro 22 (a.k.a. 2025), and now that the dust is beginning to settle and I’ve had some time to explore and build some demos, my initial reactions are…

  1. Wow, this is an amazing, game changing release.
  2. Ouch, they just “broke” a bunch of my blog articles — in the sense that behaviors and issues described therein have changed in FM 22.

What this article is not: a general overview. If you’re looking for a general overview Fabrice Nordmann (FileMaker 2025! Explore the New Features) and Wim Decorte (FileMaker 2025 Executive Summary) have written some good ones.

What this article is: a look at some of the features and fixes I’m interested in, including the new GetRecordIDsFromFoundSet (a.k.a. GRIFFS) function, and with particular focus on JSON performance improvements. Also I want to mention a potential problem if you’re on the Windows platform, and we might as well get that out of the way first. Continue reading “FileMaker Pro 22: Initial Impressions” →

JSON, Level: Any, Version: FM 18 or later

JSONQuery 2.0 is Here

Kevin Frank

This is a quick post to say that JSONQuery 2.0 is finally here with many new features, and some improvements to existing features as well.

What is JSONQuery?

A FileMaker custom function authored by Steve Senft-Herrera that enables you to query JSON (works with FM 18+).

Basic Things JSONQuery Does

1) Query – Allows for finding elements that match a supplied value, with a variety of options for operators.

2) Aggregate – Allows for returning an aggregate, e.g., SUM, AVG, LIST, etc., of values taken from either the matched elements, or all of the input.

3) Transform – Allows for customization of how the results are returned, with the option to pick-and-choose what attributes are included in the output, and how they are named.

Official Site

https://github.com/steve-ssh/FMP_JSONQuery

Continue reading “JSONQuery 2.0 is Here” →

Level: Any, Version: FM 16 or later

FilterValues, part 2

Kevin Frank

Sometimes it happens that the real value of a blog posting emerges in the comments section. Such was the case last time, when Paul Jansen posted an elegant little workaround to remedy a performance issue with the FilterValues function. Paul’s workaround is deserving of its own demo, and that’s what we’re going to look at today.

Demo file: filtering-values-v2.zip

2020-06-02_230953

Continue reading “FilterValues, part 2” →

Level: Any

Table Of Contents for FileMaker Hacks

Kevin Frank

As 2019 draws to a close, I am mildly astonished to note that FileMaker Hacks is now nine years old. As promised in my recent conversation with Jeremy Brown, and in response to a number of  reader requests, here, for the first time, is a comprehensive table of contents.

While some of these articles have become obsolete, a surprising number of the older ones are still relevant today… a tribute to the continuity of FileMaker and how knowledge gained in one version can remain useful indefinitely.

Another aspect driven home for me during the compilation of this T.O.C. (which entailed revisiting 200+ articles — some of which I’d completely forgotten about) is what a profoundly collaborative effort this blog has been, not only thanks to the illustrious list of guest authors, but also due to the sheer volume of articles that, while written by me, would not have existed without the input, examples and inspiration provided by so many others in our community.

28 Dec 2019: Table of Contents has been moved to its own page, and will be updated as new articles appear.

Level: Any, Version: FM 8 or later

Life After Anchor/Buoy

Kevin Frank

t-s-eliot-exploration2

INTRODUCTION

Earlier this month I was contacted by a DevCon presenter asking permission to include some slides from my eleven-year old anchor/buoy materials as part of his presentation. I said I’d be honored, but then added, “You might mention that I haven’t used A/B on a new project in about eight years.” He asked what system I was using instead, and a number of other colleagues have wondered as well, which brings us to the topic of today’s article.

Continue reading “Life After Anchor/Buoy” →

ExecuteSQL, Level: Any, SQL, Version: FM 13 or later

Tips ’n’ Tricks, part 1

Kevin Frank

Over the last few years I’ve been collecting miscellaneous tips and tricks with the thought of eventually aggregating them into a blog posting, and it appears that day has finally come. Ideally there will be something new and useful here for developers of all levels, from the neophyte to the most grizzled of FileMaker veterans.

We start off with a couple FM 14-specific tips.

Tip #1: Tool tips in layout mode

In layout mode in FileMaker 14 you can hover your mouse over any badge and an informative tool tip will display.

2015-11-30_13-32-06

Tip #2: Shift-Return in the Script Workspace

Did you know you can add new line above the current line in the Script Workspace by pressing Shift-Return? It works with the standard Return key, as well as the numeric Enter key.

2015-11-30_14-08-17
Before… line 1 is active, and the user is about to press Shift-Return
After... a new top line has been added
After… a new top line has been added, and existing entries have moved down to accommodate

Continue reading “Tips ’n’ Tricks, part 1” →

Level: Any, Version: FM 12 or later

Unicode

Kevin Frank

Update 5 May 2014: article and demo have been updated as per observations by Jeremy Bante in the comments section.

This weekend I threw together a Unicode utility file (unicode-characters.zip). It takes the values 1 through 65535 and converts them into Unicode symbols, and makes it easy to copy characters and values into the clipboard.

5-5-2014 12-10-29 PM

(The original version of the demo had 99999 records, but as pointed out by Jeremy in the comments section below, the range 65537 – 99999 is a repeat of the range 1 – 34463, with 65536 being a special case.)

Any value over 99999 the Char function will interpret as multiple characters, and bear in mind that multiple values are interpreted a) from right to left, and b) in five digit blocks with leading zeros, except the leftmost one will not have leading zeros.

Continue reading “Unicode” →