Tag: Evaluate

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

Button Bar Segment Fun

Kevin Frank

Demo Files

Today we’re going to look at some ways single-segment button bars (SSBBs) can help produce dynamic column headings for list views and/or reports, with a goal of concentrating logic into the segment calculation and reducing schema dependencies elsewhere. This is a work in progress, rather than a finished, battle-hardened methodology. The aim is to explore possibilities and stimulate discussion.

Note: the demo files are built on top of an “empty” virtual list table. The point is not to (once again) dive into virtual list or clickable/sortable column headings, but to provide a list view we can pretend contains valid entries, while we focus on what’s going on in the layout header part.

Disclaimer: these techniques are in the proof-of-concept stage. As with all techniques on this (and any other) site, use with a healthy dose of common sense and at your own risk.

Continue reading “Button Bar Segment Fun” →

Level: Advanced, Version: FM 16 or later

Set Variable By Name Re-Revisited

Kevin Frank

Demo files: set-var-by-name-v4 and set-var-by-name-md5

Background

This is a quick follow up to last December’s Set Variable By Name Revisited, and to avoid repetition will assume the reader is familiar with the material that was presented in that article. But to briefly recap:

1. FileMaker does not provide an obvious way to programatically name a variable.

Continue reading “Set Variable By Name Re-Revisited” →

Level: Advanced

FRAP-Map: A Flexible, Robust, Accessible and Portable Data Mapping Technique

peterdoern

Editor’s note: today we have a guest article by long-time FileMaker developer, Peter Doern, who has come up with an elegant, outside-the-box methodology for managing imports. This is one of the coolest techniques I’ve seen in a long time. Enjoy.

FRAP-Map Overview
Flat data goes in; related data goes out.

FileMaker includes a powerful and fast method for importing data from a source table to a target table. FileMaker 18 introduced an overhauled file import dialog which allows us to easily specify source data character set and delimiter, target fields, and auto-enter options on import.

But what if you want to pull a source field into multiple target fields, manipulate data during import, or split a flat source table into multiple related records? What if you want to import data from multiple different sources with different structures into a single, consistent, file? What if the structure of the source file changes frequently?

Using the traditional FileMaker import method, any of these scenarios will require multiple imports using hard-coded import script steps, or a solid understanding of XML and XSLT transformations. This Flexible, Robust, Accessible and Portal Mapping technique, aka FRAP-Map, provides a powerful alternative.

Continue reading “FRAP-Map: A Flexible, Robust, Accessible and Portable Data Mapping Technique” →

Level: Advanced, Version: FM 16 or later

Set Variable By Name Revisited

Kevin Frank

Update 19 Aug 2021: demo file has been superseded by the one available in Set Variable By Name Re-Revisited

INTRODUCTION

You’ve probably heard the old joke that goes…

Patient: Doc, it hurts when I do this.

Doctor: Don’t do that.

Perhaps you’re also familiar with the FileMaker equivalent?

Developer: It hurts when I try to assign certain variable names.

FileMaker: Don’t do that.

Continue reading “Set Variable By Name Revisited” →

Level: Intermediate, Version: FM 18 or later

New in FM 18: While, part 2

Kevin Frank

Today we’re going to dig a little deeper into the new-in-18 While function, and to avoid repetition, will assume readers are familiar with last month’s article on SetRecursion and While. We’ll look at some new examples ranging from basic to advanced, investigate the circumstances under which While can use variables previously declared via Let, and check out some benchmark results comparing While vs. CustomList.

Demo Files

Continue reading “New in FM 18: While, part 2” →

ExecuteSQL, Level: Intermediate, SQL, Virtual List

Bill of Materials

Kevin Frank

29 Mar 2019: Demo file has been updated to v2. See comments for details.

Editor’s note: Geoff Gerhard of Creative Solutions is one of those “quiet” developers who has been helpfully sharing his knowledge in online FileMaker forums for more than 20 years. I personally have benefited enormously from his expertise, and am pleased to feature his first appearance as a guest author here on FileMaker Hacks.

Demo file: BillOfMaterialsDemo-v2.zip

Continue reading “Bill of Materials” →

Level: Advanced, Version: FM 13 or later, Virtual List

Virtual List Reporting, part 1

Kevin Frank

Self-plagiarism alert: to avoid repeatedly referring the reader back to earlier virtual list articles, portions of text from those earlier articles are incorporated here.

Welcome to the first installment of a multi-part series on producing reports using the virtual list technique, or more properly, collection of techniques. Demo file: VLR-part-1.zip

demo

Invented and popularized by Bruce Robertson, virtual lists are incredibly flexible, and have made a number of appearances here in the past, including… Continue reading “Virtual List Reporting, part 1” →

Chart, Level: Intermediate

Blurring the Distinction between Schema and Data, part 2

Kevin Frank

Welcome back for part 2 of my recap of the session I presented last week at the 2014 Portland PauseOnError un-conference.

Recreating ScriptMaker

A recurring theme, as we saw in part 1 and will see again today here in part 2, is that you can store “runtime code” as data. The most extreme example I’ve encountered is a proof of concept created and presented by Dr. Ray Cologon at DevCon 2006, the Text Script Interpreter, a.k.a. TSI.

11-1-2014 3-44-59 PM

The idea is that the entirety of FileMaker scripting can (not should, but can) be represented and interpreted textually, either as records in a table…

11-1-2014 4-12-02 PM Continue reading “Blurring the Distinction between Schema and Data, part 2” →

Level: Advanced

Blurring the Distinction between Schema and Data, part 1

Kevin Frank

The other day I had the privilege and the pleasure to give a POE presentation entitled Runtime Code, a.k.a. Blurring the Distinction between Schema and Data, in the room behind this window at the Ace Hotel in Portland, Oregon.

poe-600

The overall goal of the presentation was to explore various ways one might move business or presentation logic out of its normal location in the schema layer, and into either a) the data layer, or b) some other, non-standard, schematic realm. An example of the former might be to store object names or calculation syntax as data in a table; an example of the latter might be to change the behavior of an object (e.g., a field or script) simply by renaming the object itself. Continue reading “Blurring the Distinction between Schema and Data, part 1” →

Level: Advanced, Version: FM 12 or later

Radical Separation, part 4

Kevin Frank

Disclaimer: This article contains speculative and experimental techniques that are in the proof-of-concept stage. Use at your own risk and test thoroughly.

FYI: In March at the Portland PauseOnError un-conference, Matt Navarre and I had a freewheeling Separation Model discussion, a podcast of which has just been posted as episode 85 at FileMaker Talk.

Welcome to the fourth and final installment in our series on Radical Separation. Today’s article assumes familiarity with part 1, part 2 & part 3, and continues in the direction we were headed at the end of part 3. Specifically, we will finish up our exploration of “virtual calculations” by examing an intriguing approach suggested by Barry Isakson to a) reduce the field count, b) solve the “define more fields than you’ll ever need” problem, and c) accommodate summary fields, and I invite you to follow along in today’s demo file, Virtual Calculations, Part 4, if you are so inclined.

6-9-2013 4-10-10 PM

Continue reading “Radical Separation, part 4” →