JSON, Level: Advanced, Version: FM 16 or later

Magic Portals

Today we’re going to look at a design pattern I’ve recently been using to accommodate a client request. The request is to be able to view and edit a parent, all related children, and all related grandchildren via a single “flattened” interface.

2019-04-24_16-22-61

Demo file: magic-portals.zip (requires FM 16 or later) Continue reading “Magic Portals”

Level: Intermediate, Version: FM 8 or later

Magic Key, part 1

Today we’re going to look at a technique called Magic Key, which allows you to flexibly create and populate related records. I believe that the name originates with European developer Ugo Di Luca, and we’ll get to the details in a moment, but first let’s look at a scenario where it might come in handy. Have you ever built or inherited a system with data stored in text fields formatted as check box sets?

There are pros and cons to this approach, and one of the cons is that data stored in this manner can be a pain to report on. But I have good news: Magic Key can help alleviate that pain Continue reading “Magic Key, part 1”