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Recent Blogs:

Currency Formatting
Currency Formatting

Gathering Portals
Gathering Portals

Multiple Choice Picker
Multiple Choice Picker

Popups and Pickers
Popups and Pickers

Window Locking
Window Locking


Meta-Consulting
Meta-consulting is a service Database Pros offers to help other developers over programming hurdles via GoToMeeting. Email John Mark Osborne or call John Mark at (909) 393-4664 to find out more about this service.


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Quick Tip:

Switch Layouts Quickly
FileMaker Pro 19 offers a slick method for switching layouts that's similar to the Spotlight feature in OSX. While in layout mode, type Option-Command-K (Mac) or Ctrl+Alt+K (Win) and you can start typing the name of the layout. So much faster the the Manage Layouts dialog!



Document Management Videos


Fun Stuff:

Jaymo
David Knight (aka Speedy) started calling me JoMo years ago, because of my initials, and it kinda stuck. Over the years, it's evolved to the current Jaymo but you can call me anything as long as you are friendly. Other nicknames include Hoss, n2 and Wiz.



Fireside FileMaker Podcast







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Currency Formatting
Level: Intermediate
Category: Design
07/18/2024
It's pretty easy to format a number field as currency, especially if it's a standard field. Once you enter the realm of merge fields, formatting a number can sometimes become difficult when multiple merge values need to display in a different format. For example, you might need a single text block to display...
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Currency formatting becomes more difficult inside a text block.
Gathering Portals
Level: Intermediate
Category: Calculations
06/25/2024
In a relationally sound FileMaker database solution, you will definitely need portals. When you have a one-to-many relationship, the most common way to display the many related records from a layout based on the parent is to employ a portal. But portals don't always do what we want. Sometimes you need to enha...
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Manipulating return-seprated list is one of the key skills to becoming an advanced FileMaker developer.
Multiple Choice Picker
Level: Intermediate
Category: Scripting
05/29/2024
I've been using pickers in customer solutions for years but always as a single choice interface. It dawned on me, after reading a post in a forum, that it's often advantageous to make multiple selections, instead of having to keep clicking the picker buttons for multiple single choices. In this article, I'll...
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In some cases, making multiple choices in a picker is more efficient.
Popups and Pickers
Level: Intermediate
Category: General
05/01/2024
Consistent data entry is one of the hallmarks of a well-designed FileMaker database. It allows a user to run accurate reports and perform reliable sorts and finds, just to name a few important features. Popups and Pickers can assist in the integrity of your data, allowing you to control how users enter data...
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The value index from a client name field designating who an invoice is being submitted to.
Window Locking
Level: Intermediate
Category: Scripting
01/05/2024
Window locking is akin to record locking and is considered the same error when it comes to the Script Debugger (301). Essentially they are the same except that window locking doesn't require the FileMaker solution to be hosted on a server to reek havoc with scripting and manual editing of records. In other wo...
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A simple one-to-many relationship between Companies and contacts.
Everything Changes
Level: N/A
Category: General
09/14/2021
Michael Rocharde and I started the Fireside FileMaker podcast way back in 2019. We've recorded 45 episodes along with our good friend Marc Larochelle. But, all things come to an end... at some point. I'm proud of the work I've done on the Podcast so I want to share some of my favorite episodes. There will als...
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The Fireside FileMaker Podcast logo.
Subsummary Unique Count
Level: Advanced
Category: Reporting
08/24/2021
Over the years, clients have asked me for a variety of reporting features that aren't easily created with standard subsummary and summary tools. A lot of them, including this technique, use the GetSummary function. I remember having such a hard time wrapping my head around the GetSummary logic when I was work...
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Counting the unique subsummaries can be done dynamically with a little ingenuity.
Scripted Change Log
Level: Intermediate
Category: Scripting
07/13/2021
Scripting a change log (Audit Log) table has been around since script triggers were introduced in FileMaker 10. But, do you know the right way to script a field modification log? I've been programming them for years and have gone through every version of them and have settled on what I'm going to cover today...
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Scripting a change log can be done many ways but there's only one right way!
Abstracted Log
Level: Advanced
Category: Calculations
05/11/2021
A long, long time ago, in a far away land, Bob Cusick, of Clickware, sent me a tip file that used a single field to log changes to fields in a table. Through the years I modified it and released it many times but here’s the latest version. This version is so abstracted, all you need is a single custom functio...
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Logging changes at the field level can help track down erroneous data changes.
Decluttering
Level: Intermediate
Category: General
04/14/2021
FileMaker, Inc. and Claris have been waging a war against Manage Database clutter for over two decades. In the early days of FileMaker, let's say FileMaker 3.0, there was no need to worry about packing too much into Manage Database because people weren't designing complex solutions like they do today. These d...
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Decluttering Manage Database is crucial for professionally designed FileMaker solutions.


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