Displaying a long list of items on a layout generally means that the majority of the list is hidden from the user until they click into the field, with no feedback as to the size of the list. This article details a nice technique you can use to present the same list in a truncated style that gives live feedback on the number of items… Read more...
When FileMaker sorts records it happens on the client machine. Consequently, sorting can be a very painful process for users over a slow connection to a database. In this article we show a very fast way in which records can be presented to the user in descending creation order, without sorting delays... Read more...
In this article the term "self-aware window" refers to a FileMaker window that can know in real-time whether or not it is the currently selected window, and act accordingly. We introduce a technique for allowing windows to know this, and some examples of what windows could do with that knowledge… Read more...
In applications such as Mail, you may notice that window names can be dynamic, dependent upon the contents of a field. In the case of Mail, the subject dictates the window name. In this article I'll demonstrate a way this can be replicated for FileMaker, and more importantly, how these dynamic windows can easily be selected again once created… Read more...
When FileMaker 11 was released, one of the lesser documented changes in behavior concerned the defining of menu names when dealing with Custom Menus. When any menu element has an empty name, an interesting thing happens… Read more...
Using Popup windows is common FileMaker technique for showing more information, managing dialogs, and running wizards to name a few. However, all to often little care is given to the aesthetics of creating and positioning a popup, leading to an unpolished and half-finished feel. This article gives some pointers on how you can create popups that are clean, efficient, and correctly positioned. Read more...
There are four main areas of your database where you can use special separator lines to help keep information organised, these are Scripts, Layouts, Value Lists & Custom Menus. This article will go through each and explain how to use them, and why they are a good idea to use. Read more...