Filemaker Info

Portals and portal filters.

 

Eldest (among all the grandchildren)

Youngest (among all the grandchildren)

Eldest (among the children of the eldest child)

Youngest (among the children of the eldest child)

Eldest (among the children of the youngest child)

Youngest (among the children of the youngest child)

Middle (among all the grandchildren)

Middle (among the children of the middle child)

BaseElements-Plugin -

FileMaker Pro plugin used for BaseElements to provide file, dialog and XSLT functions. — Read more

http://www.goya.com.au/baseelements/plugin

 

README

==========Building

The following notes describe the process for building the the plugin and the third-party libraries used. The instructions are supplied "as is" in the hope they may be of assistance.Notes:- these instructions apply to version 1.3.2 of the BaseElements Plugin- the instructions contain some full paths and also paths containing version numbers that will likely need to be changed

Watch how FileMaker Go can scan barcodes using the built-in camera on an iPhone and the free app pic2shop.

 

Skeleton Key's Technical Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/skeletonkeystl

 

  A snapshot link captures and saves information about the file you are working in, including which layout you are viewing, the current found set, the sort order, the view state, a current record, and toolbar visibility state. The resulting file can be sent to another user, and when it is opened, it will automatically launch the corresponding file, navigate to the layout specified and display the found set of records captured when the Snapshot was initially created.

 

To save records as a snapshot link file:

  Find the records that you want to save as a snapshot link.

  If you don’t perform a find, all the records in the current table will be included in the FPSL (FileMaker Pro Snapshot Link) file.In Browse, Layout, or Preview mode, choose File menu > Save/Send Records As > Snapshot Link.

  In the Save Records As Snapshot Link dialog box, accept the default filename (the name of the database file with the .fpsl filename extension), or enter a different name.

  For Save, choose Records being browsed to save the entire found set of records. Or choose Current record to save only the current record. (in this case, the found set is not stored, but the current record and all other states, such as the layout, view, and sort order, are stored)If you want to email the snapshot link, for After saving, select Create email with file as attachment.Click Save. If you chose to email the snapshot link, a blank email message opens in your default email application, with the FPSL file attached. Complete the header information and send the message.

 

To open a snapshot link file:
You can use any method of opening FileMaker Pro files to open a snapshot link file.

REPLY ONE

Here is what you should have for your relationships:

Doctors---<Patients------<Exams----<Starts

Doctors::__pkDoctorID = Patients::_fkDoctorID
Patients::__pkPatientID = Exams::_fkPatientID
Exams::__pkExamID = Starts::_fkExamID

If this notation is unfamiliar, see: http://forums.filemaker.com/posts/246c1d6f67

Given your description of "doing this all from the Doctors layout", I am not at all sure this is what you actually have.

FileMaker won't know which exam links to a given record in Starts unless you first do something that puts a value in a field in the start record that matches to the primary key for a selected record in exams. The simplest solution is to use a layout based on exams to fill in information on each "start", but this is not the only way to do this. You can use supplementary relationships to the current record in Doctors with scripts and script triggers or buttons to enter this information for you from the Doctors layout.

 

Here's one way:

Define some global fields in Doctors: gSelectedPatient and gSelectedExam.

add two more relationships to new occurrences of Exams and Starts

SelectedStarts>-------Doctors-----<SelectedExams

Doctors::gSelectedPatient = SelectedExams::_fkPatientID
Doctors::gSelectedExam = SelectedStarts::_fkExamID

You can then put portals to SelectedExams and a portal to SelectedStarts on your Doctors layout in place of any portals to Exams and Starts.

The trick is to use script trigger performed scripts to update the values in the two global fields. Here's an example for "synching" the gSelectedPatient field:

Select the OnObjectExit trigger for the portal to Patients and have it perform this script:

Set Field [Doctors::gSelectedPatient ; Patients::__pkPatientID]

Then, you can click into any row in the portal to Patients and the portal to Exams will update to show all Exam records for that patient and you can add new Exam records for that patient directly in the portal.

You can use the same method to synch a portal to SelectedStarts each time you interact with the portal to SelectedExams.

 

To add a new table occurrence:

  In Manage | Database | relationships, make a new table occurrence of YourTable by clicking it and then clicking the duplicate button (2 green plus signs). You can double click the new occurrence box to get a dialog to appear where you can rename the new occurrence box.

  We have not duplicated a table. Instead, this is a new reference to the same table already present in your database.

 

Title:  Layout View makes me crash

Post:  I have a database that has been in perfect working order for over a decade, and the combination of FM Pro 10 Advanced and Windows 7 was a fine partnership. Upon migrating to Windows 8, however, every single time I switch to Layout view, I crash.

Every single layout, every single time.

Does anyone here know what might be going on? Many thanks...

 

REPLY 6  It's rare, but not unheard of for an OS update such as from W7 to W8, to reveal hidden issues with a file. The damage was there for an unknown period of time but created no noticeable issues until the update, then you get a crash or other obvious behavior.

It's also rare, but not unheard of for damage to a file to not be detected by recover or is detected, but not fully repaired.

This may be the case here. You might try the 3rd party produced FmDiff application to see if it spots any issues that recover missed.

I really hate to say this, but if you can't find a back up copy that doesn't crash on you, you may have to rebuild the file manually and import the data into it. This can be a very labor intensive process.

Before you go that route look over this list of suggestions that I frequently post when someone reports crashes or "hangs" and see if any are things that you haven't investigated. They may be long shots, but if one of the "scores", you've saved yourself a lot of work.

Figuring out why FileMaker is crashing can require some sleuthing to rule out possible issues.

Basic diagnostic tests to perform when you get frequent crashes or “hangs”:

Does the crash only occur with a specific file?
Test by creating a small sample file and see if opening it and working with it also generates a crash. If it crashes too, the problem likely lies with the computer or it's installation of FileMaker. If it does not crash, it becomes more likely that there is a problem with the file.

To check for possible problems on a specific computer, you may want to run a utility to check out the hard drive and also to check out the user accounts on that computer for possible problems.

 

To rule out some other issues with your specific computer on Windows systems,

Select Run from the start menu and type in:

msconfig

Then, under the Services tab, you can stop all non-Microsoft services. If this solves the issue, then you need to look at what services you stopped and see which is one is the culprit.

 

What is reported when you recover the file?
The file could be damaged. Not only can file damage cause crashes, but the crashes (or forced quits after a "hang") can damage your file. You may need to test a recovered copy to see if it works without crashing.

 

Things to keep in mind about Recover:

1]  Recover does not detect all problems

2]  Recover doesn't always fix all problems correctly

3]  Best Practice is to never put a recovered copy back into regular use or development. Instead, replace the damaged file with an undamaged back up copy if this is at all possible. You may have to save a clone of the back up copy and import all data from your recovered copy to get a working copy with the most up to date information possible.

Does it always crash when you are doing the same thing with your file?
That may point to a specific layout, script, operation that interacts with your Operating system or other applications...

 

This implementation assumes you have a basic concept of relational database theory, in particular the use of primary and foreign keys in tables.

As a brief catchup, a primary key is a field in a table which has a unique value for each record. A perfect example would be a serial number field, which has a different number for each record. As good database practice, every table in your solution should have a primary key field, regardless of whether it is used or not.

A foreign key on the other hand, is a field in a table, which contains the primary key value of a record from another table. This is how two records in different tables are linked/related to one another, and indeed is how we are going to link an ENROLLMENT to both a STUDENT and a COURSE.

http://filemakerweetbix.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/join-my-table-part-one/

 

FileMaker Go 12 has a new mobile function called “Location()”. Location() only works on Mobile devices at this point, so to test this demo file you need to have FileMaker Go 12 installed on your iOS device, an iPhone, iPod or iPad. FileMaker Go is free and available here for the iPhone and here for the iPad.

 

Once you have one of these apps installed, then click this link in Mobile Safari on your device to download the ‘Where Am I?’ FileMaker 12 Demo file. If you want to download the Demo file on your desktop computer to further dissect scripts in the file, simply right-click the link and select ‘Download linked file’, or transfer it using iTunes.

FileMaker 12 Demo file

https://s3.amazonaws.com/hbase-files/WhereAmI.fmp12

 

Title:  Exporting layout to another FM-Database

Post:  Can i export or copy and past layout from one application to another in the some FM version?

 

Yes and no.

Yes, you can copy objects off the layout--even do a select all and copy all the objects in one such copy, but no, you can't copy the rest of the design elements such as what table occurrence the layout is based on or the type and size of any layout parts (Header, footer, sub summary...). Value lists, relationships linking to other tables as is needed for a portal or just to place a field from a related table also cannot be copied.

 

Step 1.

Create or rename a table occurrence in the target file so that it has the exact same name as the table occurrence on which the source layout is based. (This is the name shown in "show records from" in layout set up.) Now create a new blank layout based on this table occurrence. If the original layout contains portals or fields from a related table, these relationships and their table occurrences must also be exactly duplicated in the source file.

 

Step 2.

Enter layout mode on the source layout, click each part label and note the height of it in the Inspector's position tab. Recreate these parts on the target layout--you can copy the part's height from the inspector, change files and then select the layout part and paste into the inspector's height box to get exactly matching layout dimensions.

 

Step 3.

Recreate any value lists in the target file that are used on the layout in the source file. The names must be exactly the same.

 

Step 4.

If you do not have any buttons or script triggers on this layout that perform scripts, skip this step.

Go to the source layout, select all layout objects and copy them to the clipboard. Go to the target layout and paste them. Do not bother trying to position the pasted objects correctly--you'll delete what you just pasted in a few moments.

Import each and every script from the source file that is performed by a button or script trigger on the layout that you are duplicating.

Review each script for potential issues and fix any that have occurred. We pasted the layout first so that any scripted references to objects on this layout will not be broken when we imported the scripts.

Now delete all the pasted objects from the target layout. Any buttons or script triggers were broken due to the absence of the scripts we imported after the fact so we need to paste them again now that the scripts are in place.

 

Step 5.

Select all objects on the target layout. If this is fileMaker 12, group them as a single group. Note the top and left position values in the Inspector for this group of selected objects. Go to the target layout and paste the objects to the layout. With the newly pasted objects still selected, edit the values in the top and left boxes to exactly match the values in the source layout to precisely position them to fit the new layout.

 

Step 6.

Enter browse mode and carefully test your new layout to make sure that it works correctly in context of your new layout. At this point, you can edit any table occurrence names that you changed back at the beginning if you prefer their original names.

 

Richard Carlton Consulting has released a FileMaker Go training tool, designed to help Developers learn the functional differences between FileMaker Pro (for the desktop), and FileMaker Go (for the iPhone and iPad). While FileMaker Go is fundamentally FileMaker, it does have certain limitations that are specific to iOS – the iPhone and iPad operating systems – as well as inherent limitations associated with Mobile devices.