IntroductionWelcome| 00:04 | Hi! I am Cris Ippolite and welcome
to FileMaker Pro 11 New Features.
| | 00:08 | FileMaker Pro is the leading Desktop
database software, popular for its ease of
| | 00:12 | use, and is used by everyone from
Fortune 500 companies to individuals who just
| | 00:17 | want to be a little bit more organized.
| | 00:19 | In this title, I will show you how to
control the objects in your database in
| | 00:22 | Layout mode with the new Inspector panel.
| | 00:24 | We will spend some time maximizing
the efficiency of your workflow with
| | 00:28 | FileMaker's portal filtering
capabilities and the new Quick Find feature.
| | 00:32 | I will teach you how to set up
Recurring Import to automate your process.
| | 00:36 | Then I will show you how to build
interesting and attractive reports using both
| | 00:40 | the improved Report Assistant
and the new Charting feature.
| | 00:43 | Throughout this course, I will be
providing guidance and examples, based on
| | 00:47 | actual experiences I have
had using FileMaker Pro 11.
| | 00:49 | I will be your guide through this course,
| | 00:52 | so let's dive right in with
FileMaker Pro 11 New Features.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 | If you are a premium member of the
lynda.com Online Training Library, or if
| | 00:04 | you're watching this tutorial on a DVD-
ROM, then you have access to the exercise
| | 00:09 | files used throughout this title.
| | 00:11 | You'll see that in the Exercise folder that I
will be using throughout all of these movies,
| | 00:15 | we have organized all the
exercise files by the chapter.
| | 00:18 | And then within each chapter, you will
notice that there is one exercise file
| | 00:22 | created for each movie found within the chapter.
| | 00:25 | So, if you would like to just jump
down to a topic, for example, Chapter 06,
| | 00:30 | movie 03, you can jump right down into
the folder called 06 and then pick the
| | 00:35 | file that's indicated as 06_03.
| | 00:38 | All of the movies throughout this title
will have a corresponding file, and in
| | 00:42 | some cases, you'll notice that
there are non-FileMaker files.
| | 00:46 | In these cases, we are using these files
for different exercises within the movie.
| | 00:51 | So, you'll be guided as to how to use
those exercise files when you get to
| | 00:55 | those specific chapters.
| | 00:57 | And if you don't have access to the
exercise files, you can still follow along
| | 01:00 | from scratch with your own assets.
| | 01:02 | So, let's get started.
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1. Getting StartedThe FileMaker Quick Start screen| 00:00 | One of the first new features that
you'll encounter when opening up FileMaker
| | 00:03 | Pro 11 is the newly redesigned
FileMaker Quick Start Screen.
| | 00:07 | The new Quick Start Screen will equally
address both new and experienced users.
| | 00:11 | New users who aren't sure how to get
started will be able to choose from Video
| | 00:15 | Tutorials, the PDF-based Hands-on
Tutorial, or even access to FileMaker Forum
| | 00:20 | via the Web browser.
| | 00:21 | But those who've worked with
FileMaker Pro can begin right here by either
| | 00:25 | creating a new database, converting an
existing file from, let's say, an Excel
| | 00:29 | spreadsheet, or even accessing the new
Starter Solutions and the newly designed
| | 00:34 | Starter Solution gallery.
| | 00:36 | You can just simply hit the Browse
button to choose a file somewhere on your
| | 00:40 | computer or your network for
you to be able to get started.
| | 00:43 | But the one thing that you will notice,
in the middle of the Quick Start screen,
| | 00:46 | is the new Favorites in Recent Files window.
| | 00:48 | You will notice that whichever files
that you have accessed in the past will
| | 00:52 | show up here and also can be accessed by simply
double-clicking or selecting and hitting Open.
| | 00:58 | But you will notice something new
here in FileMaker Pro 11, Favorite Files.
| | 01:03 | A Favorite File is a file that you may
access on a regular basis, whether it's
| | 01:07 | every day, or every time you work with
FileMaker Pro, and you might not want to
| | 01:10 | have to dig around on your computer to
try to find its location, or you might
| | 01:14 | forget the path over a
network, if it's a hosted file.
| | 01:17 | So, by creating a Favorite File,
you'll be able to access these very easily.
| | 01:21 | And you manage all your Favorites
through the new Manage Favorites window, which
| | 01:25 | you can access here in the Quick Start
Screen by clicking on Manage Favorites.
| | 01:29 | So, you will see all of the
favorite files that you've already added.
| | 01:32 | You can remove Favorite Files by
selecting one of the files on your list and
| | 01:36 | hitting the minus button, and you can
also add new files by hitting the plus
| | 01:41 | button and either choosing the file
from a location on your local computer, or
| | 01:48 | by hitting the Remote button to choose a
FileMaker file that's hosted on a FileMaker server.
| | 01:52 | In that case, you will have to first
choose the FileMaker server and then pick
| | 01:57 | one of the file names of the
hosted file and select Add to Favorites.
| | 02:02 | After selecting Add to Favorites, you
can hit the Close button, and you will
| | 02:07 | then see your new hosted file
listing under Manage Favorites, as well.
| | 02:11 | Now, if you're not interested in seeing
the FileMaker Quick Start Screen every
| | 02:15 | time you open FileMaker, all you have
to do is check this box down here and
| | 02:20 | choose one of the files that you'd
like to work with, and now you won't be
| | 02:24 | bothered with that file each
time you open up FileMaker Pro.
| | 02:27 | If you want to invoke the window again,
you can go under the Help system, hit
| | 02:31 | FileMaker Quick Start Screen
to access all of these links.
| | 02:34 | You can also check this box so that
it will show up on start up again.
| | 02:39 | Or if you're just interested in
accessing the Manage Favorites dialog, you can
| | 02:43 | go under the File menu, and you will see
the new Open Favorite option, which not
| | 02:47 | only lists all your favorite files in
the order that you have selected them, but
| | 02:50 | also allows you to invoke the
Manage Favorites window again.
| | 02:53 | So, the newly redesigned FileMaker Pro
Quick Start dialog will greatly simplify
| | 03:00 | all the starting actions that a user
may take when they start working on their
| | 03:03 | database, and also the new Manage
Favorites will provide easy access to files
| | 03:07 | that you use on a regular basis.
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2. InspectorWhere to find Inspector| 00:00 | When you're working with your file in
Layout mode in FileMaker Pro 11, you will
| | 00:03 | notice that there is a new floating
palette that's called the Inspector.
| | 00:08 | You can click on the small i to open up an
Inspector window, and you can close the
| | 00:11 | Inspector window by clicking on the x,
either in the upper left-hand corner on
| | 00:15 | Mac, or the upper right-hand corner on Windows.
| | 00:18 | You can also invoke the new Inspector
window under the View menu by choosing
| | 00:22 | Inspector, or you can use the shortcut key,
which is Command+I on Mac, or Ctrl+I on Windows.
| | 00:29 | You'll also notice that when you have
an Inspector window open, you can toggle
| | 00:34 | between the different tabs by either
choosing Command+1, 2, 3 on your Mac or
| | 00:40 | Ctrl+1, 2, 3 on your Windows machine.
| | 00:44 | Finally, you can also open multiple
Inspector windows by invoking them in the
| | 00:48 | same manner you open the original.
| | 00:49 | In this case, I'll choose Command+I to
close the original window, and I will go
| | 00:54 | to View to choose Inspector, and I can
go to View again, and you will notice the
| | 00:59 | new Inspector option just below the Inspector.
| | 01:03 | Opening multiple Inspector windows can
make it easier for you to work on your Layout.
| | 01:07 | For example, you could display the Data
tab in one Inspector window and then the
| | 01:11 | Appearance tab in the other Inspector
window, thus giving you access to all of
| | 01:15 | the different object settings
that are contained within both tabs.
| | 01:19 | This new Inspector window is
designed to provide one common place to set
| | 01:23 | virtually all properties
of an object on a layout.
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| Using the Position tab| 00:00 | When you're using the new Inspector
window in Layout mode, you'll notice that
| | 00:03 | there are three different tabs.
| | 00:04 | The first tab is the Position tab, and
the Position tab will give you access to
| | 00:09 | all of the different object resizing,
or arranging, or sliding options that you
| | 00:13 | would have had in multiple different
windows in older versions of FileMaker.
| | 00:17 | For example, you'll notice that
you've got the position in Autoresizing
| | 00:21 | sections, which used to be available
to you in older versions of FileMaker
| | 00:25 | under the View menu.
| | 00:27 | You'll notice that the View > Object
Info option is no longer available.
| | 00:31 | So, when you're looking for that one,
you'll instead want to invoke the
| | 00:34 | Inspector and choose the Position tab.
| | 00:36 | The Position section, on the Position tab,
gives us information about a chosen object.
| | 00:41 | So, you see here the object that I've
chosen is a field, which allows me to name
| | 00:47 | the object inside of the Name window,
or I can position it onscreen by entering
| | 00:55 | different values into the left,
right, top or bottom fields.
| | 00:59 | I can also resize it by simply
selecting a value that's currently in the Size
| | 01:05 | field and typing into the keyboard, and
then clicking outside the field, which
| | 01:09 | will then resize the object that was selected.
| | 01:13 | Just like in the old Object Info window,
you can click on either centimeters,
| | 01:16 | pixels or inches to toggle to
different denominations, although pixels is
| | 01:21 | probably the most common.
| | 01:22 | You'll notice here that you can choose
your Resizing options for an object, and
| | 01:27 | also when choosing multiple objects at
a time, as you see here in this example,
| | 01:34 | the Arrange & Align options
go from gray to clickable.
| | 01:39 | These are the same options that you'll
find still underneath the Arrange menu
| | 01:43 | item. You can group, ungroup, lock or
unlock, either under the menu, or group
| | 01:49 | and lock, or you can use your Align,
Distribute and Resize To options either in
| | 01:54 | the menu or, of course, down here
under Arrange & Align in the Position.
| | 01:58 | One nice option is the Sliding & Visibility.
| | 02:01 | This used to be an option in older
versions of FileMaker that was found at the
| | 02:04 | bottom of the Format menu
under Set Sliding/Printing.
| | 02:08 | And once you invoked that window, you
were able to do things like hide objects
| | 02:11 | when printing, which is
always a little bit awkward.
| | 02:13 | So, now you've got access to this directly
inside of the Inspector window on the Position tab.
| | 02:18 | So, this way, I can choose some items
that are onscreen and choose not to
| | 02:23 | print those if need be.
| | 02:25 | And you can also set the behavior of
an object, when something is printed or
| | 02:29 | viewed in Preview mode, by either
sliding to the left or sliding up.
| | 02:33 | These are all features that were
available in older versions of FileMaker,
| | 02:37 | but now you have all of these options
available to you in the Position tab of
| | 02:41 | the Inspector window.
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| Using the Appearance tab| 00:00 | When you are in Layout mode in
FileMaker Pro 11, you can use the new Inspector
| | 00:04 | window to view and modify
the settings for objects.
| | 00:07 | The Inspector window has an
Appearance tab that puts all of the different
| | 00:11 | options that you have for affecting the
appearance of an object all in one location.
| | 00:15 | So, for example, you will see that some of
these are already pretty accessible to you.
| | 00:19 | Both the Fill, Line and Effect
options are available to you in Layout mode
| | 00:24 | if you go in and click on the Aa in
your Layout toolbar, which drops down
| | 00:28 | some additional options.
| | 00:30 | You see those under the Text as well.
| | 00:32 | So, some of these are all at your
fingertips already, but some of them you might
| | 00:35 | have to dig a little bit deeper.
| | 00:36 | So, for example, if you look at the
options here for selecting the text and
| | 00:40 | whether or not it's going to be at the
top-center or bottom of the field, that
| | 00:43 | you'd have to go into your Format menu for.
And also you notice that the Line Spacing,
| | 00:48 | you'd have to go under your Format menu,
and for the Tabs options, in previous
| | 00:53 | versions of FileMaker Pro, you would have
had to dig all the way into your Text settings
| | 00:57 | and your Paragraph settings in
order to be able to find these options.
| | 00:59 | So, this saves you from having to go
down two, sometimes three, levels just to
| | 01:03 | find these options within
the FileMaker menu structure.
| | 01:05 | So, this feature is designed to
provide one common place to set virtually all
| | 01:10 | the properties of these
objects while you're in Layout mode.
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| Using the Data tab| 00:00 | When you are inside of Layout mode,
using FileMaker Pro 11, and you have invoked
| | 00:04 | the new Inspector window, you'll
notice inside the Data tab, that you got the
| | 00:08 | ability to modify some of the
settings, or behavior, of field objects.
| | 00:12 | So, you will first notice that if you
don't have the Inspector Window open and
| | 00:16 | you double-click on a field, not only
will you get the Specify Field window
| | 00:21 | that you're probably familiar with
from using previous versions of FileMaker,
| | 00:25 | but you'll also notice that it invokes the
Inspector window. And it has the Data tab chosen.
| | 00:30 | And that's because the Specify
Field window could be invoked by either
| | 00:33 | double-clicking on a field object
when you're in Layout mode, or choosing a
| | 00:37 | field object while you are in Layout
mode and going to the Data tab of the
| | 00:40 | Inspector and choosing the little Pencil
button here that will allow you to pick the field.
| | 00:46 | And of course, you can do other things
that in previous versions of FileMaker
| | 00:50 | you would find these options under
things like Format > Field Control Setup, which
| | 00:55 | you see is no longer here.
| | 00:57 | Or even if you right-click, there was a
Field Control Setup or a Field Control
| | 01:01 | Behavior or Borders
options in the contextual menu.
| | 01:04 | Those are no longer here.
| | 01:05 | So, all of this functionality is available
to you now on the Data tab of the Inspector.
| | 01:09 | So, you can see here that you can
choose to change the Control style, for
| | 01:13 | instance the Drop-down list,
Checkbox, Radio button, Calendar.
| | 01:16 | All of these were options that were
available to you in previous versions of
| | 01:19 | FileMaker, but now all of this stuff
is available to you in one place here
| | 01:23 | in the Data Viewer.
| | 01:25 | And depending on the control styles that you
are picking, of course, you have the options.
| | 01:29 | Again, none of this is new in FileMaker 11.
| | 01:32 | You can affect the behavior of a chosen
field object or multiple field objects,
| | 01:37 | if you Shift+Select them.
| | 01:38 | You'll notice that you don't have the
options here under Display data from
| | 01:42 | available to you anymore, but you can
affect the behavior in Browser and Find
| | 01:46 | mode of all the chosen fields on the
screen all in one shot, by either selecting
| | 01:51 | the check box or unchecking
a previously selected value.
| | 01:55 | All of the behavior options were
available to you in the Field Control Behavior
| | 01:59 | option, which is no
longer under the Format menu.
| | 02:01 | And also, you will notice, down here
under Data Formatting, if you have a number
| | 02:05 | field or a date, time or image field on your
layout - here we have a number field in Tax Rate -
| | 02:12 | you'll see that the number
options are no longer grayed out.
| | 02:16 | In old versions of FileMaker, you
could go under the Format menu and choose
| | 02:20 | Number, for example, and
you'd get these options.
| | 02:23 | You could choose whether or not you
want to present the value as Currency, and
| | 02:27 | then you'll see all the different
options available to you for Currency.
| | 02:31 | Fixed number of decimals, thousands
separator, these are all things that you'll
| | 02:34 | have probably gotten used to while
working FileMaker over the years.
| | 02:38 | You can see the different
Decimal formats, Boolean options.
| | 02:41 | All of these options are available
for the different types of fields.
| | 02:45 | So, if you have number, date, time and
image fields, all of the old formatting
| | 02:50 | windows and options are all only
available to you in the Inspector Window
| | 02:53 | under the Data tab.
| | 02:55 | The Data tab, in the new Inspector window,
is designed to provide one common place
| | 02:59 | to set virtually all of your data
properties for objects on your layout.
| | 03:03 | And this way, you don't have to go
digging around inside of different menu items.
| | 03:06 | You have them all in one spot.
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3. Layout FoldersExploring the Manage Layouts window| 00:00 | If you were using FileMaker Pro back
when FileMaker Pro 9 was released, you
| | 00:03 | probably remember when the Script Maker
menu was changed to the Managed Scripts window.
| | 00:09 | Well now, in FileMaker Pro 11, you'll
notice that the Manage Layouts window has
| | 00:13 | been changed in the same format.
| | 00:15 | We can take a look at it by invoking
the Manage Layout window, and there's a
| | 00:18 | few ways to do that.
| | 00:19 | First, and probably the
easiest, is if you're on Mac,
| | 00:22 | you can use the keyboard shortcut keys,
which is Command+Shift+L, to invoke the layout.
| | 00:26 | And if you're using Windows,
that would be Ctrl+Shift+L.
| | 00:30 | Also in FileMaker Pro 11, you'll notice
that you can choose File > Manage > Layouts.
| | 00:37 | If you're in Layout mode, you can
choose the Layout toolbar and simply
| | 00:42 | choose the Manage Layouts, which is the
location where you could find it in previous versions.
| | 00:46 | And finally, if you care to create a
script, you can use the new Manage Layouts
| | 00:52 | Scripts step, which you'll see here
inside of this script, and the Open Manage
| | 01:00 | Layouts scripts step will allow you
to invoke the Manage Layouts window.
| | 01:05 | However, keep in mind that the
scripts step is not supported on Web, or in
| | 01:09 | FileMaker server, or in Run Time Solutions.
| | 01:13 | One of the first things you'll notice,
when you invoke the new window, is that
| | 01:18 | it's borrowed some very important
organizational elements from the Managed
| | 01:22 | Scripts window, the first of which is being
able to organize your layouts into folders.
| | 01:26 | So, you can create new folders, and then
you can either drag existing layouts or
| | 01:31 | create new ones and drop
them into these folders.
| | 01:34 | One of the interesting things about
layout folders is not only does it help you
| | 01:37 | organize your layouts when you are
looking at them in the Manage Layouts window,
| | 01:41 | but if you go into Browse mode and
click down onto your layouts, all of the
| | 01:45 | layouts that you're allowing the logged-
in user to see can also be organized in
| | 01:49 | what appears to be a submenu, which is
really just a layout folder, and sometimes
| | 01:54 | layout folders nested
inside of other layout folders.
| | 01:57 | That will allow the user to navigate to
different layouts within your database.
| | 02:02 | Another very helpful feature in the
Manage Layouts window is the ability to use
| | 02:06 | filtering to narrow down a
very long list of layouts.
| | 02:09 | In our exercise file, you see that
we've got a pretty manageable number of
| | 02:13 | layouts, but in some databases, you
could have dozens or sometimes hundreds
| | 02:17 | of different layouts.
| | 02:18 | And sometimes it's difficult to scroll
down and try to find when you're looking for.
| | 02:21 | So, now in FileMaker Pro 11, you can
just type in some value into this Quick
| | 02:26 | Find-looking field in the upper-right
corner. And you'll see that it will give
| | 02:30 | you a list of whatever layout
has those values in the name.
| | 02:34 | And it will continue to narrow down the
list as you type more values, eventually
| | 02:38 | being able to find the
one that you're looking for.
| | 02:41 | You can clear that by simply hitting
the x in the value, just like you can in
| | 02:44 | any other Mac application.
| | 02:46 | And you'll notice that you can drag up and
down to reposition layouts within your list.
| | 02:51 | They will also appear in that order
when you click the Layout dropdown menu
| | 02:56 | when in Browse mode.
| | 02:58 | In FileMaker Pro 11, FileMaker has
brought forward that same style of window
| | 03:02 | that we use to manage our scripts,
but now we can use it to manage layouts.
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| Working with layouts in the Manage Layouts window| 00:00 | Not only can the new Manage Layouts
window be used to organize your layouts,
| | 00:05 | but it can also be used to perform
different actions, like creating new layouts,
| | 00:08 | editing layout setup, duplicating, deleting and
opening layouts all from one central location.
| | 00:13 | You'll notice, when you have the
Manage Layouts window open, that along the
| | 00:16 | bottom of the window you see there are
several buttons that will allow you to
| | 00:19 | perform these actions.
| | 00:20 | So, let's say, for example, that we want
to add a folder, let's say, for products.
| | 00:25 | And inside that folder, we're going
to want to place these two layouts.
| | 00:29 | So, first, what we'll do is we'll go
under New and select the option for Folder.
| | 00:33 | You see that we can create a new layout
from here, or even a separator, which we
| | 00:37 | will add in a moment.
| | 00:38 | So, we say New > Folder, and let's
name this one Products and hit OK.
| | 00:43 | You see that the folder will be added
wherever the last place was that you've
| | 00:48 | clicked inside the Manage Windows.
| | 00:50 | So, you see we don't want this one
to be inside of the Customers folder.
| | 00:54 | So, let me grab the handlebars here
and drag it outside, and you can see the
| | 01:00 | small blue line with the eye hole at
the end of it moves from sort of indented
| | 01:05 | under Customers to indented to the
left of where invoices is, and that means
| | 01:09 | it's no longer inside the Customers folder.
| | 01:11 | So, now we can pick a couple of
different layouts to add to this folder that
| | 01:15 | we have just created.
| | 01:16 | So, let's grab the handlebars from
the Record Detail-Products and you see
| | 01:22 | the same logic here.
| | 01:24 | If I look at where the eyehole is,
and I want it to be indented with the
| | 01:28 | Products folder highlighted, then I release.
| | 01:32 | And I'll do the same thing by holding
down on my mouse, moving the line up until
| | 01:38 | it's indented where I want it to be
indented and I release, and you see that
| | 01:41 | I've added these two layouts
inside of the Products folder.
| | 01:44 | Now, if I close the window, you'll see
that by clicking on the Layout dropdown
| | 01:49 | in Browse mode, I have now got a new
option called Products with the two
| | 01:53 | layouts inside of there.
| | 01:57 | You can also add a folder
inside of an existing folder.
| | 02:02 | So, let's say I have got two new print
layouts I've created that are related to shipping.
| | 02:07 | So, I can click inside of one of the
folders that are inside the print layouts
| | 02:11 | and do New > Folder.
| | 02:13 | I'll type in Shipping as my option and hit OK.
| | 02:17 | And I see that the subfolder has
been placed inside the Products layout.
| | 02:21 | So, here I want to grab the handlebars,
and I want to make it indented in line
| | 02:26 | with Customers and Products.
| | 02:28 | There is a good place to put it, and
I can also put it below Products if I
| | 02:31 | wanted to include it, but in this case,
we're going to make it the same level.
| | 02:35 | So, you see that the position of the
eyehole before you release is very important.
| | 02:40 | And I am going to drag those
two reports into the layout.
| | 02:47 | And you'll notice now, when I look in
Browse mode, that all the folders are
| | 02:51 | represented as submenus.
| | 02:53 | But let's say I'd like to put a little
visual separator between Print Layouts and
| | 02:57 | Utilities, for example.
| | 03:01 | Manage Layouts, under the New
dropdown, you see there is Separator.
| | 03:06 | And I can drop Separator right there,
and now when we close the window and look,
| | 03:13 | you'll see that the dotted line
separator shows a solid gray line to visually
| | 03:19 | separate different groups of layouts.
| | 03:21 | This is the same type of principle
as your Manage Layouts in previous
| | 03:24 | versions, but this one allows you to
do it without having to go and create a
| | 03:27 | layout that's named ---.
| | 03:30 | And finally, just a quick review of
some of the other things you can do
| | 03:33 | from within this layout.
| | 03:34 | You can select the layout and hit Edit,
which brings up the Layout Setup dialog
| | 03:40 | with all the different tabs.
| | 03:41 | All of these are functions that existed
in FileMaker 10, but this gives you one
| | 03:46 | easy way for you to access all of them.
| | 03:48 | You can also select an
existing layout and hit Duplicate.
| | 03:51 | It will create the duplicate layout
for you and either you can hit Edit or
| | 03:54 | double-click on it to invoke
the Layout Setup dialog window.
| | 03:59 | And also, you can use the button to
delete an existing layout and after the
| | 04:03 | warning, it will allow you to delete.
| | 04:06 | Finally, if you select one of the
layouts in your Manage Layouts window and hit
| | 04:09 | the Open button, you will see that
it will open a new window and navigate
| | 04:14 | directly to that layout.
| | 04:16 | In FileMaker Pro 11, in addition to
having a new Manage Layouts window, you also
| | 04:21 | have the ability to include new layouts,
edit layout setup, duplicate, delete,
| | 04:26 | open layouts, all from one easy
-to-use, centralized location.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. The Charting ToolSetting up charts in FileMaker layouts| 00:00 | To begin learning about Charting in
FileMaker Pro 11, it's important first to
| | 00:04 | have a rock-solid understanding
of the concept of a Data Series.
| | 00:08 | Figuring out what Data Series you need
and how to assemble it comprise 90% of
| | 00:11 | the effort of making a Chart.
| | 00:13 | Coming up with the appealing fonts and
style and visual effects, that's the easy part.
| | 00:17 | So, first, let's talk
about what a Data Series is.
| | 00:20 | A Data Series is an ordered collection
of elements, and its length is the number
| | 00:24 | of the elements it contains.
| | 00:26 | For instance, if you look at the
following list, you'll see these numbers
| | 00:29 | constitute a data series with a length of 5:
| | 00:31 | 21, 18, 43, 6 and 12.
| | 00:35 | A Data Series could also contain a list
of text or let's say date elements, for
| | 00:39 | example, the series of the five
elements that we have here on the screen.
| | 00:42 | So, keeping these images of a Data
Series in mind, there are two important
| | 00:46 | things to know about how a Data Series
pertains to Charting in FileMaker Pro 11.
| | 00:51 | The first concept to understand is
that to create a Chart, you need to
| | 00:54 | specify one Data Series to act as
labels otherwise known as a Label Series,
| | 00:59 | and you'll need to specify one or
more series that contain the numeric data
| | 01:02 | that you want to graph.
| | 01:04 | In order to create a chart, in
FileMaker, you must be able to generate every
| | 01:08 | Data Series, including a Label Series,
from either a delimited list contained
| | 01:12 | within a field or variable, a chosen
field across a Found Set, or a chosen field
| | 01:17 | across a related set of records.
| | 01:19 | These are the three different ways that
you can set up charts in FileMaker Pro 11.
| | 01:23 | So, let's explore both of these
concepts in a little bit more detail.
| | 01:26 | According to the first, every Chart
is going to require a Label Series.
| | 01:30 | So, for a Bar, Line or Area chart, the
Label Series are going to be the values
| | 01:34 | that'll appear on the X axis.
| | 01:36 | Bar, Line and Area charts also require the
specification of at least one Data Series.
| | 01:41 | You can have multiple Data Series if
you'd like, and keep in mind that one
| | 01:45 | series could have four
elements, or let's say 4000.
| | 01:46 | It could be endless.
| | 01:48 | You should be able to come up with a
name or concept that describes every piece
| | 01:52 | of data in the series.
| | 01:53 | So, for example, test scores, west
region sales, number of audits, population,
| | 01:58 | these kinds of things.
| | 01:59 | That concept is the descriptor that
would generally be found in the Legend bar
| | 02:03 | in a line or area chart.
| | 02:04 | Let's take a look at this chart, for example.
| | 02:06 | So, you see in this example of a bar
chart in FileMaker Pro, there are two
| | 02:10 | series represented, one for the
Labels and one for the total sales data.
| | 02:15 | It may be useful to visualize the elements
of these series explicitly, as shown here.
| | 02:19 | This is the same data that's in the
chart that we just looked at, except you see
| | 02:22 | the X Axis is broken out here with
the names of all the sales people.
| | 02:27 | The Y Axis is broken out in the second column
with all the Sales Totals for each Salesperson.
| | 02:32 | The important thing here is that
each row has a relationship with itself.
| | 02:37 | So, for the Alex row, the total is 33,980.
| | 02:40 | For the Boo row, it's 24,383, and so on.
| | 02:44 | So, looking at the relationship
between the X column and the Y column, if you
| | 02:49 | look again at the chart, you can then
see here is the Alex and the total, here
| | 02:54 | is Boo and the total, and so on.
| | 02:57 | Note, also in the chart, how the
descriptor beneath each Data Series is
| | 03:00 | represented on the graph.
| | 03:02 | Salesperson is the X Axis label,
while Sales Total is the Y Axis label.
| | 03:07 | So, it's important to remember that
before you create a chart, you need to think
| | 03:10 | about the Data Series, or the data
comparison that you want to emphasize.
| | 03:14 | And then you can go and choose the Chart
Type and a little bit of the formatting
| | 03:18 | so that you can show the comparison visually.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Choosing chart types| 00:00 | Once you've determined the Data
Series that you want to display in a chart,
| | 00:03 | FileMaker provides five different
charts formats that you can choose from.
| | 00:07 | So, it's important for you to be
able to choose the type that impacts the
| | 00:10 | meaning that you wish to convey.
| | 00:12 | The five chart styles that you have to
choose from are a Bar Chart, which can
| | 00:16 | either be a Bar Chart or a Horizontal
Bar Chart, as you see in these top two
| | 00:20 | items, or a Line Chart, or an Area Chart.
| | 00:23 | And then the fifth one is the Pie Chart.
| | 00:26 | Now, what you see here onscreen is
we've got all five charts are defined to use
| | 00:30 | the same Data Series.
| | 00:31 | I've got a Data Series, which has an X
Series of the labels: Service, Support,
| | 00:36 | Shipping and Selection.
| | 00:37 | And then the Ratings for each
record in this database are the Y Series.
| | 00:41 | So, you'll notice that you have five
different ways to display the data.
| | 00:45 | So, it's really up to you to decide,
based on the context of the data, which
| | 00:48 | Chart type best conveys the meaning.
| | 00:50 | For example, Bar charts, as you see
here, are generally used to compare
| | 00:54 | categories of data, while Line and
Area charts are better at representing
| | 00:59 | trends of data over time.
| | 01:00 | So, typically, then the X axis, which
here is the Service, Support, Shipping,
| | 01:05 | Selection labels, will be equally
spaced units of time, months, or years, that
| | 01:11 | type of thing, for Line and Area charts.
| | 01:14 | From a Data Series perspective, Pie
charts are a whole different animal.
| | 01:17 | They are somewhat different than the
other Chart styles, because you must have
| | 01:20 | one Label Series and one Data Series only.
| | 01:23 | You can't have more than one Data Series.
| | 01:25 | Although, FileMaker will allow you to
choose more than one Data Series, it's
| | 01:28 | going to ignore any Data Series that you
select after the very first Data Series chosen.
| | 01:32 | So, any time that you have just one
Data Series, you can create either a Pie
| | 01:36 | Chart or Bar, Line and Area, but the
Pie Chart is then used for comparisons of
| | 01:41 | parts of the whole, whereas a Bar
Chart may be better for comparing the
| | 01:44 | elements in a Data Series.
| | 01:46 | But one thing that you're going to
notice is that here are actual fields that
| | 01:50 | are supplying the Y Series data.
| | 01:53 | You'll notice, as we navigate from
record to record within FileMaker, you see
| | 01:57 | that these values change, and so
therefore, the Chart values change as well.
| | 02:02 | So, the idea is not to just have one
static chart, but to embed these charts
| | 02:06 | within your FileMaker Layout so that
they're providing a visual way to look at
| | 02:10 | the same data that's being
represented in the fields.
| | 02:15 | And the choice of how you're going to
display the data is really up to you.
| | 02:19 | So, again, as a review,
| | 02:20 | Bar charts are good for comparing
increases to decreases, highest to lowest, how
| | 02:24 | many or how often, that type of thing.
| | 02:27 | Line charts are more useful for showing
data that change continuously over time,
| | 02:30 | such as historical financial information.
| | 02:33 | Area charts really are good for using
multiple Data Series, because you can
| | 02:37 | compare the area
difference between the two, visually.
| | 02:40 | And it's generally used for Summary
data, such as sales totals, or averages of
| | 02:44 | sales over time, that kind of thing.
| | 02:46 | Then Pie charts are good for
showing market share or proportions of a
| | 02:49 | difference, but they're rarely used
for statistical analysis because you can
| | 02:53 | only have one Data Series.
| | 02:55 | So, once you decide which chart will
best fit your needs, you're then going
| | 02:58 | to want to create a Chart in FileMaker
Pro and then choose the chart settings
| | 03:01 | and themes.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using charts with current record data| 00:00 | As you plan a chart for displaying your
database, you're first going to need a
| | 00:03 | good sense of how many data series
you'll use and what the elements of those
| | 00:06 | series might look like.
| | 00:08 | In the preceding movies, we've provided
a basis for understanding that concept.
| | 00:11 | So, the next step is to create the chart
itself and instruct FileMaker on how to
| | 00:15 | assemble the series.
| | 00:16 | There are three different options that
you have: either the current found set,
| | 00:20 | the current record, or related records.
And what we're going to study, in this
| | 00:24 | movie, is how to set up a chart to
use data series from the current record.
| | 00:28 | As the name implies, you'll select
the current record, or delimited data
| | 00:32 | option, when all of the elements for
the data or label series can be generated
| | 00:36 | from a single record.
| | 00:38 | So, for example, in this case, what we're
going to do is we're going to create a chart.
| | 00:41 | One Series is going to be the Service,
Support, Shipping and Selection, which,
| | 00:45 | in this example, are Ratings.
| | 00:48 | So, each customer can give a
rating to the vendor, based on those four
| | 00:52 | different categories. And for every
record that we have here, each customer has
| | 00:57 | given different ratings.
| | 00:58 | So, that's going to be one data series,
but then we're going to add a second
| | 01:02 | data series, and you notice that each
one of the customers that we go through
| | 01:05 | here, all have the same averages, and
that's because these are Summary fields
| | 01:09 | that have been set up to create
averages against the entire found set.
| | 01:13 | So, if we look into Manage > Database,
you can see these are just number fields,
| | 01:20 | which are our first series, which is
going to be specific to a current record,
| | 01:24 | and then each record is going to
contain an average value, as well.
| | 01:30 | So, those are our three data series.
| | 01:32 | We've got these labels, this data
series and the second data series, as well.
| | 01:37 | So, now that we've made our decision on
what data series we're going to use, and
| | 01:41 | that we're going to pull them from the
current record, let's go into Layout mode
| | 01:44 | and set up our first chart.
| | 01:47 | You'll notice in FileMaker Pro 11,
that in your Status toolbar, you've got a
| | 01:51 | series of icons that all
represent different Layout object tools.
| | 01:55 | The new one you'll notice is this Bar
chart-looking object. That is the Chart tool.
| | 01:59 | So, when you click on that, you'll
notice that your cursor changes to a
| | 02:02 | crosshair, which allows you to drag and then
release in the area were you want to draw a chart.
| | 02:08 | So, the first decision that you
want to make is the type of chart that
| | 02:11 | you're going to create.
| | 02:12 | So, in this example, we'll just keep it
at the default, Bar chart, and then you
| | 02:16 | can give your chart a title.
| | 02:17 | So, for example, you could type in
Bar Chart, just as plain text. And you'll
| | 02:22 | notice, when you click out of it,
FileMaker wraps it in quotations, like it
| | 02:27 | normally does in these cases.
| | 02:28 | But you can also make it dynamic by
specifying either a Field Name, so you can
| | 02:34 | display the value that would appear
inside of a field, and you can choose that
| | 02:37 | field from either the current layout,
current table or any of its related tables,
| | 02:42 | or you can create a Calculation.
| | 02:46 | So, let's say we say, in this case,
we're going to combine some text, and how
| | 02:54 | about the customer name?
| | 02:56 | You see a preview here, on the right-hand side.
| | 02:59 | So, it's pulling the value from the
Company field and mixing it with the text
| | 03:03 | that we have on the top. And on the
right-hand side, you can see a preview as
| | 03:06 | you're building your chart.
| | 03:08 | Now the next choice that we have to
make is what data series is going to
| | 03:11 | represent the Horizontal (X) Axis?
| | 03:15 | In this case, what we're doing is
we're going to use these as labels.
| | 03:17 | So, the X axis would be like the A, B,
C, D, E here in our preview, but we
| | 03:22 | want it to show Service, Support, Shipping, and
Selection across the X axis in our Bar chart.
| | 03:28 | So, what we're going to do, in this case,
is we're just going to choose Specify
| | 03:31 | Calculation and we're just going to
create a delimited string of these labels.
| | 03:37 | So, for example, we'll wrap
it in text and say Service.
| | 03:41 | We're going to delimit these
by using a Return character.
| | 03:45 | So, I've got Service Support, put another
character there, Shipping and Selection.
| | 03:55 | This is going to have to be the same
order that I choose the fields that are
| | 03:58 | going to supply the data for the
next two series. So, we hit OK.
| | 04:03 | Now we see that we've just given it
text that will represent the X axis, which
| | 04:07 | will actually be across the
bottom in our chart, as you see here.
| | 04:10 | Now you can do this in a
couple of different ways.
| | 04:11 | We've chosen to just use the
calculation engine to enter in a delimited string
| | 04:16 | of text values, but you could
use a script to create a variable.
| | 04:20 | You could loop against a bunch of
data and dynamically generate the series.
| | 04:24 | There are many different ways that you
can do it, but in this example, we're
| | 04:26 | just going to go with a
delimited string of text.
| | 04:29 | Now we want to choose the Vertical (Y) Axes.
| | 04:31 | So, you see that we're
going to have two of them.
| | 04:34 | In this example, on the preview,
you see that we just have one.
| | 04:37 | So, let's go and select the initial one.
| | 04:40 | We're going to do Specify Calculation here.
| | 04:42 | So, in this case, it's going to be the
Customer Ratings, and those fields are here.
| | 04:47 | If you scroll down, you'll see
we've got RatingService, RatingSupport,
| | 04:50 | RatingShipping, RatingSelection.
| | 04:53 | We're going to choose first, RatingService.
| | 04:56 | We want this to also be a return
delimited string of data so it can match the
| | 05:01 | return delimited string of
Text that we've already created.
| | 05:04 | So, in order to do that, we will
pick the first field, give it a return
| | 05:10 | delimiter. Pick field number two.
| | 05:13 | We can just Copy and Paste these.
| | 05:18 | This is the easiest way to add those delimiters.
| | 05:22 | So, we've got Service, Support, now
Shipping, paste, and our final one is Selection.
| | 05:30 | After this last one, we don't have to
put a delimiter, because that's going to be
| | 05:33 | the end of the series.
| | 05:34 | So, you see what you've created is a text
-delimited series for the labels, in the
| | 05:38 | X, and we've created series number one
by concatenating all of these different
| | 05:44 | field values together.
| | 05:46 | If you look in your preview, we'll
have X in our preview and then one series.
| | 05:51 | Now we're going to add a second series.
| | 05:53 | You notice, here, you've got a
plus button and a minus button.
| | 05:56 | If we hit the plus button, FileMaker's
going to let us create series number two.
| | 06:00 | That's going to be the same series we
did originally, but we're going to use
| | 06:04 | these Average fields instead.
| | 06:07 | So, we'll just set those up, making sure
that we're doing the same order, because
| | 06:11 | these are going to be direct comparisons.
| | 06:14 | We'll paste that SupportAve. We'll paste.
| | 06:19 | The next one we'll add is
ShippingAve, paste, and finally, Selection.
| | 06:29 | Again, we don't have to put
the delimiter at the end there.
| | 06:31 | So, now we've got two calculations
that are going to generate strings of data
| | 06:35 | from these fields on the current record.
| | 06:38 | As a result, our final selection is
going to be Use Data From, and then we'll do
| | 06:41 | current record with delimited data.
| | 06:43 | So, now let's hit OK and go into Browse mode.
| | 06:48 | First, we'll hit Save, because
we've made a change to layout object.
| | 06:52 | Now you see what we've got on our first record.
| | 06:54 | We've got a Bar chart with
two different data series.
| | 06:57 | The brown, or beige-colored, data
series is the average of all the records.
| | 07:01 | So, as we cycle through these records
in our found set, we'll notice that the
| | 07:05 | brown series will stay the same, but
the green will change, based on the numbers
| | 07:09 | in these local field values.
| | 07:11 | Also, you'll notice, dynamically, the company
name will appear in the top of the Bar chart.
| | 07:17 | So, as we go through each record, we
see that the green series changes, and the
| | 07:21 | beige series stays the same,
because that's our average.
| | 07:24 | So, this is an example of using
the current record data for your data
| | 07:28 | series, which is really just
creating delimited strings of data that are
| | 07:31 | going to be extracted from whichever
record has focus as your users are
| | 07:35 | moving through your database.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using charts with the current found set| 00:00 | As you plan a chart for displaying your
FileMaker 11 database, you will need to
| | 00:04 | first have a good sense of how many
data series you are going to use and what
| | 00:07 | the elements of those series might look like.
| | 00:09 | We have talked about
those in the previous movies.
| | 00:11 | Of course, the next step is to create a
chart object and then instruct FileMaker
| | 00:14 | Pro how to assemble those series.
| | 00:16 | Now, we have talked about how to create
a chart for the data in a delimited set
| | 00:22 | of data coming from the current record.
| | 00:24 | In this movie, we are going to talk
about how to assemble a chart using data
| | 00:28 | from your current found set.
| | 00:30 | When you choose to create a chart using
data from the current found set, what
| | 00:33 | you are doing is saying, "The length
of my data series is going to be equal
| | 00:37 | "to the length of the found count, or
one data point for each field in the
| | 00:43 | selected found set."
| | 00:44 | So, by selecting the current
found set for the X axis, you instruct
| | 00:48 | FileMaker Pro to assemble the
elements of each data series from all the
| | 00:51 | records in your found set.
| | 00:53 | In other words, the length of each series
will be the same as the numbers of the
| | 00:57 | records in the found set.
| | 00:58 | So, you see here, we have got a found
set of 146, so that means the length of
| | 01:02 | this series will be a 146.
| | 01:05 | If I did a different search, for
example, if I go into Find mode,
| | 01:12 | now the length of the series would be 19.
| | 01:14 | Each record contributes
one element to each series.
| | 01:17 | So, the elements of each series are going to
be also ordered in the same way as a found set.
| | 01:21 | So, your sort order is
going to matter, in that case.
| | 01:23 | So, you will see we have created a record
for the current record, in a previous example.
| | 01:30 | And now, we are going to go back to
the Invoice Report and hit the Show All
| | 01:35 | button, and let us go to Records Sort,
and sort by SalesPerson. And now you see
| | 01:42 | we have got a report.
| | 01:43 | Now I am choosing this example because
what we have here is what is called a
| | 01:46 | subsummary report, which you
are probably familiar with.
| | 01:49 | And a subsummary report is
created by generating various parts -
| | 01:57 | for example, subsummary parts for a
sales person and then the body, which gives
| | 02:02 | each individual invoice.
| | 02:03 | So, in this case, what we have got is a
List View of invoices, and we can change
| | 02:06 | the found set of those invoices, which
gives us different sales people, because
| | 02:10 | if a sales person does not have an
invoice based on an order in the found set,
| | 02:14 | they are going to be excluded.
| | 02:16 | So, your data series can change,
both for the X axis, which in this case
| | 02:20 | would be sales people,
| | 02:22 | and in the Y axis, which in that case, we are
going to use what is called an Invoice Total.
| | 02:26 | So, I have got a field in the
subsummary part called TotalSummary. If you just
| | 02:31 | quickly look at what TotalSummary is,
| | 02:35 | TotalSummary is simply a summary field,
which is the total of the invoice total value.
| | 02:40 | So, in every one of the order records,
there is a field called Invoice Total,
| | 02:45 | and this summary field we
set up will summarize those.
| | 02:48 | So, the reason that I have chosen the
subsummary report is because the concepts
| | 02:52 | behind using charts with the
current found set are very similar.
| | 02:55 | So, in a subsummary report, that we
see in Browse mode, you see all the
| | 03:00 | different sales people, and for each
one of these sales people, they have
| | 03:04 | got their own total.
| | 03:05 | So, these are going to become our series.
| | 03:06 | So, we have got all these different
sales people, and every one of them has a
| | 03:10 | corresponding total.
| | 03:11 | And those totals can change,
depending on the found set.
| | 03:15 | So, you will notice, if we do a search
for 2010 and we go back and sort our
| | 03:22 | records to trigger the subsummary,
| | 03:23 | we will see now that we have a
different number of sales people:
| | 03:27 | one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, ten, eleven people, each
| | 03:34 | with their own total.
| | 03:35 | But if we do Show All, and then sort
again, you will see that one, two, three,
| | 03:44 | four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.
| | 03:52 | So, our data series will change,
both for the sales people and for their
| | 03:57 | corresponding sales total.
| | 03:59 | So, with this in mind, let us say what
want to do is add a chart to this report
| | 04:04 | that reflects all of the sales people
and their sales totals and, of course,
| | 04:08 | this will change, based on the found set.
| | 04:11 | So, let us make some room for this
new chart that we are going to create by
| | 04:15 | going into Layout mode and grabbing
the Header and making it much larger to
| | 04:19 | accommodate a new chart.
| | 04:21 | Now as we do with any new chart we
are creating, we are going to choose the
| | 04:25 | Charting tool. And our cursor is
going to change to a crosshair, and we are
| | 04:30 | going to draw an area for the
chart, and up pops the chart setup.
| | 04:34 | And we are going to want to make some
decisions now about the type of chart
| | 04:38 | that we want to create.
| | 04:40 | So, the first thing we need to do is draw
the chart and then choose the Chart Type.
| | 04:43 | In this case, it is going to be a Bar chart.
| | 04:46 | And then we want to make a decision
on the Chart Title, so we can just type
| | 04:49 | in some text, Sales Report, and you'll see
when we click out of there it wraps in quotes.
| | 04:56 | Of course, we could a Field name to
populate this or Specify a Calculation.
| | 05:00 | But in this case, since it is across a found
set, we'll just give it the Sales Report name.
| | 05:04 | The next option - what are we going
to have in the Horizontal (X) Axis?
| | 05:08 | Now when we are choosing Current Found Set,
| | 05:11 | in this case, what we can do is choose
one of the fields that we have got and
| | 05:15 | the field that is going to represent
the labels, in our example here, is going
| | 05:19 | to be the Sales Person field.
| | 05:21 | So, that means for every Bar there
will be a different sales person's name.
| | 05:26 | The length of the series will
change, based on how many sales people are
| | 05:28 | represented in any given found set.
| | 05:30 | So, all we have to do here is just specify
a Field Name, where we choose Sales Person.
| | 05:36 | And then now our next option is
going to be the Vertical (Y) Axis.
| | 05:39 | And in this case, we need to choose
another field that is going to correspond to
| | 05:43 | the X axis label series with
a corresponding data series.
| | 05:49 | And that is where we are going to use
the total summary field, Total Summary.
| | 05:55 | So, now what we have got is for every
sales person we are going to show their total.
| | 05:58 | And that will change, based on the found set.
| | 06:00 | You see we have got current found set.
| | 06:02 | Now let us take a look at our chart,
and I am doing this on purpose.
| | 06:05 | I want to show you what the chart looks
like when you don't have this option selected.
| | 06:08 | Let us go ahead and look at it.
| | 06:10 | OK. Let's go into Browse mode. Hit Save.
| | 06:14 | It is not exactly what we are looking for.
| | 06:16 | So, what is happening here is, because
the chart is in the header part of our
| | 06:19 | report, what it is actually doing is only
charting the first invoice record in the found set.
| | 06:26 | So, therefore, we are going to see one order
total value for every one of the plotted items -
| | 06:31 | that happens to be a value of 33980 -
and in a label data series, there is
| | 06:36 | literally 146 sales people names
written all the way across the X axis, because
| | 06:42 | we have 146 records in our found set.
| | 06:45 | So, because it is giving the entire
group, it is giving one per record and then
| | 06:50 | one total order value per record, but
because it is in the header, like any
| | 06:54 | other type of report, it's only
going to give one Order Total Value.
| | 06:59 | So, what we want to do instead is just
show one record per sales person and then
| | 07:03 | the total for that sales person, which
is going to dramatically decrease the
| | 07:07 | amount of points that we have on this report.
| | 07:10 | To draw the parallel again to the
subsummary report, if we looked at a
| | 07:14 | subsummary report, which we have here
in this layout unsorted, all we have
| | 07:21 | got are 146 records.
| | 07:24 | And each one of those records
has a total dollar value assigned to it.
| | 07:27 | It does not really group them unless
we do something to create the groups. And
| | 07:32 | in the case of a subsummary record,
we go into Sort and we sort by something
| | 07:37 | called the Break Field.
| | 07:38 | And then now we see we have got fewer points.
| | 07:41 | We have just got our 13 points, one
for each sales person, with the total.
| | 07:44 | Now to do the same thing inside of a
chart, you'll go into Layout mode.
| | 07:49 | Double-click on your chart
to get to the Chart setup.
| | 07:51 | That's where this option comes into
play, Show data points for groups of
| | 07:55 | records when sorted.
| | 07:56 | So, essentially what you are saying
there is, "When I sort by the break field then
| | 08:01 | trigger the groups for my summary value."
| | 08:03 | So, because we have got a summary
value included in our Y axis, we will need
| | 08:07 | to trigger the groups by sorting.
| | 08:11 | And since the report and the
summary are going to have the same sort
| | 08:14 | values, now, when we go into
Browse mode, we can see that our report
| | 08:18 | looks a lot different.
| | 08:20 | Now one thing that we notice is that we have
got a certain order of all the sales people.
| | 08:25 | In an upcoming movie, we are going to
talk about formatting, but just one quick
| | 08:28 | little formatting piece
of advice I will show you.
| | 08:30 | It is because of the number
of the data points we have.
| | 08:32 | We are going to go into Format Chart, (X)
and we are going to give it 90 degree radius.
| | 08:38 | We will get back to show you the rest of
those in the formatting movie, but now,
| | 08:42 | when we go into Browse mode and hit Save,
you will see that what we have got are
| | 08:47 | a sales total. Let me scroll
up to the top of the report.
| | 08:51 | Here is our first sales person,
Shirley, their total is $74,169.
| | 08:56 | And you see, even if we hover over
the chart for Shirley, it says $74,169.
| | 09:02 | So, that is the first sales person in
the X axis combined with the Y axis of
| | 09:08 | the total of their sales, and the next one,
Kitters, $59,982, so on, and so on, all the way down.
| | 09:15 | Now, if we were to sort this differently,
removing the re-order value that is in
| | 09:22 | your field and just sorting by the
sales person's name, you will see that we
| | 09:28 | still have these values, 74,000, so on, and so on.
| | 09:31 | Now here is something interesting
about using the current found set.
| | 09:34 | Let us go on to Find mode, and just type in
to the second to the last field column, 2010.
| | 09:43 | And we will hit Perform Find.
| | 09:45 | And now we are going to go Sort by sales person.
| | 09:51 | And now we have got the same chart, but
it is showing us different values now:
| | 09:55 | 54,000, 46,000 and so on.
| | 09:59 | So, what you have done is you have
created a dynamic report that will change
| | 10:04 | its totals and the values that are
displayed based on the found set, and now
| | 10:09 | watch the chart when we do Show All, and then
sort again. You see that we get a different value.
| | 10:18 | Now one of the things that you can do
to prevent your users from having to
| | 10:22 | continue to sort each time is go into
Layout mode, go to Layout Setup and under
| | 10:29 | Script Triggers, you can Sort by sales
person on Layout enter, or you can even
| | 10:35 | Sort by Sales person, which is the
script that I have already set up for you
| | 10:38 | that just simply has one line to sort
by sales person and then another one to
| | 10:42 | take the person to the top of the page.
| | 10:45 | But you will look now, when you
go into Browse mode and hit save,
| | 10:49 | if you wanted to do different
searches now, 2009, that your record now
| | 10:56 | maintains its sort value despite the
different found sets that you users might be entering.
| | 11:04 | And you see that your
report looks different as well.
| | 11:07 | So, in essence, we have allowed this
chart to behave like the bodiless version
| | 11:11 | of the subsummary report
that we have on the same layout.
| | 11:14 | And because a subsummary report has a
break field and a chart based on current
| | 11:18 | found set with the Show data points
option selected also has a break field,
| | 11:22 | these both can behave in the same
manner and therefore enrich our subsummary
| | 11:25 | report by using this chart.
| | 11:27 | So, this is an area where you can add
charts to an existing report. You do not
| | 11:31 | have to add this type of chart to
subsummary report, but it certainly can
| | 11:35 | enhance reports that you may
already have in your system.
| | 11:38 | But you also leverage your own
understanding of calculations, and even scripts,
| | 11:42 | to be able to create very interesting
reports throughout the different parts of
| | 11:46 | your database.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using charts with related data| 00:00 | As you plan a chart for displaying
your FileMaker Pro 11 database, you first
| | 00:04 | need a good sense of how many data
series you will use and then what the
| | 00:07 | elements of those series might look like.
| | 00:09 | In the preceding sections, we
provided a basis for understanding how to
| | 00:13 | create charts for the current record or
delimited data, and then also with the current found set.
| | 00:18 | And the third way is to define a data
series by pointing to a set of related records.
| | 00:24 | Each related record becomes
an element in each data series.
| | 00:27 | So, for example, from the context of
where the chart appears, so in our example
| | 00:31 | file, we've got a customer and we see
a portal that had related orders on it.
| | 00:37 | So, in the same vein is this chart
that we're going to create in this
| | 00:39 | exercise, a portal will have a length
that is equal to the amount of related
| | 00:44 | records that this customer has.
| | 00:46 | So, if we're looking at order records,
it's the total number of related order
| | 00:50 | records based on the
relationship in this portal.
| | 00:52 | So, it may help you visualize what will
appear if you were to create a chart, if
| | 00:57 | we were to take a couple of these
pieces of information, isolate them from
| | 01:00 | the portal and look at them as a series.
| | 01:02 | So, let's say we want to create a chart
that has the Invoice Date as one series
| | 01:07 | and then the Invoice Total as another.
| | 01:09 | So, you see if we pull these columns
out of our portal, you'll notice here in
| | 01:14 | the Exercise File, I've done an
Invoice Date data series and an Invoice Total
| | 01:18 | data series, and they all
correspond at each one of these levels.
| | 01:21 | So, much like we've looked at in
other charts, if we just look at the X and
| | 01:25 | Y axes separately before we even
create the chart, we can visualize what
| | 01:29 | selections we need to make when
we put a chart on this layout.
| | 01:32 | So, one thing to keep in mind is that
you can reorder the order that the x and
| | 01:37 | corresponding y series values will
appear, by simply going into your Manage >
| | 01:43 | Database, into your Relationship graph,
and you can add a Sort order down here.
| | 01:50 | This won't change the data that's in the series.
| | 01:52 | It'll just change the order
in which the data appears.
| | 01:55 | So, in this exercise, our goal will be
to create a chart that shows the related
| | 01:59 | records in an area chart that gives
us a visual representation of all the
| | 02:03 | customers' purchasing trends to help us
determine whether they're ordering more
| | 02:07 | or less as time goes by.
| | 02:09 | So, what we'll first want to do is
change the Sort order so we can develop a
| | 02:13 | trend, and let's say we want to change
the Sort order based on the order date.
| | 02:18 | So, as I mentioned a moment ago,
we'll have to change that at the
| | 02:21 | Relationship level.
| | 02:22 | So, if you go into Manage > Database
and double-click on the equal sign
| | 02:26 | between the Customers and customer_
Invoices relationship, that's the one
| | 02:29 | used in the portal.
| | 02:30 | We'll go to the child side or the
Invoices side and choose Sort records.
| | 02:38 | So, let's choose Sale Date and
we'll say in Ascending order.
| | 02:44 | Now let's look in our portal
to see how that data changed.
| | 02:48 | So, we can see that the first order
they created was 9/6/2009, and the most
| | 02:51 | recent one is 6/10/2011 and we see
that the examples that I've placed on the
| | 02:55 | Exercise File for you have also changed.
| | 02:57 | So, now that we've got
that, we can determine a trend.
| | 03:00 | So, the first that we want to do is go
into Layout mode, and we want to pick our
| | 03:06 | Chart tool, which, of course, will
change our cursor to a crosshair, and let's
| | 03:11 | draw a chart in the area that we
want to be occupied by the chart.
| | 03:15 | Then, of course, we want
to choose the Chart Type.
| | 03:16 | Let's choose Area this time, and then we're
going to want to choose a title for our chart.
| | 03:22 | So, let's go in and create a
Calculation and say "Orders for ", and let's
| | 03:31 | combine that text with the company name.
| | 03:34 | So, now we'll go back and hit OK, and we
can see that it'll grab the value in the
| | 03:37 | Company name and use that
as the header for our chart.
| | 03:40 | Now we have to choose the X axis and
remember, the X axis is going to be the
| | 03:45 | series that's plotted from
left to right, or the label series.
| | 03:50 | So, what would we want to have the label
series if we're going to determine a trend?
| | 03:53 | Well that's going to be the dates.
| | 03:55 | So, we see here that that's a field
that's represented in our portal, which is a
| | 03:59 | related value coming from customer
invoices. In that field, if we hit OK and if
| | 04:04 | we turn off Show > Sample Data,
we can see the field names.
| | 04:08 | That's called Ship Date, and the
other field's called Invoice Total.
| | 04:12 | So, we go back over here, and we're going
to choose a field, or a related field, so
| | 04:19 | we hit Specify Field Name, and let's
drag down to the same relationship that
| | 04:24 | we're using in the portal.
| | 04:25 | We're really just using this portal as
a guide, just like we did in a previous
| | 04:28 | movie, where we used a subsummary report
as a guide for a chart across a found set.
| | 04:33 | We're going to use a portal as a guide
to create a chart with related data, and
| | 04:37 | the reason for that is that if you
understand the concept of a portal, you can
| | 04:40 | better understand how the data
series are being generated here.
| | 04:44 | So, in this case, we're having both a
portal and a chart in the same layout, but
| | 04:47 | they don't have to be.
| | 04:48 | We're just using this one as a guide.
| | 04:49 | So, we're going to use Ship Date as the
X, or label series, and Invoice Total as
| | 04:54 | the Y series, or data series.
| | 04:56 | So, let's go and choose customer_
Invoices, and we'll pick Ship Date and hit OK,
| | 05:02 | and now we see that related field show
up and now the Y axis, or the data series.
| | 05:08 | We'll choose the name from the
related table, Invoice Total.
| | 05:14 | The final option to select is
going to be the Use Data From.
| | 05:18 | Now in this example, we're
using data from related records.
| | 05:22 | So, you see that another choice pops up.
| | 05:24 | What we have to tell the chart is what
relationship are we going to use for the
| | 05:28 | related records? And keep in
mind that there's a context.
| | 05:32 | We're already in the context of the
customers, so it has to be a relationship
| | 05:36 | that involves the customers.
| | 05:37 | So, we'll see that we've got only two
related tables, either the customers or
| | 05:42 | one called Similars, but we're going
to use customer_Invoices, which, by the
| | 05:45 | way, is the same relationship used in
the portal, and we could choose here to
| | 05:49 | sort the related records if we'd like to,
which would override the Sort value in
| | 05:55 | the Relationship set up.
| | 05:57 | But in this case, we've already got it
in the Relationship set up, so we don't
| | 06:00 | have to set the Sort Orders, but this
would be a good place to do that sort
| | 06:03 | that we talked about before, so that the trends
go from the earliest order date to the latest.
| | 06:08 | Let's hit OK and take a look
at our graph in Browse mode.
| | 06:12 | So, now you notice we've run into the
same issue here where our labels are all
| | 06:17 | kind of jumbled over each other.
| | 06:18 | Well, if we go back into Layout mode
and do a quick double-click, hit Format
| | 06:24 | Chart, X series. Let's
just choose 45, in this case.
| | 06:30 | So, we'll hit OK, OK and now
let's take a look at what we've got.
| | 06:33 | So, you see that we've got an element
plotted on the chart for every order date
| | 06:38 | and for every order date, it's got a
corresponding Invoice Total value that you
| | 06:42 | can see represented if you
just hover over the chart.
| | 06:44 | And if you move from record to record,
you can see that this record has many
| | 06:51 | different related values and therefore
many different Invoice Totals plotted.
| | 06:54 | So, this gives us a dynamic look at how
to cycle through different records and
| | 06:58 | see what our customers buying trends might be.
| | 07:01 | Just for fun, let's go back into
Layout mode, double-click on our chart,
| | 07:05 | and let's choose Pie.
| | 07:07 | We will just see what a Pie
chart looks like, in this case.
| | 07:12 | So, we go into Browse mode and we hit Save.
| | 07:14 | This probably wouldn't be the choice you
choose, but what's interesting is this Pie chart,
| | 07:18 | this total, represents the entire
order total for every order that this
| | 07:22 | customer has ever placed.
| | 07:24 | You will notice you can get a little
congested with some of these other options,
| | 07:27 | but here you can see that the order
on 11/19 represents 84.35% of the total
| | 07:33 | amount ever ordered from this one client.
| | 07:36 | Sometimes if it fits, you can use
Pie charts or Area charts for trends.
| | 07:40 | Pie charts gives a percentage of the total.
| | 07:43 | The Area, or Line, will give you trends
over a period of time that's expired, but
| | 07:48 | you'll notice that, in some cases, we
would want to use a certain type of a
| | 07:51 | chart, but that the labels or
different formatting on the chart might be a
| | 07:55 | little bit prohibitive for us.
| | 07:57 | So, that's when it's important to look
at some of the formatting options that
| | 08:00 | you have for each chart,
which we'll do in the next movie.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Managing chart appearance| 00:00 | FileMaker Pro 11 gives you many
different ways to customize the charts that you
| | 00:03 | place on your layouts.
| | 00:05 | For example, on the Line, Bar and Area
chart, you can change the scale of the
| | 00:08 | vertical axis and your data fills the
chart properly, or you can add a legend to
| | 00:13 | remove a legend or work with background colors,
and all of these are done in the Chart Setup.
| | 00:17 | So, you'll see in our Exercise
File O4_O6, we go to Layout mode and
| | 00:22 | double-click on the chart.
| | 00:24 | You'll notice that there's a button
over here, underneath the chart preview,
| | 00:28 | that's called Format Chart.
| | 00:29 | If you press that button, you'll see all
the different areas that you have, that
| | 00:32 | you can affect the appearance of the
chart, starting with the option that's
| | 00:36 | called the Chart Appearance.
| | 00:38 | Here, you can make choices on which
font you'd like to use within your chart.
| | 00:44 | You can pick anything that you'd like
and the font size for the Chart Title, or
| | 00:50 | even the color of the
Chart Title, if you'd like to.
| | 00:53 | And then there's different Chart Styles.
| | 00:55 | You've got the Solid-Flat, which is a
2D, or a Shaded-Flat, which is a 2D, Solid
| | 01:01 | 3D and Shaded 3D, which only
is effected in non-pie charts.
| | 01:07 | You also have several different Color
Schemes you can choose from that are
| | 01:10 | preloaded into FileMaker.
| | 01:12 | Let's say you happen to be a fan of
orange colors, or that matches the branding
| | 01:17 | of your selected customer, let's say.
So you can choose any one of these that
| | 01:21 | you think might fit.
| | 01:22 | And then finally, you can adjust the
Background color of one of your charts.
| | 01:27 | So, if you go in here to Transparent,
that means it will adopt the color of the
| | 01:32 | background part. Or if you go to Solid
Fill, you can then choose the color in
| | 01:37 | the first box, or you can do a Linear
Gradient, which as you see here in the
| | 01:44 | preview is Upper-Left/Bottom-Right
and various different gradients, Radial
| | 01:49 | Gradients. And you choose, in those cases,
the start color and the ending color.
| | 01:57 | So, a lot of times, it makes sense
to do a white to another color, or
| | 02:02 | another color to a white.
| | 02:03 | So, you see we've got tons of
different ways that you can combine together
| | 02:07 | formats of the chart. And then the
next option you can choose from is the
| | 02:10 | Legend, whether or not you
even want to include a Legend.
| | 02:13 | So, let's say you don't want to
include a legend, and if you do, you can
| | 02:16 | choose whether or not the background of the
Legend is Transparent, or you give it a Solid Fill.
| | 02:21 | Here, you can see it's kind of a white
box and the same thing with different
| | 02:25 | gradients and such for the Legend.
| | 02:28 | You can also give it a Border Style of
a Rectangle, a Rounded rectangle or
| | 02:32 | None. And, of course, you
can manipulate the text.
| | 02:36 | Then finally, you've got Label Data.
| | 02:37 | Let's say that you've got a ton of
congested label data, but it doesn't seem
| | 02:41 | to be fitting on your chart properly.
| | 02:43 | So, you can change it to a smaller
text or even give it a different highlight
| | 02:46 | color. And then when you're done,
your preview contains all the different
| | 02:50 | changes you've made to your chart.
| | 02:51 | So, let's take a look at these in our database.
| | 02:54 | We're going to browse, and we'll
save the changes that we've made.
| | 02:57 | And you see here that we might want to
change the font and the font size for a
| | 03:02 | couple of these things. So, it's all
about making these changes and then testing
| | 03:06 | them on your actual records in the database.
| | 03:08 | So, let's say maybe we get rid of the
Legend and we go into the Legend Data,
| | 03:16 | make it 8 point font.
| | 03:18 | But in the Chart Appearance, we give it
a little bit easier font to read, and now
| | 03:33 | in Browse mode, you can go back
and tweak these things as necessary.
| | 03:35 | Of course, as you see in this example,
you can over format your charts, but it's
| | 03:40 | a good idea to try to find the sweet
spot and use combinations of labels, and
| | 03:44 | legends, and font sizes, and colors to
make it an attractive chart, but a useful
| | 03:49 | one at the same time.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. Managing Databases in Table ViewUnderstanding the Quick Table view| 00:00 | If you've been playing around with
FileMaker Pro 11, and you've either created a
| | 00:03 | new database from scratch, or converted
an existing file into a database, let's
| | 00:08 | say, by converting a spreadsheet or
something like that, you may have noticed
| | 00:12 | some changes to a Table View, or a new
quick Table View that's derivative from
| | 00:16 | the Table Views that you're used to
from previous versions of FileMaker.
| | 00:20 | We'll create a new database, so I can
show you an example of this, in case
| | 00:23 | you haven't seen it.
| | 00:23 | We will save this database to our
Desktop. And the first thing that comes up
| | 00:28 | onscreen is a Table View, with a
column header that says Create Field.
| | 00:34 | First, what you'll notice is that when
you create a new database and you look
| | 00:37 | under your File > Manage > Database
that one table which adopts the name of the
| | 00:42 | file - or if you don't name the file, it's
called Untitled - will appear inside your
| | 00:47 | Manage Database Tables tab.
| | 00:49 | But notice that there's no
fields inside of the Manage Database.
| | 00:53 | This new quick Table View, in
FileMaker Pro 11, will allow you to do various
| | 00:57 | different things, either in a new file -
you can create new fields, and manage
| | 01:01 | fields and we'll cover those types of
things in coming videos - or in existing
| | 01:06 | files you can switch over into Table View and
allow your users to create fields on-the-fly.
| | 01:11 | Now a couple of considerations before
we get into some of the things that you
| | 01:14 | can do while you're in Table View.
| | 01:16 | You should know that if you're in an
existing file, if you look in Layout mode,
| | 01:23 | in Layout Setup, because you're in
Table View, you'll notice when you go into
| | 01:27 | Layout Setup and Views, under
Properties, if you don't have Include column
| | 01:32 | headers checked, you'll see, when
you're back in Table View, that all this
| | 01:38 | functionality that's new in FileMaker
Pro 11 won't be available to your users.
| | 01:42 | So, if you want to manage that properly,
make sure that, in Layout mode, and under
| | 01:47 | Layout Setup, then in Views, under
Table View, you've included column headers.
| | 01:53 | So, all of this functionality
exists in the column header.
| | 01:56 | In addition, you should keep in mind
that you can only create fields in the
| | 01:59 | table that your layout is based on.
| | 02:01 | So, there might be other tables in
your database, and all you have to do is
| | 02:04 | navigate to those to create a context
that allows you to update fields and add
| | 02:09 | new fields and even add new records.
| | 02:12 | You can't use Table View to
change the schema for related tables or
| | 02:15 | external data sources.
| | 02:17 | To change schema for related
tables, you'll need to use the Manage
| | 02:20 | Database dialog box.
| | 02:22 | So, the idea behind the quick Table
View in FileMaker Pro 11 was to create both
| | 02:28 | a spreadsheet-like start experience and
a spreadsheet-like experience for your
| | 02:32 | users that might make it easier for
them to work with your FileMaker databases
| | 02:36 | if they have experience using
applications like Excel or Numbers.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adding and managing fields in Table view| 00:00 | If you have full access privileges to
a database in FileMaker Pro 11, when
| | 00:04 | you're in Table View, you can do
things besides just looking at the data.
| | 00:08 | You can now actually create, modify or
delete fields right inside your database table.
| | 00:13 | So, you'll notice, for example, in our
Exercise File that under File > Manage >
| | 00:18 | Database, we had no fields inside of the table.
| | 00:22 | You'll see here that the table that
we'll be adding fields to in Browse mode is
| | 00:28 | going to be the table that
this layout is based off.
| | 00:30 | So, we can have several different
tables in our database, and each one of them
| | 00:33 | can have their own table view, and you
would have to navigate to each one of
| | 00:37 | those separate table views in
order to be able to add fields.
| | 00:41 | So, we're talking about adding fields.
| | 00:43 | Right now, there are no fields,
although we do have this sort of placeholder
| | 00:46 | column header that appears onscreen.
And what it indicates here is that if we
| | 00:51 | click on it, we can add a field.
| | 00:52 | So, you'll notice by clicking on the
column header, the word 'Field' appears
| | 00:55 | highlighted, in your default highlight
color, and if you type information into the
| | 01:02 | column header and then click outside of
it, you have just created a field in the
| | 01:07 | table that you're currently on.
| | 01:08 | So, you notice here First Name, First Name.
| | 01:11 | So, I can hit the plus button and
create as many fields as I would like.
| | 01:17 | Now I'm doing this because I have full
access privileges to the database, and
| | 01:24 | any of your users that have an
account that's assigned to the full access
| | 01:28 | privilege set can also add these fields to the
database, if you want to allow them to do so.
| | 01:34 | In addition to being able to add fields,
you'll also notice that there's a small
| | 01:37 | dropdown arrow to the right of the
field name that you've created, that allows
| | 01:41 | you to do things like change the Field Type.
| | 01:44 | So, for example, the default Field Type
is Text, and if I want to change that to
| | 01:49 | something like Number, Date, Time,
Timestamp or Container, I can toggle to
| | 01:53 | those other types here.
| | 01:55 | You'll also notice that I can create a
new field, and in addition to some of the
| | 02:00 | standard Field Types, you'll see that
I can also create a Calculation field.
| | 02:06 | You get the standard Calculation dialog.
| | 02:08 | You hit OK, and up pops the
Specify Calculation dialog window.
| | 02:13 | From here, you can create a calculation
using fields that you've also created,
| | 02:22 | and as you'll notice, I can type in
data into the first fields that have been
| | 02:26 | referenced, and it automatically
shows up inside my Calculation field.
| | 02:31 | I can also create a Summary field,
which has its own field option window that
| | 02:38 | you might be familiar with from
previous versions of FileMaker.
| | 02:40 | In addition to creating fields and
changing Field Types, I can also use this
| | 02:44 | dropdown menu to delete a field. And as
you see here, this indicates that we're
| | 02:48 | going to permanently delete the field
from the layout. And keep in mind that this
| | 02:51 | will also permanently delete any of the
data that's stored inside of this field.
| | 02:55 | So, you got to be careful and understand that
you're not just deleting it from this layout.
| | 02:59 | You're deleting it
permanently from the database.
| | 03:01 | If you intend to delete it just from
the layout, it's not called deleting.
| | 03:05 | It's actually called hiding a field.
| | 03:08 | So, you'll notice here, if I select Hide
Field, I've only got three fields on my
| | 03:12 | layout, but under Manage > Database,
I've got four fields in the database.
| | 03:17 | You'll also see, at the very bottom,
you've got Modify Table View and Reset
| | 03:22 | Table View, which can also be accessed by right
-clicking anywhere on your Table View layout.
| | 03:28 | In Modify Table View, you'll see
here's all the fields that are in the table
| | 03:32 | but not currently showing on the layout,
and that happens to be the Email field,
| | 03:37 | or I can also unhide the field by
clicking on it here. And I can also reorder
| | 03:42 | the fields by using the handlebars
inside the Modify Table View.
| | 03:47 | If I want to set everything back to the
way I started when I first came to the
| | 03:50 | Table View, I can hit Reset Table View,
and it switches everything back before I
| | 03:56 | modified them, inside the
Modify Table View layout.
| | 03:58 | You'll notice also that you can Sort
Ascending or Descending by whatever column
| | 04:04 | that you click on, but keep in mind
that in previous versions of FileMaker you
| | 04:07 | could sort by clicking on
the column headers anyways.
| | 04:11 | But that's part of this
dropdown menu that's available to you.
| | 04:13 | In addition to changing Field Types,
depending on the Field Type that you
| | 04:17 | already have, you can invoke
the Field Options for this field.
| | 04:21 | So, for a Text, Date, Number, or Time
field, you can get the standard Options for
| | 04:27 | a Field dialog, which has the Auto-
Enter, Validation, and Storage options
| | 04:31 | available to you, very
familiar from previous versions.
| | 04:35 | In the Calculation fields, or Summary
fields, you can invoke either the Specify
| | 04:40 | Calculation or Specify Summary windows.
| | 04:43 | So, inside of the new Table View in
FileMaker Pro 11, in Browse mode, you can
| | 04:48 | create, modify, or delete fields as
long as you have full access privileges
| | 04:52 | to the file.
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| Working with records in Table view| 00:00 | In previous versions of FileMaker Pro,
you could always add, and delete, and
| | 00:04 | duplicate records on the layout that
you're currently viewing by going under
| | 00:07 | your Records menu, where those options
exist, or also, if you happen to have those
| | 00:12 | buttons appearing in your status toolbar.
| | 00:14 | But now, in FileMaker Pro 11, there
is a new way that you can add or work
| | 00:17 | with records when you're in Table view, and
that is by scrolling to the very last record.
| | 00:23 | You'll notice that there are
a couple of new things here.
| | 00:25 | You have got this left-hand column.
| | 00:26 | The left-hand column has an arrow in
Table View for whatever the active record is.
| | 00:31 | You see, as you click and make
different records active, that arrow appears.
| | 00:36 | But you'll also notice, at the very
bottom, there is a row, which actually looks
| | 00:40 | like it's a little grayer
than the rest of the rows.
| | 00:43 | But you'll notice that in that
left column, there is a plus sign.
| | 00:46 | So, when one of our users clicks on
the plus sign, a new record is created
| | 00:50 | in the table that this layout is based off of.
| | 00:53 | So here, I can click into fields. Add
new values as I wish. But just like any
| | 01:01 | other layout, if I have not allowed
users to access this field in Browse mode,
| | 01:06 | or if the account that they are using
when they log in doesn't allow them to add
| | 01:09 | or edit field or records, all that's going to
be managed in the same way as it has before.
| | 01:14 | But assuming that they have access
to be able to create new records and
| | 01:17 | access these fields, they'll be able
to do so after pressing the plus sign in
| | 01:21 | the left-hand column.
| | 01:22 | You'll notice, of course, that the
new record that was added becomes active
| | 01:27 | immediately after the plus sign is
pressed and that the plus sign moves to one
| | 01:31 | row below the record that
you have already created.
| | 01:34 | This new left-hand column in Table View
can also be right-clicked on and you see
| | 01:38 | that you can do different things like
Copy the Record or Duplicate the Record.
| | 01:48 | You can Delete Records,
| | 01:51 | whether you access Sort Records
through the left-hand column, or whether you
| | 01:56 | click on a column header and choose
Sort Ascending or Sort Descending,
| | 02:03 | you'll see that you can manipulate
your entire found set by clicking on
| | 02:07 | these column headers.
| | 02:08 | You should also expect to see that the
new record that you create will always
| | 02:13 | show up on the bottom and always
will become the current active record.
| | 02:16 | So, now that you see that in the new
Table View, in FileMaker Pro 11, you are able
| | 02:22 | to not only create fields, but
also create and manage records.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Add trailing groups and subtotals| 00:00 | In the previous movies, we've
discussed how in the new Table View, in
| | 00:02 | FileMaker Pro 11, you can add and manage
fields, and that you can also add and manage records.
| | 00:10 | In this movie, I want to show you
how you can add a part, or at least the
| | 00:13 | functionality that's produced by a part.
| | 00:15 | Specifically speaking, we are
talking about subsummary parts.
| | 00:18 | You can allow your users, or you
yourself as the user can go into any layout
| | 00:24 | that's in Table View.
| | 00:26 | You can choose a field that
you can group your records by.
| | 00:29 | So, you'll see here that I've got 1500
or so records, all with their own State,
| | 00:34 | and what I'd like to do is
organize these by State.
| | 00:39 | So, what I can do is choose the column
header for the State field, and you'll
| | 00:43 | see that there are some options here
below the Field Type and Field Options that
| | 00:46 | are called either Add Leading Group
by State or Trailing Group by State.
| | 00:50 | If you're familiar with reporting
inside of FileMaker Pro, you know that you
| | 00:54 | can set up a part that's called a
subsummary part, which means that it will
| | 00:57 | create little mini found sets for each unique
value that's stored inside your chosen field.
| | 01:03 | So, here, we are selecting the
field that we want to use to group.
| | 01:07 | You'll recognize this from being
familiar with subsummary parts that you can
| | 01:11 | either choose to have a part
show up above or below the body.
| | 01:14 | So, that's what Add a Leading
Group or Add a Trailing Group might be.
| | 01:18 | So, in this case, we are going to add
what's called a Trailing Group by State.
| | 01:22 | The reason it says State is because that's
the field column header that I have chosen.
| | 01:26 | You'll see when I hit Trailing Group by
State, a new blank, gray row appears, but
| | 01:33 | also you will notice that the data in
your found set has now changed to group
| | 01:38 | itself by States, automatically.
| | 01:40 | So, you'll each state is
represented by its own group.
| | 01:43 | So, not only has the part been
created for you, but it's been sorted
| | 01:47 | appropriately so that it's
triggered off of the State field.
| | 01:51 | You'll see that you can also change
the Fill Color, if you'd like, to make it
| | 01:55 | pop a little bit more.
| | 01:57 | So, now we've got them all grouped by State.
| | 02:00 | Let's say we want to add
some subtotals by State, as well.
| | 02:03 | So, let's first go under File > Manage >
Database and look at the Customers table
| | 02:09 | and see if we have got any
summary field in here that we can use.
| | 02:12 | Well, you'll notice that this table
currently does not have summary fields added.
| | 02:16 | So, what we can do, instead, is go to
the State column header, click on the
| | 02:21 | dropdown menu, and you'll notice
that we have other options here, as well.
| | 02:25 | We can either Add a Leading
Subtotal or a Trailing Subtotal.
| | 02:30 | In this case, we are going to choose
a Trailing Subtotal. And you'll notice
| | 02:33 | we've got a lot of
different options available to us.
| | 02:35 | These are all of the same options
that you would choose if you are creating
| | 02:38 | a new summary field.
| | 02:40 | But in this case, you'll that only
two of them are available to us, and that's
| | 02:43 | because State is a text field.
| | 02:45 | So, we can either do a Count or a Running Count.
| | 02:48 | If we had a Number field here, we
could do Total, Running Total, Average,
| | 02:51 | Count, Minimum, Maximum.
| | 02:53 | All of these would be available to us
if it was a Number, and also, we can do
| | 02:57 | Minimum and Maximums on Date fields.
| | 03:00 | So, the options that are available to
you for your Trailing Subtotals will be
| | 03:03 | based on the type of the
field that you have chosen.
| | 03:05 | Of course, you can change those Field
Types if you'd like, by toggling back and forth.
| | 03:14 | In this case, we are going to just
choose a Trailing Subtotal, which is a Count.
| | 03:19 | You'll notice that, instantly, a number
value has been added in the same column
| | 03:24 | as the state, but in this
new part, or grouping row.
| | 03:28 | You'll notice, as you scroll down
through each one of the states, they each have
| | 03:32 | their own number, and what this number represents
is the number of the records within that group.
| | 03:38 | You'll also notice that if you go to
File > Manage > Database, that a State Count
| | 03:44 | field has been added to your Customers table.
| | 03:48 | All of this being done in Browse mode,
in Table View, in FileMaker Pro 11.
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|
|
6. Quick FindConfiguring fields to include in Quick Find | 00:00 | FileMaker Pro 11 contains a new feature
that's called Quick Find, which allows
| | 00:04 | you to set up a Quick Find field on
your FileMaker status bar. And whatever
| | 00:09 | value the user types into that field
will then be applied to any number of
| | 00:14 | different fields on the
layout that you have set up.
| | 00:16 | Then, of course, the
resulting found set will be returned.
| | 00:19 | This type of feature is very similar
and familiar, probably, to those views that
| | 00:24 | use a lot of Mac applications like
iTunes, and iPhotos, and things like that.
| | 00:28 | It looks exactly the same.
| | 00:30 | It's based on the same principle, but
what's nice, in FileMaker, is that you can
| | 00:33 | select which fields are
going to be part of the search.
| | 00:36 | Quick Find is already set up,
by default, on every layout.
| | 00:40 | So, if you go into any file and go
into Layout mode and go to Layout Setup,
| | 00:48 | you'll see that Enable Quick
Find has already been checked.
| | 00:51 | So, I have unchecked that value, just to
show you where you can turn that on and off.
| | 00:56 | So, once a layout has been enabled for
Quick Find, then you will need to go and
| | 01:01 | choose different fields that will
be included in the Quick Find search.
| | 01:05 | So, the first thing that's very helpful
to do here is to go into the View menu
| | 01:10 | and choose Show, and make sure that
your Quick Find layout badges are shown.
| | 01:16 | You'll notice then once you turn those
on that you see that there is either a
| | 01:19 | green or a yellow magnifying glass
associated with every field on your layout.
| | 01:24 | Now, if you want to include every field
in your Quick Find search, then you can
| | 01:27 | just leave them as is.
| | 01:29 | Otherwise, if you double-click on a
field that you would like to exclude,
| | 01:33 | you'll notice that not only does the Specify
Field window appear, but your Inspector appears.
| | 01:38 | Down about the middle area of the
Inspector, you'll find a new check box called
| | 01:42 | Include field for Quick Find.
| | 01:45 | So, if I uncheck that box, you'll see
that the layout badge for the Quick Find
| | 01:50 | magnifying icon has been removed.
| | 01:52 | You should also notice that merge fields are
included, by default, in the Quick Find search.
| | 01:57 | And if you'd like to not include merge
fields, you can select them, and you'll
| | 02:01 | notice that also in the Data tab of the
Inspector you can uncheck the Include
| | 02:06 | field for Quick Find to exclude those values.
| | 02:10 | So, once again, you can choose fields
to be included in this search, and by
| | 02:13 | default, layouts are enabled for Quick
Find, and all fields that are supported
| | 02:16 | for Quick Find are set to
be included in the search.
| | 02:19 | You can also include merge fields in a
Quick Find, and by default, those are also
| | 02:23 | set to be included in a search.
| | 02:25 | However, Quick Find does not search
summary, container, or global fields.
| | 02:30 | You see that we have got a global
field on this layout, and it does not, by
| | 02:34 | default, have a Quick Find value. And
also, when you check it, you'll see that the
| | 02:38 | Include field for Quick
Find value has been grayed out.
| | 02:42 | If you want to improve the search
performance, you might want to remove all the
| | 02:46 | gold magnifying glass Quick Find layout
badges, because those indicate unstored
| | 02:52 | values, which might slow down your searches.
| | 02:54 | So, if you wanted to pick a couple of
these, or maybe all of them, by holding down
| | 02:59 | Shift key, you can then uncheck them
all at once by checking the Include field
| | 03:06 | for Quick Find option.
| | 03:08 | Now that you have configured your
layout, or layouts, in your database to enable
| | 03:11 | Quick Find, then chosen the fields that
you want to include - or exclude - in your
| | 03:16 | Quick Finds, you can then go into
Browse mode and perform these finds.
| | 03:20 | But before you do that, you'll
need to make sure that your toolbar
| | 03:22 | supports that.
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| Adding Quick Find to the toolbar | 00:00 | Once you've set up a layout, or layouts, in
your FileMaker database to allow Quick
| | 00:04 | Find and then gone through and
chosen which fields will be included in the
| | 00:07 | Quick Find, in order to be able to use
Quick Find in Browse mode, you are going
| | 00:10 | to have to add Quick Find to your toolbar.
| | 00:13 | Now first, you want to make sure that the
Status toolbar - which is this gray area
| | 00:16 | across top of your screen - make sure
that that's showing. And if you right-click
| | 00:21 | anywhere in the gray area and choose
Customize toolbar, you will see that there
| | 00:26 | is a new Quick Find field that's been
added to the Customized toolbar area.
| | 00:31 | So, if you just simply drag that to an
open space on your toolbar and hit Done,
| | 00:35 | now you can do Quick Finds.
| | 00:37 | So, for example, if I type in a value
in Browse mode, you will see that I can
| | 00:42 | create Found Sets without
ever leaving Browse mode.
| | 00:45 | Now the important thing to understand,
from a development standpoint, is that even
| | 00:49 | if you add the Quick Find to the
toolbar on your copy of FileMaker Pro, that
| | 00:54 | doesn't mean that your users
are going to have that toolbar.
| | 00:57 | The toolbar is specific to this
copy of FileMaker Pro, on this computer.
| | 01:01 | So, there's no way that you can really
control which options that people choose
| | 01:05 | in their toolbar, so you might need to
do a little bit of install ahead of time
| | 01:08 | if this is something that you want
users to use throughout the system.
| | 01:11 | What's a good idea is to just
educate your users how to use Quick Find and
| | 01:15 | advise them to add that to their
toolbar, and then, of course, make sure that
| | 01:18 | the layouts and the fields are
supported in case they do that very thing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| The Get (QuickFindText) function in the Quick Find script step| 00:00 | In addition to adding support for Quick
Find in FileMaker Pro 11, FileMaker has
| | 00:05 | also added a Get (QuickFindText)
calculation function, which looks like this.
| | 00:13 | So, if you just go in here and you
choose Get functions, Get (QuickFindText),
| | 00:23 | what it does is just extract the text
that a user has added to the Quick Find
| | 00:27 | field after they execute the Quick Find.
| | 00:29 | And in addition to a calculation
function, there is also a new script step, and
| | 00:36 | if you open up the Invoices_06_03
exercise file and you go under Manage Scripts
| | 00:41 | and find the Quick Find Error script,
| | 00:45 | you'll see that these two things can be
combined together to be able to grab the
| | 00:49 | value that's been put inside of a Quick
Find and then perform different actions
| | 00:53 | against it, possibly
validation and that type of thing.
| | 00:55 | So, you see here in this example, when
the script is run, a variable gets set
| | 01:00 | using the Get (QuickFindText) function,
and then a couple of different tests are
| | 01:05 | performed against that variable to
determine whether or not it's empty or
| | 01:09 | whether or not the character is too short.
| | 01:11 | The logic here is that Quick Find has
more use if you put in longer text strings,
| | 01:17 | rather than just a couple of characters.
| | 01:19 | Here, you can impose a rule that
you make sure that users at least type
| | 01:21 | something into the Quick Find field,
and once they do, that it has to exceed
| | 01:26 | three characters in length.
| | 01:27 | Then once everything passes muster, you
will see that there is a new script step
| | 01:31 | called Perform Quick Find.
| | 01:33 | And you can perform Quick Find using
the Calculation Engine. You can tell it
| | 01:38 | what value to put into that field. And
what we are going to do here is just put
| | 01:42 | the variable back in.
| | 01:43 | So, in review, a user will type a value
into the Quick Find field, we will set
| | 01:48 | that to a variable, using the Get
(QuickFindText) function, and then we will
| | 01:52 | perform a couple of tests against that
value that's currently in a variable.
| | 01:57 | And if everything passes muster then
we'll perform the Quick Find using the
| | 02:01 | Perform Quick Find Script step using
the value that was set to the variable as
| | 02:06 | the search criteria.
| | 02:10 | So, if you close out that script,
you will see that we've got that script
| | 02:15 | underneath the Scripts menu, So, if you
run it right now, what are you going to get?
| | 02:19 | This Quick Find query is empty.
| | 02:21 | That's because there is no
values in your Quick Find field.
| | 02:24 | How about if I type in two characters
and run the script again, and it runs to
| | 02:29 | the second test and gives me a dialog
that says, "The Quick Find query is too short."
| | 02:34 | If I type in more than three
characters in there and run the script, you see
| | 02:39 | what it's done is it passed muster.
It set the variable and passed my tests and
| | 02:44 | then created a found set for me while
in Browse mode, where every record had a
| | 02:49 | CRI and an S somewhere in one of
the Quick Find searchable fields.
| | 02:54 | So, one note on this script, really the
main reason that the Get (QuickFindText)
| | 02:59 | calculation function and the supporting
Perform Quick Find Script step exist is
| | 03:03 | so that you can create scripts like the
one we saw here, but really so that you
| | 03:07 | can assign those scripts to actions
that are either performed in buttons or
| | 03:11 | shortcuts using Custom menus.
| | 03:14 | So, for those of you that are used to
creating Custom menus - which, of course,
| | 03:17 | requires a copy of FileMaker Pro
Advanced to be able to manage Custom menus -
| | 03:22 | if you are familiar with that, these are
the types of scripts that you would put
| | 03:25 | in place of regular Quick Find actions
or maybe even just regular Find actions.
| | 03:30 | Otherwise, if you are not going to be
using Custom menus, you can still create
| | 03:33 | your own scripts, much like the one in
this exercise file, to be able to test
| | 03:36 | against certain values that are
entered inside of Quick Find before you allow
| | 03:40 | Quick Find to occur.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
7. Report Assistant Interface UpdatesWalking through the Report Assistant updates| 00:00 | FileMaker Pro 11 includes some
important updates to the Report Assistant, which
| | 00:04 | you may be familiar with from
previous versions of FileMaker.
| | 00:07 | Of course, in older versions of
FileMaker, you could always invoke the Report
| | 00:11 | Assistant by entering Layout mode, or
using the shortcut key for Layout mode, and
| | 00:16 | then going under the Layout menu
and choosing New Layout/Report.
| | 00:21 | But new to FileMaker 11, you will
notice that under the File menu, under
| | 00:26 | Manage, you can invoke the Layouts option,
which brings up the new Manage Layouts window.
| | 00:32 | And part of the new features in the
new Manage Layouts window, on the bottom
| | 00:36 | left-hand corner, you will see there is
a New button, and when you press the New
| | 00:39 | butto, up pops the Report Assistant.
| | 00:41 | Now in addition to being able to
invoke the new Report Assistant through the
| | 00:46 | new Manage Layouts window, you will
notice there is a couple of improvements to
| | 00:49 | the Assistant itself.
| | 00:51 | First of all, you will notice that
the preview area, when you are trying to
| | 00:54 | choose what type of report you want,
has been updated pretty dramatically
| | 00:58 | from previous versions.
| | 00:59 | Of course, the old preview area had
been around since the very, very early
| | 01:04 | versions of FileMaker. So, a couple of
things that you will notice are that
| | 01:08 | before, where you would choose List or
Columnar Report as one option, you notice
| | 01:13 | that they are now two different options.
| | 01:14 | So, I can choose one of these and I see in
the new preview what my report would look like.
| | 01:20 | Then next, so this pain is the
same as it has been in the past.
| | 01:24 | I will pick a couple of fields to
add to our report. Proceed next.
| | 01:30 | This page, of course, is the same, but
you will notice that the preview is a
| | 01:33 | little bit different than it has
been in the past. These are updated.
| | 01:38 | Sort is the same, but here
is a pretty big improvement.
| | 01:41 | In the past, you could have gotten
this far down the Report Assistant path
| | 01:45 | before you realize that you need to
have a Summary field defined in your
| | 01:48 | database in order to complete your report.
| | 01:51 | Well, right now, you could just hit
the Specify button and choose from
| | 01:55 | an existing Summary field, but you'll
notice that we don't have any in our database.
| | 01:59 | But now you will notice that we've
got this handy new Add button, that when
| | 02:02 | we create this, will automatically
creates a Summary field for us in our
| | 02:07 | database schema, and then also allow
us to configure it without having to
| | 02:11 | leave the Report Assistant.
| | 02:13 | First of all, create a name for our
field, and then we'll choose Count.
| | 02:19 | You can pick one of the values to count.
| | 02:21 | So, now when we hit OK, we see that
this has become part of the database schema
| | 02:26 | and is available for us to choose.
| | 02:27 | So, we can hit OK, and hit Add
Subtotal, and we'll see that we can choose that
| | 02:34 | same field we just created in
our Grand Total option also.
| | 02:42 | The themes are pretty much
the same as you've always seen.
| | 02:45 | There are no new ones that have been
added, but you just choose a default.
| | 02:48 | For example, it'll give
you a white, plain background.
| | 02:51 | The Header and Footer information is
the same from previous versions, but here
| | 02:54 | is a big update as well.
| | 02:55 | You could always have chosen whether
to create or not create a script as the
| | 02:59 | last step of the Report Assistant -
and this is if you've chosen to create a
| | 03:04 | report, because the other
layouts don't acquire scripts -
| | 03:07 | but here, we can call this State
Report and choose to save a script.
| | 03:12 | But here is an interesting little option.
| | 03:14 | If I check Run Script automatically
and then proceed to finish this in Layout
| | 03:20 | mode, let's look at what that has done for us.
| | 03:24 | If we go under Layout, to Layout Setup
and Script Triggers, we'll see that not
| | 03:29 | only has it created a script for us
that we've named State Report, but it's also
| | 03:33 | attached it to an active Script Trigger
for OnLayoutEnter, meaning any time any
| | 03:38 | one ever navigates to this layout, it's
automatically going to run this script -
| | 03:41 | which, of course, will do the proper
sorting for us, so that the report shows in
| | 03:44 | groups like you intended.
| | 03:46 | So, if you go into Browse mode and
take a look at our report, we will see that
| | 03:55 | we've got the different states, and our
report has been created for us with the
| | 04:01 | help of the Layout Assistant.
| | 04:03 | So, although you are probably familiar
with using the Report Assistant in the
| | 04:06 | past, a couple of these improvements
might make it a little bit easier to
| | 04:09 | streamline the process of creating
subsummary reports using the Assistant.
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8. Recurring ImportsSetting up and modifying a recurring import| 00:00 | Many times, you have data that's not
been stored inside FileMaker that you need
| | 00:04 | to get into your FileMaker database.
| | 00:06 | In previous versions of FileMaker, you
could have either done manual imports or
| | 00:10 | created scripts to do imports
on various different intervals.
| | 00:13 | But now there's something called a
recurring import, which, in FileMaker Pro 11,
| | 00:18 | allows you to set up an import, and
then FileMaker takes care of running that
| | 00:22 | import every time you'll open a file.
| | 00:23 | So, in order to set up a recurring
import, there's one important thing you need
| | 00:27 | to know, and that's that you need to
have an account that's assigned to the full
| | 00:30 | access privilege set to be able
to set this up in the first place.
| | 00:34 | You'll find this under the
normal import File dialog.
| | 00:37 | So, you'll see that the Open File,
which is where you pick the source for your
| | 00:42 | import, and in our exercise here, we're
going to pick the WebOrders spreadsheet.
| | 00:48 | So, in this example, we can act as
though we've got a Web site that's taking
| | 00:52 | orders, and let's say it's in MySQL
or something like that. And instead of
| | 00:55 | connecting FileMaker directly, we've
decided to have the Web application export
| | 01:00 | out spreadsheet every day, or
throughout the course of a day,
| | 01:03 | but let's say, in this case, every day it
adds all the orders that we want to add
| | 01:07 | to our database, or it could be a
growing list of orders that's generated from
| | 01:11 | another application.
| | 01:12 | Either way, we're going to point to
this as the source for our import, and what
| | 01:16 | you'll notice here is
that we've got a new option:
| | 01:19 | Set up as automatic recurring import.
| | 01:22 | When we check this and hit Open, that's
going to send us to the Recurring Import
| | 01:27 | Setup dialog. And this has some pretty
obvious choices here, but it also gives
| | 01:31 | us some insight as to what's going to
be happening during a recurring import.
| | 01:35 | First, you'll want to choose whether or
not you want to import the first record,
| | 01:39 | whether or not it's column headers
that contain the field names, or if they
| | 01:42 | contain actual data.
| | 01:44 | So, in our case, it does have field
name, so I'm going to say don't import, and
| | 01:48 | then you'll see here that
you're going to name a layout.
| | 01:50 | Now the first time you'll run a
recurring import, it's going to create a
| | 01:54 | new layout for you.
| | 01:55 | So, this is important to understand
that you're not going to pick a layout that
| | 01:59 | you already have in your database.
| | 02:01 | The idea here is that you've got a group
of data that currently doesn't exist in
| | 02:05 | your database and you want to
create a place for it to land.
| | 02:07 | You could also use this as a temp
table, and then you could manipulate the
| | 02:11 | data after it reaches the temp table.
But either way, the first time you set
| | 02:15 | up to recurring import, you have to choose the
name for the new layout that will be created.
| | 02:19 | In addition, a script is going
to be created on your behalf.
| | 02:22 | We'll take a look at the script in a
second, but essentially, the script is
| | 02:25 | going to import all the data from the
source. And if there's data already in the
| | 02:29 | temp table, it's going to delete that data.
| | 02:31 | So, now, we hit OK, and now the
recurring import happens for the first time.
| | 02:36 | So, in our spreadsheet that we used as
the source, we had 146 orders, and now you
| | 02:41 | see what's happened is we've got a new
layout created in our database called
| | 02:45 | WebOrders. And we've imported all of
the fields in WebOrders into the layout,
| | 02:50 | which are represented by these 146 records.
| | 02:53 | In addition, you'll notice that there's
this button called WebOrders, which is
| | 02:56 | what we named the script.
| | 02:58 | Each time we press this button,
it'll run the recurring import script.
| | 03:03 | Now if we go in here and modify some of
the data, or let's say, for example, we
| | 03:08 | just delete all of the
data that's in our temp table,
| | 03:12 | watch what happens when we close the files.
| | 03:14 | We've got zero records, and reopen it
and now keep in mind, this file is now set
| | 03:18 | to perform a recurring import
each time the file is opened.
| | 03:22 | So, we open the file, and now it's refreshed
the data in his table with a whole new import.
| | 03:28 | If your source file changes at
different intervals throughout the day, not
| | 03:31 | just every time you open up the file, you can
press this button and manually run an import.
| | 03:36 | So, if we take a look at the
script that's created by setting up the
| | 03:38 | recurring import, you can get an idea of exactly
which steps occur each time you open the file.
| | 03:44 | So, if you hit Edit, you'll notice
that it goes to a layout, which has been
| | 03:48 | created for you already
the first time you run it.
| | 03:50 | It shows all the records in the layout, and
then it deletes all the records in the layout.
| | 03:55 | Then what it does is creates an import
using the source file that you set up
| | 03:58 | when you first did the recurring
import and then navigates to that layout.
| | 04:04 | However, maybe you don't want to
delete all of the records every time the
| | 04:07 | recurring import is run, but instead,
you want to maybe just update the records.
| | 04:11 | Well, there's a couple of
modifications that you can make to this script, if
| | 04:14 | that's what you intend to do.
| | 04:16 | So, first of all, you can remove the
script steps that show all and delete all
| | 04:21 | records. And you can modify the import
script step so that instead of adding new
| | 04:26 | records each time you run the script,
you can change it to Update matching
| | 04:30 | records in found set and then add
any remaining data as new records.
| | 04:35 | And this is just like previous versions
of FileMaker when you're doing an update
| | 04:39 | matching records and found set import.
| | 04:41 | You have to pick one of the
fields to act as the matching value.
| | 04:44 | What that means is if you've already
got a record in your WebOrders layout, in
| | 04:48 | this case, that has a value in this field,
and you're importing in a record that
| | 04:53 | has a similar value, then you don't
wanted to overwrite it, but instead, just
| | 04:57 | sync the fields that you're choosing.
| | 04:59 | So, we'll use the Invoice ID, and you'll
notice if we click on it, because we've
| | 05:03 | got this option chosen, we get the double arrow.
| | 05:05 | So, now what we do is we say, "When these
two values match on an import update the
| | 05:10 | following fields by showing an arrow."
| | 05:12 | So, we're going to say maybe just
update shipping information, since that
| | 05:19 | could change on a daily basis
from our source, and the rest of the
| | 05:25 | information gets untouched.
| | 05:30 | So, now what we've done is every time
we open up this file, it's going to go
| | 05:35 | look for that source file.
| | 05:36 | It's going to perform an import and if
it finds records that already exist in
| | 05:40 | your database, it's just going to update
a couple of shipping fields for you and
| | 05:44 | any record that doesn't exist
will get added to the table.
| | 05:47 | So, this way, you can now have a recurring
import that acts more like a recurring update.
| | 05:53 | You can use the default settings of the
recurring import to create a temp table
| | 05:57 | that then, of course, you can use to wipe out
the data every time you'll open up the file.
| | 06:01 | But you'll probably want to do some
type of scripting to pull the data out of
| | 06:04 | the temp table and put it into other
parts of your database. Or you can modify
| | 06:08 | the script that gets created through
the recurring import to allow you to do
| | 06:12 | update of existing records and then add any
new records every time that the file is opened.
| | 06:17 | So, in FileMaker Pro 11, you can set
up an import as a recurring import to
| | 06:21 | either add all new data to your
database file every time it opens, or you can
| | 06:25 | choose to sync data into a temp
table every time your file opens.
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9. Text HighlightingApplying the Text Highlight tool| 00:00 | There's a new highlighting feature, in
FileMaker Pro 11, that might, at first, seem
| | 00:04 | like it's just a formatting feature
that could be a bit underwhelming, but when
| | 00:08 | you use it in possibly Layout mode, or
even in a conditional formatting capacity,
| | 00:13 | you can see that it might have some
kind of interesting characteristics.
| | 00:17 | First, you can access text
highlighting in Browse or Layout mode.
| | 00:21 | So, here we are, in our
Exercise File, in Browse mode.
| | 00:24 | So, I'll select the double A
button to show the formatting bar.
| | 00:28 | And there you see the text highlighting,
which is the just the T, for text, with
| | 00:32 | the highlight yellow. And really, in
Browse mode, it doesn't have a very
| | 00:37 | significant feature other than
just selecting a group of text.
| | 00:41 | And you see now that when there's
text selected, the Highlight text button
| | 00:45 | appears, so I can select the Highlight button.
| | 00:48 | And then when I click outside of that
field, the text that is in the original
| | 00:52 | field remains highlighted.
| | 00:54 | So, this acts in the same way as using a
highlighter marker, or something like that.
| | 00:59 | But when you go into Layout mode, you'll
see then that you can select a Field object.
| | 01:06 | And you will notice that if you go into
Appearance, under the Text area, you'll
| | 01:12 | notice that there is a
Text highlighting button here.
| | 01:16 | And if you select the entire Field
object and then choose Text highlighting,
| | 01:21 | you'll notice that when you go back
into Browse mode and save your changes, now
| | 01:25 | you've applied that attribute to the
field on every record in your database, so
| | 01:30 | it's become an attribute of
that field object on this layout.
| | 01:33 | I'm not sure why you would want to
have every record highlighted, but that's
| | 01:40 | certainly an option that's available to you.
| | 01:42 | But one that might be of more
interest to you is using it in
| | 01:46 | conditional formatting.
| | 01:47 | So, you'll notice here that we've got a
couple of fields, and in this field here,
| | 01:52 | the last name, I'm going to choose
Format > Conditional. And you'll notice that
| | 01:58 | we've got a couple of
different options available to us.
| | 02:00 | We've got the same old ones from before:
| | 02:02 | We've got Bold, Italic, Underline,
Strike Thru, Text Color, Fill Color, all
| | 02:04 | those kind of things.
| | 02:05 | But if you choose More Formatting,
you'll see that one of the additional
| | 02:09 | formatting options is to
highlight the text of the field.
| | 02:13 | So, when could something like that be used?
| | 02:15 | Well, you'll see, in the example file
that, I've set up a formula and applied
| | 02:20 | it to a couple of different fields
in this layout that simply says if
| | 02:24 | Self=Get (QuickFindText).
| | 02:25 | Now, we've talked about the Get
(QuickFindText) in the Quick Find module, and
| | 02:30 | basically, what this is doing is
pulling the value that the user is typing into
| | 02:34 | the Quick Find field.
| | 02:36 | And it's going to compare that to the
value that's in this field, and if it
| | 02:40 | matches, it'll then apply the
highlight color. And it'll only do that
| | 02:44 | temporarily, while the Quick
Find text value still exists.
| | 02:47 | So, how would something like this work?
| | 02:49 | Well, let's look in Browse mode.
| | 02:51 | We've got this applied to the Last
Name, the Company and the Website field.
| | 02:55 | So, let's go into Browse mode and
see how something like this would work.
| | 02:57 | You see, here we've got our Quick Find
text field that's in our Layout toolbar.
| | 03:02 | If you don't have that on your version
of the file, that's because this is an
| | 03:08 | attribute of the toolbar in your copy
of FileMaker, not something in the file.
| | 03:12 | So, if you want to add it, simply
right-click, when you're in the toolbar,
| | 03:18 | choose Customize toolbar and drag the
Quick Find to the Status toolbar, as we
| | 03:23 | discussed in the Quick Find video.
| | 03:24 | But now, I'm going to type in a value
to Quick Find, and I'll hit Return, and
| | 03:31 | you'll see that it's created a Found
Set for me while I'm still in Browse mode.
| | 03:34 | So, I've got two different records, but
you'll notice something else interesting
| | 03:38 | about these records, that in the Company
field - which if you go into Layout mode,
| | 03:42 | you'll see - that I've added all of these
fields, including Company and Last Name
| | 03:47 | as Quick Find fields to be
included in the Quick Find.
| | 03:51 | So, that's why they've showed up as
matching records, but you'll notice that the
| | 03:55 | value in the Company field has text
highlighting applied to it, and that's
| | 03:59 | because that value matches the
Quick Find text value that I've added.
| | 04:03 | You'll notice that if I clear that out
that the highlighting no longer applies, so
| | 04:08 | you can use this to highlight
matching values after you've executed a Quick
| | 04:13 | Find. You'll also notice
I've done this on Last Name.
| | 04:16 | So, we'll hit Enter and see
if we have any matching values.
| | 04:20 | We have one matching value here, and
you'll notice that the Last Name is
| | 04:25 | highlighted because it matches the quick text.
| | 04:27 | So, although highlighting text in
Browse mode might be a tad bit underwhelming,
| | 04:32 | think if you use it in conjunction
with conditional formatting, it can have a
| | 04:35 | really nice appeal to your
users when they're using Quick Find.
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10. Snapshot LinksCreating snapshot links| 00:00 | In FileMaker Pro 11, you can now perform
a Find and capture that exact Found set
| | 00:05 | and the rest of the state of the window
that you're in your database and then
| | 00:09 | communicate that to another
user of that same database.
| | 00:12 | This activity is called creating a
snapshot link, and to accomplish this, a new
| | 00:16 | command has been added under the File
menu, under the Save/Send Records. And
| | 00:21 | instead of just saying Excel and PDF,
| | 00:23 | we now have Snapshot Link.
| | 00:25 | So, what is a Snapshot Link?
| | 00:27 | Well, let's say I'm in this database
and I decide that I'm going to pick a
| | 00:31 | certain layout, and I'm going
to pick a certain Found set.
| | 00:35 | So, let's say I go and create a Find
and I come up with four records, and I
| | 00:43 | also want to change the View so I can
view it as a table. And let's say I go
| | 00:48 | in and I sort these by Bill To City and
you see that that's adjusted itself, as well.
| | 00:55 | And I'm in Browse mode, and in this
case, I'm leaving my toolbar open.
| | 00:59 | So, all of these things, the Layout
I'm on, the Found set, the View that I'm
| | 01:03 | using, the way I've sorted my Records,
what mode I'm in, and whether or not I can
| | 01:07 | see the toolbar - all of these things
can be saved inside of a Snapshot Link and
| | 01:12 | then communicated to another user.
| | 01:14 | So, let's say, for example, I'm talking
to somebody on the phone or I say "Hey,
| | 01:17 | I want you to take a look at these
individuals and give them a call today," I
| | 01:21 | can go do the find, show the Layout
that's got all the proper information on it
| | 01:25 | and then go under File > Save/
Send Records As > Snapshot Link.
| | 01:29 | And I can choose to save this new
proprietary file, a .fpsl file, to any
| | 01:35 | location on my database. Or after
saving the file, I can also create an e-mail
| | 01:40 | with this file as an attachment,
which I'm going to choose to do here.
| | 01:42 | So, I'll hit Save, and because I've
chosen this option, it will create this
| | 01:48 | e-mail and allow me to
e-mail this to another user.
| | 01:50 | So, let's say I've e-mailed this to
another user, and that user is not even in
| | 01:55 | FileMaker Pro at the time.
| | 01:57 | Now, keep in mind, this user must have
access to the database, and they must
| | 02:02 | also have enough access privileges to
allow them to get to the Layout and see
| | 02:06 | the group of data that I
picked and those types of things.
| | 02:09 | So, if they do, they can simply double-
click on either the e-mail attachment or
| | 02:13 | a file that we've given to him
some other way, the FPSL file. Simply
| | 02:18 | double-clicking on it, will go
and open the FileMaker database.
| | 02:22 | It will create the same Found set.
| | 02:24 | It will sort those by a certain Sort value.
| | 02:27 | It'll put them into the mode and in
the View setting, in this case, View as a
| | 02:31 | Table, in the same way as
when we created the link.
| | 02:34 | So, this is a great way that you can
communicate to other users, different
| | 02:38 | groups of records that you're looking
at, or if you want them to look at things
| | 02:41 | in certain layouts, certain contexts,
this is an excellent way for you to
| | 02:44 | just create a very low impact file that
it can be e-mailed or transferred over
| | 02:49 | in various different ways.
| | 02:50 | It allows them not only to log into the
database and find the database, but also
| | 02:54 | to find certain records and
found sets that you've created.
| | 02:57 | So, a couple of things you should keep in mind.
| | 02:59 | The Snapshot Link does not
include the Find request.
| | 03:02 | So, when I search for Dav in the Full
Name field, that information is not going
| | 03:06 | to be contained. And if the user chooses
to save this Find, they're not going to
| | 03:11 | see that Find request in their saved Finds.
| | 03:14 | If any records in the Snapshot Link
were deleted after the file was created,
| | 03:18 | they will be omitted from the next
users View when they try to open this up.
| | 03:23 | So, for example, if, in the original file,
I deleted a record, and then the user
| | 03:28 | opens up the FPSL, that record won't be there.
| | 03:31 | It's going to be omitted from the Found set.
| | 03:33 | You can also create a script that will
save this current state as a Snapshot Link,
| | 03:41 | the new Save Records as
Snapshot Link Script step.
| | 03:44 | And just like in the save records as
PDF, or save as Excel, you can specify the
| | 03:49 | Path, or name, of the Output File. But
this is also where you can check whether or
| | 03:52 | not you want to create an e-mail
with this file as an attachment.
| | 03:55 | The last thing that you want to watch
out for is that in the Layout that you're
| | 04:03 | using in your Snapshot Link,
| | 04:05 | you want to make sure that, under
Layout Setup, that any Script Triggers that
| | 04:11 | are set to run when a user navigates
to this Layout - you'll need to make sure
| | 04:15 | that the user, or users, that you're
sending your Snapshot Link to have the access
| | 04:19 | privileges to be able to run the script
and to navigate to any layouts referenced
| | 04:23 | in the script - and to see any
field values in the script, as well.
| | 04:27 | So, they're going to need to have at
least the minimal access rights to be able
| | 04:31 | to view your layout and
the data contained within it.
| | 04:34 | The purpose of this new feature, in
FileMaker Pro 11, is to save and communicate a
| | 04:38 | client's current Found set and other
window state information with another
| | 04:42 | user, in a way that's very simple
and straightforward to the user.
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| Reviewing the .fpsl file| 00:00 | If you're curious about what kind of
information is actually being transmitted
| | 00:03 | in these new FPSL files, it
might help to take a quick look.
| | 00:08 | If you simply double-click on an FPSL
file, it's going to open up the FileMaker
| | 00:13 | database and navigate to
the Found set and so on.
| | 00:16 | But if you open it up in a text editor,
like you'll see onscreen, you can see
| | 00:20 | that there's not a whole heck of a lot
of data that's actually being saved inside
| | 00:23 | this file, and it's
pretty human readable, as well.
| | 00:27 | The first thing that you'll notice is
the location of the file, whether it's
| | 00:30 | being hosted on a FileMaker server over
a network, or if it's been locally hosted
| | 00:35 | on your own computer.
| | 00:36 | Next, you'll see that only the Record
IDs of the Records in your Found set are
| | 00:41 | actually being transmitted inside of this file.
| | 00:44 | This way, you don't have to concern
yourself with sending secure information.
| | 00:48 | And you don't have to worry about
the fact that users who don't have
| | 00:51 | passwords will not be able to see these,
because all they're going to see is the Record IDs.
| | 00:55 | And without the Record inside of the
FileMaker database, they're not going to
| | 00:58 | have anything to cross reference these with.
| | 01:00 | So, simply the Record IDs, one for
each Record in your Found set, and then it
| | 01:05 | says what View type, simply read as
table, the SelectedRow, which Record that
| | 01:11 | you're on, the active Record, whether
or not your Statustoolbar is visible,
| | 01:15 | what mode you're in, and then a list of
information about the Sort value that you've chosen.
| | 01:21 | This is all the information that gets
transmitted over, and so you don't have to
| | 01:24 | worry about sending sensitive
information via e-mail, or across the network, or
| | 01:29 | in thumb drives, or whatever it may be.
| | 01:31 | All it's going to do is allow you to
give access to somebody who can already log
| | 01:35 | into the database and can
already see all this information.
| | 01:37 | So, really it's just a guide to allow
them to get to where they need to go.
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11. Portal FilteringOptions for the New Portal Setup dialog| 00:00 | Anyone familiar with FileMaker Pro
knows that portals are a fundamental building
| | 00:04 | block in a developer's toolbox.
| | 00:06 | The standard use for a portal is to
display related records from other tables.
| | 00:11 | You'll see, for example, in this
Customers Layout, I have a portal that is
| | 00:15 | displaying only related
records from the Invoices table.
| | 00:19 | So, you'll see, when I scroll through all
these records that are appearing in the
| | 00:22 | portal, I'm seeing that these are only
invoices that belong to this contact.
| | 00:27 | You'll see, if we show other contacts,
you'll note that not every one has orders.
| | 00:34 | So, a portal, for many versions of
FileMaker, has been used to be able to grab
| | 00:40 | only related data in sort of
a parent-child relationship.
| | 00:43 | Also in previous versions of
FileMaker, developers have found it useful to
| | 00:49 | create what's called a filtered portal.
| | 00:51 | For example, we might not want to just
see all of the related records from the
| | 00:56 | Invoices table, but perhaps we want to
see all of the related records with a
| | 01:01 | certain filter applied to it.
| | 01:03 | So, for example, let's say we just want
to see all the overdue and unpaid records.
| | 01:08 | So, the common way to have done
this, in the past, is to create another
| | 01:14 | portal. And you see here, I've copied
the original portal and pasted it, and I'm
| | 01:24 | going to base it on a new
table occurrence on our graph.
| | 01:28 | Now, you'll see that I've
got two table occurrences:
| | 01:31 | I've got a relationship between
Customers and Invoices, and another relationship
| | 01:35 | between Customers and Invoices.
| | 01:37 | In one case, it's just ID to ID, but
here, you see we've got what's called a
| | 01:42 | filtered relationship.
| | 01:44 | In most cases, developers who have
complex FileMaker solutions are going to
| | 01:48 | have dozens, sometimes hundreds, of
these filtered table occurrences on the
| | 01:52 | relationship graph.
| | 01:53 | Now a lot of times, all it is is the
very same relationship as you see in the
| | 01:57 | original, but with some type
of filtered value added to it.
| | 02:02 | So, when you create a portal, based on
that relationship, you'll see that you'll
| | 02:07 | end up with different results.
| | 02:09 | So, here we're seeing all of the
invoices related to this customer, and here,
| | 02:14 | we're seeing only the invoices related
to the customer that are deemed overdue.
| | 02:19 | The problem with this is that it
requires a great deal of overhead. Not only do
| | 02:23 | we have to create the additional
relationships, or table occurrences, on the
| | 02:29 | relationship graphs, but we have
to create the supported fields.
| | 02:32 | You'll see, on both sides of this,
I had to create a Calculation field.
| | 02:35 | So, you'll notice, in Customers, I had to
create a calculation that just gives me
| | 02:40 | a One value. And then over in Invoices,
I had to create a pretty sophisticated
| | 02:46 | calculation that either gives me a one,
if true, or a zero, if false. And then in
| | 02:52 | the cases where they're true, they'll match.
| | 02:54 | Now, this overhead has been very
significant because not only does it require
| | 02:57 | additional time on the part of the
developer, but it also requires additional
| | 03:01 | processing to make these things work.
| | 03:03 | So, in FileMaker Pro 11, you go into
Layout mode and you double-click in one of
| | 03:08 | your existing portals, or a new portal
that you're adding to a Layout, you'll see
| | 03:11 | that there's a very important new feature here.
| | 03:14 | It's the Filter portal records option.
| | 03:17 | This feature is all about making it
easy to define these additional criteria
| | 03:20 | to limit the related records that are
shown in a portal by using the FileMaker
| | 03:25 | Calculation engine.
| | 03:26 | Instead of creating the additional
Calculation fields and the additional table
| | 03:30 | occurrence, you can just use the
FileMaker Calculation engine and just put one
| | 03:35 | single formula here, with a Boolean result.
| | 03:37 | So, if true, records will be
displayed, and if false, they will not.
| | 03:41 | A couple of notes on using filtering before
you start integrating these into your layout.
| | 03:45 | First, you'll know, by looking at a
layout, if it has a filter applied, simply by
| | 03:52 | seeing the words 'Filter' that
show up inside the brackets.
| | 03:55 | So, you can tell this portal here
doesn't have a filter applied and this does.
| | 03:58 | So, that way, you don't need a Layout
badge or any other kind of indicator. You
| | 04:02 | can just see a filtering is applied
by simply looking at the relationship.
| | 04:07 | Also, you should be aware that
filtering is intended for display purposes.
| | 04:11 | So, really, it's kind of a user
interface technique, and it shouldn't be seen as
| | 04:15 | a security technique.
| | 04:16 | You should always limit the access that
users have to your data through accounts
| | 04:20 | and privileges, not through portal filtering.
| | 04:22 | And the most important thing to
remember is, just like every other setting
| | 04:25 | in the portal setup window, these will
only be applied to this portal on this layout.
| | 04:30 | If this portal exists on another layout
and it doesn't have filtering applied,
| | 04:34 | you selecting a filter on this layout
will not have any bearing whatsoever on
| | 04:39 | the way that related records
will display in a portal elsewhere.
| | 04:42 | So, keep in mind that this is just a
user interface feature that's specific to
| | 04:46 | this portal on this layout.
| | 04:48 | In the next movie, we're going to
integrate a couple of different portal
| | 04:51 | filters, so that you can see different
ways that these can be applied to your
| | 04:54 | existing, or your new databases in FileMaker 11.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Specifying portal filter criteria| 00:00 | Working with portals are a
fundamental building block in any FileMaker
| | 00:03 | Developer's toolbox.
| | 00:04 | Filtered Portals are a very useful
technique when you want your users to look at
| | 00:08 | related data in various different ways.
| | 00:10 | In past versions, developers would
have to create sets of calcs to drive new
| | 00:14 | table occurrences, that were set up in
the relationship graph, just to be able
| | 00:17 | to filter a Portal.
| | 00:19 | In FileMaker 11, you can use the
Calculation Engine to establish your filter
| | 00:23 | criteria and apply it to the Portal
directly on the Layout where you are
| | 00:26 | presenting your related data.
| | 00:27 | In this movie, I'm going to show you
two different techniques for applying
| | 00:30 | Portal filtering to related data on a Layout.
| | 00:33 | So, first of all, you see what we've
got here is a Customer record, and in the
| | 00:37 | Orders tab, we're looking
at all their related orders.
| | 00:40 | So, these are all the
orders related to a customer.
| | 00:42 | What we're going to do is create
another copy of this Portal, but in the second
| | 00:46 | Portal, we're only going to show orders
that have invoices that are still unpaid -
| | 00:51 | so that they are past due,
and they have not yet been paid.
| | 00:54 | So, you can see, on each invoice, in
addition to having the name of the
| | 00:57 | individual who this order belongs to,
as far as the customer is concerned, you
| | 01:01 | also see that there is an attribute that
indicates whether or not it's Paid. And
| | 01:04 | then also, there is a field that
indicates whether or not this is Due.
| | 01:07 | So, we're going to use all these to
our advantage, but first we're going to
| | 01:11 | create the new Portal.
| | 01:12 | So, let's go to View > Layout mode.
| | 01:15 | If we simply drag and hold down the
mouse to select the existing Portal,
| | 01:21 | we'll go into Copy. Click Next to it,
in the Tab, and hit Paste, and we'll put
| | 01:28 | the new Portal down here.
| | 01:29 | So, we copied and pasted the Portal,
because we're going to be showing related
| | 01:32 | data from the same related Invoice table.
| | 01:35 | But in the second Portal, we're
going to show only filtered results.
| | 01:38 | So, the way that we do this is we'll
double-click on the Portal, and we'll get
| | 01:42 | the Portal Setup dialog.
| | 01:44 | You'll see here, the new
Filter Portals Specify button.
| | 01:47 | Anywhere you see a Specify button in
FileMaker, that means that you can use
| | 01:51 | the FileMaker Calculation Engine. And
that's really what the new feature is all about.
| | 01:56 | So, now you'll see the
familiar Specify Calculation dialog.
| | 01:59 | What we need to do here is use the Calc
engine to create a true or false, or what
| | 02:04 | is known as a Boolean Statement.
| | 02:06 | So, any time that the calculation
results in true, it'll determine that there
| | 02:10 | is a match, and any time the calculation results
in false, it will not show the related record.
| | 02:16 | So, keep in mind that this Portal already is
showing records related to this customers, so
| | 02:21 | we already have that filter in place.
| | 02:24 | So, now what we're doing is
just adding an additional filter.
| | 02:26 | This will be really easy to do.
| | 02:27 | All we need to do here is create a
calculation. And what I'm going to do is say,
| | 02:32 | any related order record that has a due
date that's less than the current date,
| | 02:38 | or the computer date, as well as any
invoice that indicates paid equals no.
| | 02:43 | So, it's going to be a two-part calculation.
| | 02:45 | So, let's do the first one.
| | 02:46 | So, first, what I'll do is I'll grab
the customer_INVOICES Due date, which is
| | 02:53 | this field. And I'm going to say if
that is less than Get (Current Date), which
| | 03:03 | means that the Invoice Due date has passed.
| | 03:06 | Now we could simply place this
calculation on here, but I'm going to add one
| | 03:09 | more test here and that is - if the
invoice has been Paid, because, of course,
| | 03:16 | just because the Due date has passed
from the current computer date, doesn't
| | 03:20 | mean that this invoice is necessarily due.
| | 03:22 | So, I've added the other item here,
customer_INVOICES::Paid, and we'll put in
| | 03:27 | equals, and that field either has a Y or an N
value, based on whether or not it's been paid.
| | 03:34 | So, now we hit OK and we see that our
calculation passes muster, and again, we
| | 03:37 | have to remember, the result must be a Boolean.
| | 03:40 | So, this just either
has to say true or false.
| | 03:43 | We hit OK. We hit OK again. And now we
look in the Portal, we see that the word
| | 03:48 | Filter has been applied.
| | 03:50 | So, that's how we can tell which
one of these two identical portals has
| | 03:53 | the Filter applied.
| | 03:55 | Let's go into Browse mode and save our changes.
| | 03:58 | Now you see what we've got is all of
this customer's records, and then here, only
| | 04:03 | the records that are past
due and are not yet paid.
| | 04:05 | In the next example, I'd like to
use Portal filtering on this first
| | 04:09 | original Portal to allow users to
interact with the Portal to show invoices
| | 04:13 | from a specific month.
| | 04:15 | So, what we'll need to do is place
something on this Layout here that will allow
| | 04:19 | users to interact with it.
| | 04:21 | The most common thing to do is put a field
on there with a Value List applied to it.
| | 04:25 | So, a common technique here, in old
filtering, is to use what's called a Global field.
| | 04:34 | I've got one in the file
already called gSelectedMonth.
| | 04:37 | And a Global field just simply means
that every record in the database will
| | 04:41 | contain the same values.
| | 04:42 | So, when we're doing user interface
techniques, this is an excellent time to use
| | 04:47 | something like a Global field.
| | 04:49 | So, let's drop that on the Layout.
| | 04:52 | Select the Field. Make it a little bit bigger.
| | 04:56 | Now what we're going to do is apply a
Value List to this field that will allow
| | 05:00 | the user to choose a month to filter the Portal.
| | 05:03 | But since that could be a pretty long list -
it could be up to 12 different months -
| | 05:08 | I'm going to use a Value List
that we already have set up.
| | 05:11 | If you go to Manage > Value Lists in the
Exercise File, you see that there is one
| | 05:15 | that's called Month.
| | 05:16 | You'll notice that this is pulling from
an OrderMonth field in the related table.
| | 05:23 | So, basically, what that's going to
give us are only the months that this
| | 05:28 | customer has orders for.
| | 05:30 | So, that way, it'll shorten our list and
every time you go to a new record, it's
| | 05:33 | going to give us a different set of
months to choose from. And it will always
| | 05:36 | omit the months that user
doesn't have orders for.
| | 05:39 | So, select the Field, go into our
Inspector, and if you don't have your
| | 05:43 | Inspector open, you can hit this
button here, or do Command+Shift+L, or
| | 05:48 | Ctrl+Shift+L on Windows, and choose,
let's say, Radio button set. And then we'll
| | 05:55 | pick the Month Value List.
| | 05:57 | We'll do a little bit of
formatting on the field.
| | 06:00 | Up here, we'll choose to give it a
Solid background, to give it a little
| | 06:04 | contrast against the tab. And
it looks like our sizing is okay.
| | 06:08 | So, we'll go into Browse mode now and
take a look at this field. We'll hit Save.
| | 06:12 | Now you see that we've got a field that
users can choose the different months.
| | 06:17 | What's interesting about this, if you go
to any other record, you see that there
| | 06:21 | is no related records here, so no
values will show up for the user.
| | 06:26 | But now what we want to do is make it
so that the selection chosen in this
| | 06:29 | Global field will affect which
records are shown in the Portal.
| | 06:33 | So, this is where portal
filtering comes into play.
| | 06:36 | So, we'll go to Layout mode, and we
will double-click on our original Portal.
| | 06:40 | We'll go into Filter Portal Records.
| | 06:43 | Now what we're going to do is
we're going to add another Filter.
| | 06:45 | Remember, there is already a
relationship set up for this Portal,
| | 06:48 | the customer_INVOICES, that says, "Show me
all the invoices related to this customer."
| | 06:54 | So, in addition to that, and of course,
anything we add in the Calculation
| | 06:57 | Engine to filter a Portal is going to
be in addition to the criteria from the
| | 07:02 | original relationship the Portal is set up with.
| | 07:04 | So, we're going to add something here
where we're going to say there is a field
| | 07:07 | in the Invoices table that's called
OrderMonth, which just extracts the month
| | 07:16 | name from the order date.
| | 07:17 | We're going to say if that value equals,
and we'll go back to Customers, which is
| | 07:23 | the parent, in this case.
| | 07:26 | We'll pick the gSelectedMonth.
| | 07:26 | So, we'll say if the value that the
user puts into this field here, the Global
| | 07:31 | field, matches the OrderMonth from the
customer table, show us those records.
| | 07:39 | One more thing that we'll have to do
is make it so that when a user selects a
| | 07:43 | value here, it automatically
refreshes the Portal for us.
| | 07:46 | So, there is a little trick
here that I've got for you.
| | 07:48 | If you right-click on the Global field,
and if you pick the Set Script Triggers,
| | 07:53 | you see that we've got some
options here to fire a script.
| | 07:56 | In this case, we're going to fire a
script in something called OnObjectModify,
| | 07:59 | which means any time the value in the
field is changed, we're going to run the
| | 08:03 | Script that's called Refresh_Flush,
which I'll show you in a second.
| | 08:09 | All it is is a single script step that
will just refresh the window, or in the
| | 08:13 | case of a Portal, refresh the Portal.
| | 08:15 | So, now let's go into
Browse mode and we'll hit Save.
| | 08:20 | Now we see, when the user clicks on
the different months, it triggers the
| | 08:26 | Portal Filter, in the Calculation Engine, and
then it gives us different results in the Portal.
| | 08:32 | So, here we have two examples of
filtering portals using the Portal Setup
| | 08:35 | dialog, which has a new feature in
FileMaker 11, allowing you to use the
| | 08:40 | FileMaker Calculation Engine to apply
additional Portal filtering criteria.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
12. External Table SecurityReviewing external table security| 00:00 | FileMaker Pro allows developers to
create external file references within two or
| | 00:03 | more databases in order to work
with data across multiple files.
| | 00:07 | While this powerful capability makes it
possible to tie solutions together, or to
| | 00:12 | create an interwoven multi-file solution,
| | 00:14 | it can be problematic as well.
| | 00:16 | So, you'll notice, in the Exercise File
12_01, that we've got a database with a
| | 00:22 | Layout that has a Status field on it.
| | 00:25 | If you look in Layout mode, this
Status field has what's called a Script
| | 00:30 | Trigger assigned to it.
| | 00:31 | That Script Trigger will send an e-mail
whenever the value of the Status field
| | 00:38 | is changed to Shipped.
| | 00:39 | And you can see what it looks like
if you do so, which is all good for
| | 00:47 | the current database.
| | 00:49 | But now, using FileMaker's external
references, let's say we have another
| | 00:53 | file called Products.
| | 00:56 | If you open up Products from your Exercise Files,
| | 01:00 | you'll notice, in the Manage
Database, that we've got three tables.
| | 01:04 | You can tell because they are in
Italics. And also, if you look in the Tables,
| | 01:08 | you'll notice we only have one Products table.
| | 01:10 | But we've got three table occurrences that
are actually coming from an external file.
| | 01:15 | The external file, in this case
External file Data Sources, is the
| | 01:20 | Invoices_12_01 example file.
| | 01:23 | So, since we've created that external
file, we can base layouts in this file on
| | 01:29 | tables that exist in this file.
| | 01:32 | However, the problem is, when we were
developing this database, we wanted to
| | 01:36 | make sure that the only place that a
Status could be changed was here, on this Layout.
| | 01:41 | So, that's why we attached the Script
Trigger to it so we could send out those e-mails.
| | 01:44 | What happens if you go into the external
file and you try to make the change there?
| | 01:51 | No e-mail gets sent out because you don't
have a Script Trigger assigned in this field.
| | 01:56 | So, this is just an example of many
different things that could happen when
| | 01:59 | you've got an external file
connecting to your own file.
| | 02:02 | This, of course, could present some
security concerns, where other folks who have
| | 02:05 | access to your file might be able to
extract data from it that you don't want
| | 02:08 | them to have access to.
| | 02:10 | So, in FileMaker Pro 11, there is a
new option that you can find under
| | 02:15 | File > Manage > Security.
| | 02:19 | You'll notice that there is a fourth
tab now, under Security, called File Access.
| | 02:23 | This new functionality will give
developers control over which files have access
| | 02:27 | to their database solutions.
| | 02:28 | So, FileMaker Pro 11, only, will
provide the means to explicitly define which
| | 02:33 | external files may access
the data in any given file.
| | 02:37 | So, in this file that we are in, we are
going to say which files we are going to
| | 02:41 | authorize to access this file.
| | 02:44 | So, here we have the file Invoices_12_
01. And one of the default options that
| | 02:49 | you can uncheck, if you'd like to, is
to Prevent opening up this file in any
| | 02:54 | version prior to FileMaker 11.
| | 02:55 | And the reason you might want to do
that is because any version prior to
| | 02:59 | FileMaker 11 doesn't have this
external file security control.
| | 03:03 | So, you can choose to not allow people
to even access it in anything but 11,
| | 03:07 | therefore imposing whatever
external file security restrictions you're
| | 03:11 | putting into place here.
| | 03:13 | The way that you turn on the
restricted access is to check this Require full
| | 03:17 | access privileges to
create references to this file.
| | 03:21 | That means that a user with an external
file will have to have the full access
| | 03:24 | privileges to your file in
order to access any of your tables.
| | 03:27 | So, you'll notice, when we turn this on,
because we've got the Products file
| | 03:32 | open, and the Products file already has
external references over to the Invoices
| | 03:37 | file, it's telling us,"Hey, the file
Products has references to this protected
| | 03:41 | "file, and those references
will need to be authorized.
| | 03:44 | Do you want to authorize this now?"
| | 03:46 | Let's just say No, and we'll see what happens.
| | 03:49 | So, now we've required that any
file that wants to connect needs to be
| | 03:52 | authorized. We said OK and hit Allow.
| | 03:56 | This is asking us to put in the master
Password for the Invoices file, which is
| | 04:00 | just simply Admin, no Password.
| | 04:04 | Now let's go into Products and we'll notice
that next time a user tries to open up Products,
| | 04:12 | open it back up,
| | 04:13 | they're going to get this message:
Products is not authorized to open the
| | 04:17 | protected file Invoices_12_01.
| | 04:19 | Do you want to authorize it?
| | 04:20 | The reason it's asking us, "Do we want
to authorize it?" is because we've already
| | 04:24 | logged into Invoices_12_01
with our master password.
| | 04:29 | But the user of the other file - if
we close both of these and just open
| | 04:36 | Products, it's asking us "Do
we want to authorize this?"
| | 04:40 | If we do authorize it, now look
what the behavior looks like under the
| | 04:45 | original Invoices file.
| | 04:46 | Manage > Security > File Access and now we see
that we've got the Products file listed here.
| | 04:53 | We could have added it proactively by
hitting the Authorize button and then
| | 04:57 | choosing the File, and that
would have added it to our list.
| | 05:03 | Of course, you see here it's already added.
| | 05:05 | If we want to remove access from
another file, we can hit Deauthorize.
| | 05:11 | So, this gives you a point of control
to either allow or not allow external
| | 05:15 | files to be able to access your FileMaker file.
| | 05:20 | Therefore, they cannot access your
data, or schema, or value lists, or anything
| | 05:23 | like that, whatever it may. But keep in
mind that you're going to have to have
| | 05:27 | FileMaker Pro 11 in order to be
able to enforce this functionality.
| | 05:31 | You're going to need to have the full
access password for both of the files that
| | 05:34 | you want to have related.
| | 05:36 | So, no user can authorize
themselves unless they have full access to
| | 05:40 | your FileMaker database.
| | 05:41 | Now you might think that you could break
this protection system by replacing the
| | 05:46 | authorize file with the new
file that just has the same name.
| | 05:48 | Well, you should note that won't work
because they are not doing this by name,
| | 05:55 | even though it appears it's just by
name. But instead, what it's doing is
| | 05:59 | saving an internal token, or unique
ID for that file, into the file that's
| | 06:04 | providing authorization.
| | 06:05 | So, it has nothing to do with the
file, or the version of the file.
| | 06:09 | If you don't have full access to the
latest version of both files, you're not
| | 06:12 | going to be able to authorize.
| | 06:14 | So, with this type of protection in
place, you can secure the data within
| | 06:18 | your file, or the schema within your
file, from any unauthorized access from
| | 06:22 | third-party files.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
13. New Script Triggers and BehaviorsLearning about the OnObjectValidate trigger| 00:00 | In FileMaker Pro 10, we were
introduced to the concept of Script Triggers.
| | 00:05 | And now in FileMaker Pro 11, they
have added three more Script Triggers.
| | 00:09 | The first Script Trigger that we
are going to take a look at is the
| | 00:11 | OnObjectValidate Script Trigger.
| | 00:14 | This is an object Script Trigger that
can be assigned to something like a field.
| | 00:18 | It's most commonly going to be used
with fields, because it actually works in
| | 00:21 | conjunction with the valiDATE field option.
| | 00:24 | To refresh your memory, if you go into
Manage > Database, let's take a look at
| | 00:29 | the Birthdate field.
| | 00:30 | When we double-click, or hit the Options
button, and go to the Validation tab, we
| | 00:35 | will see that this field has been set
up to only accept 4-digit year dates.
| | 00:40 | So, this is a Date field that is set
up strictly to require 4-digit years.
| | 00:45 | Now, the OnObjectValidate trigger is a
trigger that works inside Browse and Find
| | 00:52 | mode, and it works before
the event has been processed.
| | 00:56 | So, processing, in the case of a field,
means that after I type a value into the
| | 01:00 | field and before validation
occurs, I can run this Script Trigger.
| | 01:05 | So, that way, I can run a script that
would do something against the data that I
| | 01:10 | have entered into the field, to
possibly clean it up before the validation
| | 01:14 | occurs, and therefore
presents an error to the user.
| | 01:17 | So, let's look at a specific example of this.
| | 01:19 | We have got a field that requires 4-
digit year dates. So, if I type in a 2-digit
| | 01:25 | year, you see that I get this kind of
cryptic message that's presented by the
| | 01:29 | field that requires this
validation to be 4-digit years.
| | 01:33 | And some users might understand what
this is, but they might really not get the
| | 01:37 | whole Revert or OK option.
| | 01:39 | So, instead, what we have done, if you
look under Manage Scripts, all the way
| | 01:43 | down to the bottom, there
is a script called valiDATE.
| | 01:46 | If you double-click on it, it sets
a variable using the value that you
| | 01:50 | put inside the field.
| | 01:51 | Now, this value has not been
committed to the database yet, but you can
| | 01:55 | still save it as a variable.
| | 01:57 | Then it grabs the last four characters
out of the Birthdate field and determines
| | 02:02 | whether or not they have got any
slashes in them, which, of course, would
| | 02:05 | indicate that if you have a 4-digit
year, then there will be no slashes.
| | 02:09 | And if you have only a 2-digit or even 1-
digit year, there will be one slash, at least.
| | 02:14 | So, if that's true, it's
going to do some parsing.
| | 02:18 | And you will look and see, we are
going to set back to the same field,
| | 02:22 | a calculated result.
| | 02:24 | And essentially, what this does is
pulls the last two digits and adds a 20
| | 02:30 | to the front of it.
| | 02:31 | And it will correct itself for 19 as
well, as you will see here in a second.
| | 02:35 | So, basically, it just takes the 2-
digit version that you entered in, and
| | 02:39 | creates a 4-digit year, and then sets
that back into the field and commits the
| | 02:43 | record, and skips the data entry validation,
because then we know that this will pass muster.
| | 02:49 | And then it shows the user a more user
-friendly version that says the value
| | 02:53 | that you entered in did not contain a 4-
digit date, so it has been fixed on your behalf,
| | 02:57 | and allows the user just to say OK.
| | 02:59 | So, now what we will do is go into
Layout mode, and we are going to take
| | 03:05 | advantage of this new
OnObjectValidate Script Trigger.
| | 03:09 | We will right-click on the Birthdate
field and choose Set Script Triggers. And
| | 03:14 | we will choose OnObjectValidate,
scroll all the way down and select valiDATE.
| | 03:22 | And only do this in Browse mode, as
we don't need to have validation occur
| | 03:25 | with Find criteria.
| | 03:27 | So, we will hit OK, go into
Browse mode, and Save our changes.
| | 03:33 | And now let's try putting
in a 2-digit date. 1/1/91.
| | 03:39 | Pops up and says, "The date:
| | 03:40 | 1/1/91 did not contain a 4-
digit date, so this has been fixed."
| | 03:44 | So, we say OK, and now we see that
the field contains data that has a valid
| | 03:49 | 4-digit date, and this has
been committed to the database.
| | 03:52 | So, this is just one example of how to
use the new OnObjectValidate trigger, but
| | 03:57 | just keep in mind that this is a
trigger that executes after the data has been
| | 04:01 | entered into the field, but before
validation has occurred, and therefore before
| | 04:05 | it gets committed to the database.
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| Learning about the OnLayoutExit trigger| 00:00 | The concept of Script Triggers was
introduced in FileMaker Pro 10, but in
| | 00:04 | FileMaker Pro 11, there are three new
Script Triggers that have been introduced.
| | 00:08 | And in this movie, we are going to
concentrate on the new Script Trigger, which
| | 00:11 | is a layout level Script
Trigger, called OnLayoutExit.
| | 00:15 | If you go into Layout mode and choose
the Layout Setup from your Layout menu,
| | 00:21 | you will see that there is a Script
Trigger tab added in FileMaker 10, but
| | 00:26 | one of the curious omissions was the
ability to run a script on the exit of a layout.
| | 00:32 | This OnLayoutExit Script Trigger has
now been added in FileMaker Pro 11 and
| | 00:37 | can be used to be able to capture the
state of a user's window before they
| | 00:42 | leave it to go embark on another
script, or if they have manually navigated
| | 00:46 | off of that layout.
| | 00:47 | The kind of thing you can do here is
grab the layout where they started, where a
| | 00:50 | script was initiated, for example, or
the width and height of their window, or
| | 00:55 | the tab that they currently have
active, all that kind of information.
| | 00:59 | So, what you could do is create a script,
much like the script in the Exercise
| | 01:04 | Files that's called Captured Layout.
| | 01:06 | And here, we are just setting some Global
Variables that have the LayoutName, the
| | 01:11 | WindowWidth, the WindowHeight.
| | 01:13 | We could add the ActiveObject, all
sorts of different things here that we are
| | 01:17 | capturing before somebody leaves the layout.
| | 01:20 | So, that way, if they go off and run
several different scripts throughout the
| | 01:23 | database, we can always return them
back to their original starting point,
| | 01:27 | almost in sort of a back-button way, by
grabbing the layout and the size of the
| | 01:32 | window from where they originated the script.
| | 01:34 | So, if you are interested in creating
something like a back button, or a history
| | 01:37 | or something like that inside of your
FileMaker database, this might be just the
| | 01:41 | Script Trigger and script
combination that you might want to use.
| | 01:44 | So, now that you have got a capture
information script set up, you go into your
| | 01:48 | Layout Setup, you choose Script
Triggers and say OnLayoutExit.
| | 01:55 | Use your Filter to pick the capture. Hit OK.
| | 02:01 | And when you go back into Browse mode
and hit Save, now every time you leave
| | 02:05 | this layout, you are going to capture
where you started from - so that you can
| | 02:08 | then go to other scripts, elsewhere
in your database, or at the end of the
| | 02:12 | script that you have just generated,
and return the user back to their
| | 02:16 | original starting spot, with their
layout, the active objects, the window
| | 02:20 | size, everything intact.
| | 02:22 | So, there are many different uses for
the OnLayoutExit Script Trigger, but
| | 02:26 | probably returning users to their
original origin, when they executed the script,
| | 02:30 | is going to be one of the more
popular uses for the OnLayoutExit Trigger.
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| Learning about the OnViewChange trigger| 00:00 | In FileMaker Pro 10, we were introduced
to the concept of Script Triggers, and in
| | 00:04 | FileMaker Pro 11, we have been
given three new Script Triggers.
| | 00:08 | The one that we are going to focus on,
in this movie, is a Script Trigger that's
| | 00:11 | called OnViewChange, which is one
of the Layout Level Script Triggers.
| | 00:17 | If you go into Layout mode,
| | 00:19 | you'll see that, under Layouts and
Layout Setup, you have got a tab for Script
| | 00:23 | Triggers and you see that I have
attached one here to a script called keepFORM.
| | 00:29 | The OnViewChange is something that can
be triggered from any of the three views:
| | 00:33 | Browse, Find and Preview.
| | 00:35 | Here, I've selected just Browse,
meaning that only if a view is changed in
| | 00:41 | Browse mode will this script run.
| | 00:43 | So, probably the most likely use
for something like this is going to be
| | 00:49 | to allow yourself to create a script,
much like this, that checks to see what
| | 00:53 | the LayoutViewState is.
| | 00:55 | This is a Get function that's been
inside FileMaker for some time, and the Form
| | 01:00 | View of the LayoutViewState
function is the number 0.
| | 01:03 | So, basically, what I'm checking for
here is that if anybody changes their view -
| | 01:10 | which anyone can do who's
got FileMaker in Browse mode -
| | 01:14 | So, if you go to Browse mode, you've got
View as a Form, View as a List, see someone
| | 01:20 | can take your layout and try
to change it to View as a List.
| | 01:23 | But now, this window pops up that says,
"This layout, Record Detail-Customers is
| | 01:28 | intended to be viewed as a FORM
only, and this will now be reverted."
| | 01:32 | So, now you see, instead of having it as
a list, or if someone wants to change it
| | 01:35 | over to a Table, it says, "This will be
reverted," and takes him back to the Forms.
| | 01:39 | So, previously, developers didn't have
control over whether or not people could
| | 01:43 | change the view, because that's something
that was part of the User interface of FileMaker.
| | 01:47 | However, now, you can create a script
that checks to make sure that users are in
| | 01:51 | the right view and then reverts
them back if they try to make a change.
| | 01:54 | But as you saw, this Script Trigger
will run as a post, which means it runs
| | 01:58 | after the user has already changed the view.
| | 02:01 | So, you can detect that they have
changed the view and then take them back to
| | 02:04 | where they started. And if you want to,
you can use a Custom Dialog, much like I've
| | 02:08 | done in this example.
| | 02:10 | So, there will be various different ways
to use the OnViewChange Script Trigger.
| | 02:14 | This is just one example. But keeping
your users from changing their view
| | 02:19 | is probably going to be one of the best
ways to use the new OnViewChange Layout
| | 02:23 | Level Script trigger.
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|
|
14. New Uses For VariablesAdding merge variables to layouts| 00:00 | If you're comfortable with Scripting in
previous versions of FileMaker, you're
| | 00:03 | probably familiar with the
concept of a Script Variable.
| | 00:06 | Script Variables are pieces of data that can
be set and saved within the life of a Script.
| | 00:13 | There are two types of Script Variables:
| | 00:14 | There's a local and a global script
variable, and you can set them using the
| | 00:19 | Script Variable Script step.
| | 00:20 | But until FileMaker Pro 11, you could
really only use those variables in either
| | 00:25 | another step later in your script, or if
they were a global variable, which has
| | 00:29 | the double dollar sign, then you
could reference them in calculations, or in
| | 00:35 | calculated dialogs that appear inside
the existing script, or other scripts
| | 00:39 | that come after it.
| | 00:40 | However now, in FileMaker 11, you can use
variables in a couple of different new ways.
| | 00:46 | The one that we are going to focus on,
in this video, is using the variables as a
| | 00:51 | Merge Variable inside of your layout.
| | 00:54 | You're probably already
familiar with the concept of merging.
| | 00:57 | If you go into Layout mode and you go under
Insert, you can see the Merge Field option.
| | 01:04 | Merge Field has been in FileMaker for
many, many versions, and it allows you to
| | 01:08 | place a field value into the text of
a layout. It's commonly used for
| | 01:13 | things like letters, or to integrate
into just text areas or field labels,
| | 01:19 | instead of using a field.
| | 01:20 | Now, you'll notice, right below it,
there is a Merge Variable option.
| | 01:25 | The Merge Variable option does
essentially the same thing. But if you look
| | 01:28 | closely, what it does is it includes
not only the merge brackets but also the
| | 01:34 | double dollar signs, which
represent a global variable.
| | 01:38 | In FileMaker Pro 11, variables are
supported as another type of parameterized
| | 01:42 | text in layouts, akin to merge
fields and a handful of those special
| | 01:47 | sequences like the slash slash being today's
date, at at being evaluated as the row number,
| | 01:53 | or record number, and so on.
| | 01:56 | So, if you use a Merge Variable in a
layout, like, for example, in our Exercise
| | 02:00 | File if we navigate to Print Layouts >
Invoices > Invoice Print, you'll see that we
| | 02:06 | can place the name of a company in the
header of this invoice, if we'd like to -
| | 02:11 | and all of their contact
information if we care too, as well.
| | 02:15 | So, in order to do that, we need to
have a script to set the variable.
| | 02:18 | There still is only one way that you
can populate the variable, and that
| | 02:22 | is through a script.
| | 02:24 | So, if we look at the Script that we
have in our Exercise File for View Invoice,
| | 02:29 | you'll see that we are setting a
variable here. One is a global variable called
| | 02:35 | double dollar sign co, which brings in
the related value for the company name.
| | 02:42 | Then we see another one, which is a
little more complicated, double dollar sign
| | 02:45 | contact, which concatenates together
the Street, the Ship To City, the Ship To
| | 02:52 | Phone and the Ship To Email,
all separated by these bullets.
| | 02:56 | So, if we want to present those
values on a layout, what we would do is go
| | 03:03 | back into Layout mode and choose Insert > Merge
Variable and type in the name of our variable.
| | 03:12 | Now, just like a Merge Field, we can treat
these as text once they are in the layout.
| | 03:17 | So, I can go under Format and
choose a different size, if I'd like to.
| | 03:23 | That looks like an adequate enough size.
| | 03:25 | I am going to add another one, Insert >
Merge Variable, which adapts the same text
| | 03:32 | format as the previous variable I added.
| | 03:33 | But this is going to be double dollar sign
contact. Make this a tad bit smaller, and we are going
| | 03:39 | to add it right underneath the company.
| | 03:44 | So, one thing that you should be aware
of - and this is a pretty important point
| | 03:47 | when it comes to inserting merge
variables - is when we go back into Browse mode,
| | 03:51 | we are looking at a record in
Browse mode now, and what do you notice?
| | 03:55 | Well, some say that this might be
kind of an oversight in this version of
| | 03:59 | FileMaker, but even if a variable has
not been set, or if it's referred to as
| | 04:04 | what's called an empty variable, the
variable declaration still shows up on the layout.
| | 04:11 | So, that means if you're going to
optionally set a variable that's going to
| | 04:15 | show up on a layout,
| | 04:16 | you should either set it with a field
or calculated value, or set it with no
| | 04:21 | value, so nothing appears
in it's place on the layout.
| | 04:24 | Otherwise, this could be kind
of an eyesore to your users.
| | 04:27 | So, we'll see here that we've
got a script for Print Invoice.
| | 04:30 | Now, watch when we press the Print
Invoice button and run the script.
| | 04:34 | We see now that the Header, instead of
saying the brackets and the double dollar sign,
| | 04:40 | it says Explore California, which is
the company name. And it pulls the Bill
| | 04:45 | to City, State, Phone, Information,
delimited by the bullets, as indicated by our script.
| | 04:51 | Now, what you might want to do, after
we complete the script, is add something
| | 05:00 | to your script that says, "If this value
that you are setting to the variable is
| | 05:07 | empty, then set the global value
to a quote, quote or empty value."
| | 05:13 | That way, your layout won't show the
strange bracket, bracket, dollar sign,
| | 05:16 | dollar sign in the name of the variable.
| | 05:19 | Instead, it'll show a empty value
that you have set it to and therefore be
| | 05:23 | blank, which is a little bit more
appealing than seeing the bracket, bracket,
| | 05:26 | dollar sign and the variable
name when you go to a layout.
| | 05:30 | In FileMaker Pro 11, you can create a Merge
Variable that displays a value from a variable.
| | 05:35 | You can use these Merge Variables for
some of the tasks in place of things like
| | 05:39 | global fields, unstored calculations.
And you can see these new Merge Variables
| | 05:44 | in Browse mode, Find mode and Preview
modes, or even when you print records.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Variables in the Edit Find Request table| 00:00 | In FileMaker Pro 11, new support
for Script variables has been added.
| | 00:04 | In addition to being able to place
variable values onto a layout as a Merged
| | 00:09 | Variable, you can also now use
variables inside of Scripted Finds. As a review,
| | 00:16 | if you open up Manage Scripts, -just create
a New Script and look for a Script Step
| | 00:22 | that's called Perform Find -
| | 00:25 | you'll see that not much has actually
changed in the Scripts Step, except, now
| | 00:30 | when you go into Edit, instead of
having to pick a field and then the exact
| | 00:36 | criteria, that works inside of that field,
| | 00:39 | well now, you can enter a
variable, if you would like to.
| | 00:43 | So, what this means is you
can set a variable on a script.
| | 00:47 | Then later, either in that script or
in other script, you can execute a Find
| | 00:50 | Request using whatever value
you've placed inside of that field.
| | 00:54 | So, this is a great way to be able
to run dynamic finds inside of scripts,
| | 00:58 | whereas before, you would've had to
do the technique of enter Find mode,
| | 01:02 | dynamically set a field value based on
a variable and then perform the Find.
| | 01:07 | Now, you can do that all in one Find Request.
| | 01:09 | You should be aware, also, that in
addition to in your scripts, you can also set
| | 01:17 | up your Status toolbar to record Saved Finds.
| | 01:25 | When you go into your Saved
Finds, you can save current Finds.
| | 01:30 | In the editing of a Saved Find, you
will notice that the Edit Find Request
| | 01:34 | window is also available to the users.
And they, too, can enter in variables.
| | 01:40 | So, these variables can be used in a
Specify Find Request under Saved Find,
| | 01:46 | or within a script.
| | 01:47 | Let's take a look at an
example where this might be useful.
| | 01:51 | If you look here, we have a
script in our database called Opener.
| | 01:57 | This Script sets a variable called $$me.
| | 02:03 | It grabs the value of Get
(Account Name) and sets that variable.
| | 02:08 | Why might that be useful?
| | 02:09 | Well, we also have a field on our
database, down here, if we look into Layout mode,
| | 02:19 | a field that's called Created By, that
puts the account name of the Creator.
| | 02:23 | So, if you are look in here, and I type
my account name and me and perform a Find,
| | 02:29 | I'll see that there is 25 records
in the database that I've created.
| | 02:33 | So, how about I make it so that every
time I log in to the database, it will
| | 02:38 | perform a Find and give me the found
set of all the records that I've created,
| | 02:42 | since those are records that I
am going to want to work with?
| | 02:44 | In order to that, we have already got
something that identifies who we are
| | 02:51 | in the Opener Script.
| | 02:52 | Now, I am going to add the Perform
Find Script Step to the Opener Script.
| | 03:02 | I could just type in the value m-e,
or me, which was my account name.
| | 03:07 | But what if I want just to be fully
dynamic, so that any person who logs in, it
| | 03:11 | would then insert their account name
into the script, rather than have it hard
| | 03:15 | coded like we have had to do in the past?
| | 03:17 | Well, that's where using a variable
in a Saved Find can come in handy.
| | 03:23 | So, now instead of searching for the
value $$me, it's going to search for the
| | 03:26 | value that that represents,
| | 03:28 | that was set in the previous
Script Step in the same script.
| | 03:31 | So, now, we'll hit Save and in order
to run on open, I'll tell it to perform
| | 03:39 | the Opener Script Step.
| | 03:43 | Just to be sure, I'll Show All Records and
set it towards the end, and I'll close the file.
| | 03:50 | Now, reopen the file, so that the
script executes as we've asked it to.
| | 03:55 | As you see, it's automatically created a
found set of 25 records, based on my login.
| | 04:01 | If I were to use a login that was
different than the default one I set up
| | 04:04 | here for Account, like for example,
admin, I would then log in, and it would
| | 04:11 | find all of the records that were
created by admin and then place that Found
| | 04:14 | Set in this layout for me.
| | 04:16 | This is just an example of many of
the different things that you can do
| | 04:19 | with variables in both the Perform
Find Script Step as well as in editing
| | 04:24 | Saved Finds.
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|
|
15. Layout BadgesReviewing layout badges| 00:00 | When you're working with your
databases in FileMaker Pro, you'll notice that
| | 00:03 | when you're in Layout mode, that you
may have these small icons associated with
| | 00:08 | certain objects on the Layout.
| | 00:10 | These are called Layout Badges, and in
previous versions of FileMaker Pro, we saw
| | 00:15 | Badges for tooltips and then Script
Triggers, which was added in FileMaker 10.
| | 00:20 | In FileMaker Pro 11, they've added two
new Layout Badges, one for the Quick Find
| | 00:25 | and one for Conditional Formatting.
| | 00:28 | You see I've got an example of all four
badges here assigned to the Notes field.
| | 00:32 | You see this green magnifying
glass is the Quick Find Badge.
| | 00:37 | This bi-colored diamond is a
Conditional Formatting Badge -
| | 00:40 | both of these two are new to
FileMaker 11 - and then the previous ones, the
| | 00:45 | tooltips Badge and the Script Triggers Badge,
which were in FileMaker 9 and then FileMaker 10.
| | 00:52 | In addition to adding the new badges,
they've also increased the size of the
| | 00:56 | badge so that they're
more visible in Layout mode.
| | 00:58 | They've been increased from a seven pixels
by seven pixels to 12 pixels by 12 pixels.
| | 01:03 | If you look closely, on this same
layout, you'll notice that I've got a gold-
| | 01:08 | colored magnifying glass and a green
colored magnifying glass in some of the fields.
| | 01:12 | Those are both Quick Find
Badges, but they're different.
| | 01:15 | The gold-colored Quick Find Badge is
colored different based on the estimate of
| | 01:20 | the Quick Find performance
for the field in question.
| | 01:23 | So, believe it or not, FileMaker has a
fast Quick Find and a slow Quick Find.
| | 01:30 | A fast Quick Find is denoted by a green
magnifying glass, and a slow Quick Find
| | 01:35 | field is denoted by a gold magnifying glass.
| | 01:39 | So, what would be a Slow Quick Find?
| | 01:41 | Well, those are fields that don't have an
index, or do not support index generation.
| | 01:46 | Traditionally, if you turn off the
indexing on a field, or choose None, or
| | 01:50 | Automatically Create Indexes as
needed, it's going to remain un-indexed.
| | 01:53 | And if you've worked with FileMaker in
the past, and ever done a search on an
| | 01:56 | un-indexed field, you know that it can
take a very long time, because FileMaker
| | 02:00 | can't compare the Find criteria to an
index, but instead, has to go one record,
| | 02:04 | after one record, after one record, and
compare the values to the value in the field.
| | 02:07 | So, those will perform a lot slower,
thus, Slow Quick Find. And these fields are
| | 02:14 | local fields or indexed fields,
which are green, which will perform a lot
| | 02:17 | faster, or Fast Quick Find.
| | 02:20 | You'll also note that the Slow Quick
Find fields are fields that are in related
| | 02:23 | tables. They could also be Calculation
fields that don't store the calculated
| | 02:27 | results. And in all of those cases,
they will perform a tad bit slower when
| | 02:31 | incorporated into your Quick Find
activities on this associated layout.
| | 02:35 | Now you can choose to either show or
not show the badges by going into Layout
| | 02:40 | mode, choosing the View menu,
selecting Show, and you'll notice that below
| | 02:44 | the separator bar, you've got your
four options for either showing or hiding
| | 02:49 | the different badges.
| | 02:50 | You can either choose to show them all
or just pick the ones that you want to
| | 02:52 | look at each time you're in Layout mode,
depending on how you want to work with the Layout.
| | 02:56 | Sometimes you can show them when you're
developing things and then maybe turn
| | 02:59 | them off after you're done making
those decisions, but it's totally up to you.
| | 03:03 | So, if you choose to show these badges
in FileMaker Pro 11, you've got two new
| | 03:07 | Badges that you can choose from,
either the new Quick Find Badges or the
| | 03:11 | Conditional Formatting Badge.
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|
16. The New Instant Web Publishing ToolbarThe new Status toolbar in Instant Web Publishing| 00:00 | FileMaker Pro 11 and FileMaker Server
11 still contain the support for Instant
| | 00:07 | Web Publishing, which has been a legacy
feature inside of FileMaker Pro, which
| | 00:10 | allows you to set up a database and
allow it to be published and rendered
| | 00:14 | through a Web browser.
| | 00:16 | A lot of the same things are in place
with Instant Web Publishing, with one
| | 00:20 | major User Interface change. And
I'd like to review that with you now.
| | 00:24 | First of all, you'll notice that the
custom Homepage, which is the first
| | 00:28 | page that a user sees,
| | 00:29 | after they type in the IP address /fmi/
iwp - after you enter that into your Web
| | 00:36 | address and hit Enter, you'll see it
resolves to the extended address above. But
| | 00:41 | the first thing that you'll notice is
that the new FileMaker Pro 11 Color Scheme
| | 00:46 | has been applied, which is
the pink, blue and black folder.
| | 00:50 | So, the old blue and white version of
the custom Homepage has been replaced with
| | 00:56 | the new FileMaker Pro 11 version,
although the functionality is still the same.
| | 01:00 | You can still overwrite this with the
custom homepage, or you can just click on
| | 01:04 | one of your hosted files -
| | 01:06 | we'll click on the Sample file - and you
see that it still contains support for
| | 01:10 | buttons and navigation.
| | 01:13 | One very significant User Interface
change involves the fact that instead of
| | 01:17 | having the Instant Web Publishing
Status area on the left-hand column, now you
| | 01:22 | see that FileMaker has managed to
completely recreate the Status toolbar across
| | 01:27 | the top of the page.
| | 01:28 | It's almost identical to the functionality and
format of the Status toolbar in FileMaker Pro.
| | 01:36 | It allows you to navigate from Record to
Record, shows the Status of your Sorted Records.
| | 01:42 | It shows the Found set and even the
small Pie, for searching for records and
| | 01:47 | showing you the total Found
Records out of the entire Found set.
| | 01:50 | It's got the Layout dropdown and all
the different View As options. But you
| | 01:55 | notice that there is a Home Button and
a Log Out Button, which will take you to
| | 01:59 | the Homepage and keep your session
going. Or if you click this, you'll Log Out,
| | 02:05 | and then have to Log back in if necessary.
| | 02:08 | In addition, you can create New Records,
Edit Records and Delete Records just
| | 02:12 | like you could in the Pro version, but
you'll notice that there is a Records
| | 02:16 | Button, which will allow you to do
things like Duplicate, Omit, Omit Multiple
| | 02:20 | and Show Omitted, which kind of replaces
the Records dropdown menu in FileMaker Pro.
| | 02:27 | Some of the other new features in the
Status toolbar, like the familiar Find
| | 02:31 | Button, will enter you into Find mode,
and then you see your Perform Find and
| | 02:35 | Cancel Buttons have been added.
| | 02:37 | But there's a Requests Icon now that
replaces the Requests menu items, which is
| | 02:43 | the same thing as the Records menu
items. But when you're in Find mode, it
| | 02:47 | turns into Requests.
| | 02:48 | So, FileMaker has done the same thing
here and replicated that functionality
| | 02:51 | that was not previously
available in Instant Web Publishing.
| | 02:55 | And all the functionality that had
been previously supported in Instant Web
| | 02:58 | Publishing is now still supported,
except that you have this new, more
| | 03:02 | FileMaker-looking Status toolbar that
gets rendered inside of your browser,
| | 03:07 | instead of the older pre-FileMaker 10
Status area, that was still available in
| | 03:13 | FileMaker 10, but now in FileMaker 11
they've updated everything to the newest,
| | 03:17 | most contemporary look.
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| The Charting tool in Instant Web Publishing layouts| 00:00 | In FileMaker Pro and FileMaker
Server 11, all hosted databases that can
| | 00:05 | be accessed via Instant Web Publishing
have been updated with the new Status toolbar.
| | 00:09 | But in addition to those, you might
also notice that there's been a new
| | 00:12 | feature added to FileMaker, which is
called Charting. And what I wanted to
| | 00:17 | show you, in this movie, is that the
Charts are fully supported inside of
| | 00:21 | Instant Web Publishing.
| | 00:22 | So, for example, we have a
chart that was set up in one of the
| | 00:25 | previous exercises.
| | 00:27 | And now, as I navigate from record to record,
you'll see that the Chart is being updated.
| | 00:32 | And I can navigate to another area,
where there's a Chart that's been integrated
| | 00:37 | into the Invoices. And all of this is
supported inside of FileMaker Pro 11.
| | 00:43 | So, if you want to use Charts and
you're planning on publishing to the Web,
| | 00:46 | you can go ahead and plan on having those
layouts available to Instant Web Publishing users.
| | 00:51 | The only thing that you'll notice here
is I'm hovering over some of the bars in
| | 00:55 | a Bar Chart. And inside of FileMaker Pro,
hovering over a chart element will show
| | 01:02 | the data value show up in sort of
a little Java window or tooltip.
| | 01:06 | That's the only difference that you'll
see inside of Instant Web Publishing.
| | 01:09 | Otherwise, everything is the same type
of experience as you would have inside
| | 01:13 | FileMaker Pro, as far as viewing the
new Charts that are now available to you
| | 01:17 | in FileMaker Pro 11.
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ConclusionGoodbye| 00:00 | Well, I hope you enjoyed the
FileMaker Pro 11 New Features.
| | 00:03 | If you aren't sure about any of the
topics covered in this title, feel free to
| | 00:06 | go back and review the
movies again for a refresher.
| | 00:09 | So, good luck with those
databases, and we'll see you next time.
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