FileMaker cURL

FileMaker cURL

One of the most powerful and, probably, least appreciated features of FileMaker 16 is the support of cURL.  So what is cURL? Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

cURL is a computer software project providing a library and command-line tool for transferring data using various protocols. The cURL project produces two products, libcurl and cURL. It was first released in 1997. The name originally stood for "see URL".

All of which means you can now use some native cURL to get and send files over the internet.  Combine that with the FileMaker 16 JSON functions and it opens a whole new world of connectivity without using custom functions or plugins.

Steve Winters, of Matatiro Solutions, presented on FileMaker cURL at FileMaker DevCon 2017.  And if you need to get or send files, or connect easily to online services, or other communications with the world outside FileMaker, watch this video.  Download the example files and work along with him in the video.  Read up on some documentation...and save yourself a lot of time and frustration, because Winter gives you incredible code AND shows you all the 'gotchas' involved with making connections like these:

 

https://youtu.be/_15JcmQ_JiQ

Practical Examples

Winters provides code and guidance for several different services:

• Connect to Google Calendars using OAuth (the open standard for access delegation, which allows you a way grant website or application access without giving away passwords)


• Connect to Dropbox to upload and download files


• Simple synch of databases using the FileMaker Data API (REST).  Or you can use fmREST, as well.

All of these techniques are basically the same, but it's the exceptions that lead to a lot of frustration and "creative language", as Winters calls it.  And all of it is in the demo file available at the link below.  And everything you learn will take you further down the path of connecting to the thousands of API's available in the rest of the digital world.

INN004 - Explore cURL for FileMaker - Steve Winter

---

Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.

Earl Wilson

FileMaker on Android as an App?

Do you want to use FileMaker on Android as an App?

It's tantalizingly close to real, but might still slip away.

If you want or need FileMaker on Android, get over to LiveCode Native now.  Kevin Miller, founder of LiveCode and LiveCode for FM, needs your help to finance this venture.  LiveCode already offers a plugin for FileMaker that greatly expands its capabilities.  And now they want to make FileMaker on Android, as an app, a reality.

In a nutshell, here's what's you will be able to do:

•  Build beautiful, powerful, flexible native apps from your FileMaker layouts


• Synchronize data perfectly as your app goes online and offline


• Deploy to Android, iOS, Windows, Mac and Linux (not just to the Android OS)


• Keep your data within FileMaker server or cloud


• Access native objects and the operating system on each device

Here's a screenshot of your choices of standalone apps you will be able to generate:

Check it out:

https://youtu.be/dZfWO0tkvic

Android OS is the Elephant in the room

Did you know Android has a market share of  86%?  That is a huge, untapped FileMaker market. And this might be the key to unlock it.

It's an all or nothing proposition, so if you or your clients will benefit from FileMaker on Android (or Linux, Windows, iOS, or Mac), get on board before the 24th of November.  Reach out to people you know. There's a full money back guarantee if you are not happy at the end of the pre-release program, so your exposure is limited. It's not too late to realize see FileMaker on Android.

LCFM Native – LiveCode for FM

---

I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.

Jimmy Dean

Excel Exports using XML and XSLT

Excel Exports using XML and XSLT

All FileMaker developers spend time figuring out how to export FileMaker data in a usable format for their clients.  Kevin Frank had a series of posts on just that subject (link in the next paragraph below).  There is way to export data from FileMaker using XML and XSLT, but it's not easy nor intuitive.  It is powerful, though.

Kudos to Beverly Voth for tackling – and taming – such a difficult subject, and to Kevin Frank for letting Beverly post on his great site, FileMakerHacks.com.  So what does this post by Beverly talk about?  Exporting data from FileMaker to Excel using XML and XSLT:

This is a follow-up to the User-Friendly Excel Exports series by Kevin Frank, but using an XML export along with various XSLT to give you .csv or .xls (for Excel). The first demo is a quick export (to CSV – comma-separated values) using an XSLT to help explain the relationship with FileMaker Pro XML export. How an XSLT style sheet reads that data to transform it into another text format (.csv or .xls) is also explained throughout the article and in comments within the XSLT. The demos will get increasingly more complex, but ultimately more “user-friendly”

It's a bit of a long read, but worth the effort if you need (or want) to export Excel data in a much more usable format for your clients.  If you don't have time now, scan it quickly, download the example file, and bookmark it for later.  When that call comes wanting better exports from FileMaker to Excel, you'll be ready to handle it.

Here's what you'll find

Among other things, it includes a free downloadable example file and instructions on using Microsoft's Excel Markup Language (XML) to format the .xlsx spreadsheet while exporting.  So why would you want to do that?  Let's hear what Beverly has to say:

So, why would we use the Excel Markup Language (XML) to make these kinds of exports? One answer has several parts: Styling, Freeze Panes, multiple worksheets, formulas and more. These are all possible with more complex XSLT (and even with values exported from FileMaker). Our export could be grouped (via the XSLT) to show summaries by Organization or Payment Type, for example.

Add multiple worksheets, grouped data with summaries, styling formulas, and more – depending upon how deep you want to dive into the XML code, of course.

And there's a section on using a repeating field in FileMaker to make custom headers in your Excel report!

Source: Excel Exports using XML and XSLT | FileMakerHacks

FileMaker Document Management and UX

FileMaker Document Management

You may have missed this great post by Nicolas Hunter on FileMaker Document Management on LinkedIn recently. Are you on LinkedIn?  If not, get busy and make an account – you are missing out on great business resource for learning and connecting with other business professionals.

Back to FileMaker Document Management: Richard Carlton Consulting offers a free, basic FileMaker Document Management database and a video showing the features.  The free sample database is a stripped down version of their fully functional database that is available for only $19.

Check out this video on FileMaker document management features:

https://youtu.be/h70az_CTMSE

Free Design Database, too

And while you're there, you can download a very nice free FileMaker design database that shows off a full-featured set of layout Design, layout objects and components any FileMaker developer will find useful (and it includes the scripts, as well). I like the features found in this file and will be using them moving forward.

Carlton made a longer video on this free database back in June and it's worth watching:

https://youtu.be/J7ZI79n9fwA

And don't forget to give a hat tip to Richard Carlton for making these great resources available for free to the FileMaker community.

Source: (16) UI/UX Design is your FileMaker Pro Custom App path to success. | LinkedIn

---

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

George Bernard Shaw

FileMakerProGurus Started Here...