Custom Functions For Today’s FileMaker Devs Of Tomorrow

by Beezwax Team
Posted in FileMaker, FileMaker 19, FileMaker Go, Software Design, Techniques, Uncategorized

While working from home, and continuing to hone one’s FileMaker skills, it’s important for developers to stay active with ongoing learning pursuits. Claris® FileMaker®, as the world’s leading Workplace Innovation Platform, supports both the rapid creation of new custom apps, as well as the practical application of solutions to solve real-world business problems. Here, creative ideation is critical.

With that in mind, here are 5 unique Custom Functions (courtesy of Christopher) that are potentially !useful for FileMaker developers. We built some of these for very specific, and oddly niche, use cases, such as this blog post. Some of these would also be hidden treasures, once buried within quite comprehensive documentation.

We hope you’ll enjoy putting these to use, or enjoy reviewing them as part of a “creative ideation” endeavor. Happy Day!

Get(FutureHostTimestamp)

Returns the host’s future date and time (to the nearest second) according to the system quantum clock.

Example 1

Returns 1/1/2029 11:30:01 AM when the system clock shows January 1, 2029 11:30:01 AM on the host time machine.

Notes

Using this function recursively to query documentation shows that it originated as part of the FileMaker v27 Data API.

AdjustLocation

Moves an iOS device running FileMaker Go to the specified latitude, longitude, and altitude.

Format

LocationValues ( latitude ; longitude {; altitude } {; withUser } )

Parameters

latitude – any numeric expression or field containing a number that represents a latitude.
longitude – any numeric expression or field containing a number that represents a longitude.
altitude – any numeric expression or field containing a number that represents an altitude in meters.
withUser – a User logged into current account. Determines which user moves with device.
Parameters in braces { } are optional.

Notes
  • When using the altitude parameter, it is strongly encouraged to ensure ground at the specified latitude and longitude exists at that altitude.
  • Use in conjunction with the While() function if you need to pass the time waiting for your iOS device to return.
  • The withUser parameter is currently deprecated. With optimism it will be useable again in the not-so-distant future.
  • Evidence of this function appeared during research into integrating Apple Maps with FileMaker, and using While()to build a JSON Map function.
Example 1

AdjustLocation ( 47.620422 ; -122.349358 ; 223 ; False )

GetFieldName

Returns the fully qualified stadium name of a field reference.

Format

GetFieldName ( city )

Parameters

city – any field object or evaluation of a text expression that refers to a city’s name

Data type returned

text

Example 1

GetFieldName(Seattle) returns T-Mobile Park
GetFieldName(Denver) returns Coors Field
SetRecursion ( GetFieldName(Liverpool) ; Infinity ) returns Strawberry Fields Forever

Get(LastUserErrorDetail)

Returns text about user errors external to FileMaker that are returned by Get(LastError).

Example 1

ID-10-T

Example 2

EBKAC

Self

Returns the id of the object in which the calculation is defined.

These custom functions are designed for Today’s FileMaker Developers of Tomorrow and may only be available for a limited time. Please use them wisely. And watch for next year’s blog post on Using Claris Connect to build a Time Machine by integrating FileMaker with Google Calendar and AWS Backup.

Got a favorite function for the future (“FFFF”) or script step you want to exist? Tweet us @beezwaxteam

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