We are pleased to release bBox version 0.88. bBox is a free utility plug-in to extend FileMaker solutions to easily use code libraries and macOS-based functions from Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, AppleScript, Bash/sh, XPath, and SQLite. Included is a demo file that has over 180 examples of how you can put bBox functions to work for you.
Writing a Markdown Compiler – Part 2
Hello, and welcome to the second part of the Writing a Markdown Compiler series! In case you’ve need it, here is Part 1, Intro/Tokenizer and Part 3, Code Generation.
In this part we’ll talk about the second step in compiling: Parsing – also known as Syntactic Analysis. This part has a bit more theory, so it might take some time to digest. Sip some coffee, relax, take yout time, and as long as you don’t rush it you’ll find it’s not hard at all. 🙂
bBox for FileMaker v0.86 Now Available
We are pleased to release bBox version 0.86. bBox is a free utility plug-in to extend FileMaker solutions to easily use code libraries and macOS-based functions from Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, AppleScript, Bash/sh, XPath, and SQLite. Included is a demo file that has over 180 examples of how you can put bBox functions to work for you.
Removing port 80 and 443 conflict with macOS Server 5
Apple’s macOS Server 5.x has a rather different Apache configuration compared to the core macOS setup or those used in previous versions of Server. In particular, an instance of Apache is used as a proxy to any ‘backend’ copies of Apache. Here’s how to work around this…
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Writing a Markdown Compiler – Part 1
Have you ever wanted to make your own programming language? Maybe a template engine? A JSON parser? If you have ever built any of those, you might have noticed it’s not exactly easy to get started. There are a lot of concepts to digest before you get going. That’s why lots of devs just give up. We’d like to help with that.
FileMaker & Tableau | A Match Made in Data Heaven!
Last year when I wrote this blog post we were talking about FileMaker 16 and the Data API being in beta. Now that FileMaker 17 has officially been released and along with it the Data API is out of beta and is a version 1.0.
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LOgiCATOR, Part 2: FileMaker Card Windows and Modular Design
In Part 1 of this series, Introducing LOgiCATOR, I mentioned that LOgiCATOR grew out of a search interface I developed for a project several years ago. In ways we’ll briefly consider here, it wasn’t extensible, but all that has changed. As that early search interface grew into LOgiCATOR, it made a quantum leap in context independence. The reason we were able to accomplish that can be attributed to a powerful synergy of FileMaker card windows, JSON, window improvements, new functions, and the Layout Objects window — in short, FileMaker 16!
Visit the LOgiCATOR page at Beezwax.
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Getting Started with REST and cURL using FileMaker 16’s Data API
If you are FileMaker developer, but new to the notion of web APIs and web development in general, then you might take on a kind of deer-in-the-headlights look when confronted with FileMaker Server 16’s new Data API, aka “REST API”. Fear Not! It really is simpler and more straightforward than you might expect. I like to take the attitude that no skill is difficult, only unfamiliar. With study and repetitive exposure and practice, any skill can be mastered.
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Introducing LOgiCATOR: A Modular Search Interface for FileMaker 16
We’re excited to announce the release of LOgiCATOR, a new modular search interface for FileMaker. It’s designed as a module you can drop into a FileMaker application and, with minimal configuration, add a rule-based search interface to any number of layouts in that solution. LOgiCATOR is also a springboard for learning about some great new design and integration features of FileMaker 16, like card-style windows and native JSON.
Visit the LOgiCATOR page at Beezwax.
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Why It’s Always Good to Test Things with the Current Version of Software (When Writing a Blog Post)
While working on the third installment of Fun with FileMaker Button Bars, I was served a reminder of why it’s good to test the stuff you write about using the latest software updates (even if they just arrived that very morning).
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FileMaker & Tableau | Building Dashboards with Interactivity
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Fun with FileMaker Button Bars, Part 3: Tips for Designing Great Icons
In Part 1 (“Check Please,”) and Part 2 (“Expert Panel,”) of this series, we had some fun doing things with button bars that showed off some of their unique usefulness within the FileMaker design-layer toolbox. Often as not, your button bars are going to include icon labels, with or without a supporting text label, and you want those icons to look great.
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Writing DSLs: The joy of human consumable APIs
A well-designed Domain Specific Language (DSL) can help you be more productive as a developer, thus making you, your team and your clients happier. In this post, I’ll guide you through the design and creation of a simple DSL to create EPUB files. We’ll start with a regular API and refactoring until we get to a DSL solution.
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Debug Apache on a FileMaker Server
Since FileMaker Server version 13, FMS has used its own Apache configuration files on macOS instead of just adding includes to the OS configuration files. Because of this, the technique I mentioned here no longer works for newer systems. This new arrangement has reduced issues for FileMaker Server’s web connectivity.
InspectorPro 6
InspectorPro 6
Highlighting insight, performance and collaboration
Wow! InspectorPro 6 is finally here. Can’t even believe it. It was such a massive undertaking. Lots of great new things and many improvements. Really proud of this release. In the immortal words of the late Steve Jobs… “This is our best version ever”.
Export Just What You Need in FileMaker
The Lesson of Context
One of the first lessons I learned with FileMaker is that of context! Layouts, reports, calculations, scripts, and so on all act from the perspective of a single Table Occurrence (TO) — the “context” — pulling in data from related tables as needed.
Generally, the record set being acted on is the set of records in that context table occurrence or a found subset thereof. There are a few exceptions to this, however, and today we’re going to explore one of those.
Recycle Your Data | Save Space and Money
A few years ago, I worked on a FileMaker project where the client told us that every week they need to import about 7,000 rows of data that represent some information that this company uses. And every week there might be some modified records, some records that don’t show up any longer, and some new records that hadn’t already existed. For this example, let’s just call it this data “Products”.
Fun with FileMaker Button Bars, Part 2: Expert Panel
Fun with Button Bars, Part 2: Expert Panel
Have you ever had a FileMaker design conundrum for which you wished you could convene an Expert Panel to help guide you? If you’re thinking “panel of experts,” I can’t help you, but if you’re looking for a more flexible and visually engaging alternative to FileMaker Tab Panels, this combination of a slide-panel control and a button bar just might be your “Expert Panel.”
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FileMaker Client installers with FileMaker Cloud
If you purchased your FileMaker Cloud server with user connection licenses, you may well wonder “Where do I get the client software to connect to my server?”.
A fair chance you’ll initially land on the screen below. This seems relevant, but there’s still no indication here how you can download the FileMaker Pro clients you have licenses for.
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Use Amazon OpenID authentication with FileMaker Cloud
Here we’ll list the steps you’ll need to enable authentication using Amazon accounts with FileMaker Cloud.
If you’ll be having more than a few different people logging in to the Admin Console of your FileMaker Cloud server, it’s generally good practive to avoid having everyone use the same credentials. By enablling an additional authentication mechanism, you can easily add or remove administrative access to a server, and user’s get to use their own own credentials.
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