Help files for FileMaker Solutions March 4, 2008
Posted by Dan Stuchbury in : FileMaker Pro , add a commentI’ve been writing the ‘Help’ documentation for Knowledge Base CRM over the last few days, and was thinking about how to deliver this to the end-user. One option was to include it in each distribution, however that would mean having lots of help files, some better than others (as additions and improvements are made) all over the place.
Using the web viewer, it is easy to make your ‘Help’ file appear as though it is part of the solution, when what’s actually happening is a web page is being shown. This means you can update your ‘Help’ system whenever you want and it will be immediately delivered to your users.
Ok, so your users will have to be connected the the Internet to view the help system, but then most people generally are when in the office. Knowledge Base CRM V6 will be eventually shipped with an online help system, so watch this space to see it in action.
Re-sizing images in FileMaker Pro: a story September 25, 2007
Posted by Dan Stuchbury in : FileMaker Pro , add a commentFileMaker Pro is not an image editing program, therefore it cannot re-sample images - it just displays the images as they are, albeit within any size constraints you specify.
But what does this mean?
Just because you have changed the dimensions of an image in FileMaker, the actual image itself hasn’t changed, and is still the same size and resolution. A photograph to be used as a background for a report exported as a PDF file, is a good example of how not properly re-sampling and resizing images can come back to bite you. Take the following scenario:
John runs a photographic image library, and has some stunning high-resolution photos that he wants to use as part of his FileMaker solution as a background in the user interface and some of the reports. John enters Layout mode in his FileMaker solution, and imports a master image from his main server. The image is huge (the photograph was taken with a 10MP Digital SLR camera), so John reduces the dimensions of the image using FileMaker’s object size tool, ensuring he maintains the original aspect ratio. Because this image is to be used as part of the cover of the report, John places the resized image in a Title Header layout part, saves his changes, enters Browse mode, and runs the report. A few seconds later, the report is displayed on screen, and the new images looks great. Feeling pleased with his work, John saves the report as a PDF file to his desktop, ready to email to one of his retained photographers.
As he attaches the file to his email, John notices that the PDF file is 30MB in size, but can’t explain how, as he resized the image before placing it on his report layout. He runs the report again, and gets the same output, a 30MB PDF file - much too big to email.
Earlier in the day, John used a couple of other images, which he’d faded, so use as a background in the primary user-interface of his FileMaker solution.
John returned to his ‘Home’ screen, and wondered why it took several seconds to display, a supposed to the instantaneous switch he was used to. He wasn’t bothered though, as the ‘Home’ screen looked fantastic. The next time the phone rang, John pulled up the details of the photographer, and again wondered why it took so long to display the ‘Photographers’ screen (which had a nice-looking background image), and why running scripts that acted on this screen took so long. Finding such slow speeds unusual for his powerful computer, John called a colleague, who asked if John had resized the images before inserting them into FileMaker. John explained what he’d done, then realised that FileMaker hadn’t actually resized the images, just changed the dimensions.
John opened the images in his favourite image editor, resizes the images to the size he wanted, re-sampled them to 72DPI, and inserted the new images into his FileMaker layouts replacing the images he used earlier. He ran the report he tried to email earlier, saved the result as a PDF file (it was a more sensible 30K), and emailed it to the photographer. John also noticed that his FileMaker solution was running as it’s usual fast pace, as it was no longer displaying 30MB images.
The moral of this story is “always remember to resize your images BEFORE inserting them into your FileMaker layouts”.
The same rule applies when inserting images in web pages, including your Ecademy Profile, Blogs Club posts and Marketplace listings.
Synchronising FileMaker Databases - It Can Be Done! February 25, 2007
Posted by Dan Stuchbury in : Business In General, FileMaker Pro , add a commentI was asked by another Ecademy BlackStar member last week if it was possible to have a stand-alone, but synchronisable version of a FileMaker database on a laptop, for remote users, and to allow users to work on their data away from the office. After a bit of research in FMForums.com, it appeared that the answer was “yes, but it’s complicated, and very difficult to achieve (therefore likely to be prohibitively expensive”, so that was what I passed on.
However, a bit more digging around brought-up a company called WorldSync, and their product SyncDek. I requested a 30-day demo, and was contacted by a guy called, Jason Erickson - who, it turns out, is their CEO and chief architect of SyncDek, with over 10 years development experience. He knows his stuff then.
I took some time to comtemplate the opportunities that a product like this could bring. SyncDek would have been ideal for a prospect I met recently, it will be ideal for an existing client in the future, and may well aleo be ideal for another existing client fairly soon. We could use it internally, as it’s often useful to be able to take my own CRM database out on the road - so I’ve got telephone numbers of people I’m due to meet, and people I need to talk to that day without having to take bits of paper with me. OK, so I could just have the database on my laptop, but the laptop is my secondary computer, so it’s not always out, and desk space is at a premium.
The download links arrived in my inbox not long after, and after a brief look around the developer guide, it looked complicated to get working, so I put it off for later that day, when I had some time to devote to it.
It wasn’t as complicated as I first thought, and the development guide is excellent. Some changes were required to a few relationships and scripts in Knowledge Base CRM, and it took me a few attempts, and an email to WorldSync, who responded within 10 minutes (it was late at night, and they’re based in Berkely, CA), to get it right, but this evening, I got it right, and it worked perfectly. I had expected it to work, but given that I screwed it up a few times, it came as a nice surprise.
So, using SyncDek, I’m able to maintain multiple copies of a database, and synchronise them with a master copy stored on SyncDek server (no dedicated machine required), at the click of a button.
I don’t yet know how much SyncDek costs. I imagine it to be expensive, as there is no indication of pricing on WorldSync’s web site, but we shall see.
FileMaker Network Sharing : The Problem Doesn’t Exist February 15, 2007
Posted by Dan Stuchbury in : FileMaker Pro , add a commentOr so FileMaker tech support tell me. They have had no reports, and it is not a known issue, however I maintain that there is.
I’m not 100% certain, but I don’t think FileMaker have their own tech support team, based on an email address for them I was given by a representative yesterday. They appear to be based in India anyway, and FileMaker don’t have an office in India that I can find an address for, so that leaves me to assume that they outsource the entire support operation. Please feel free to correct me, though.
I had expected them to have heard of the problem - I don’t believe nobody has reported it.
Network Sharing in FileMaker Pro 8.5 February 6, 2007
Posted by Dan Stuchbury in : FileMaker Pro , add a commentAt first I thouht it was just me, but having visited a client last week who had just installed FileMaker Pro, I started to think it was some sort of bug. Network sharing doesn’t work in FileMaker 8.5 & 8.5 Advanced, which is a major pain, and may end up costing this client of ours a FileMaker Server licence.
We’re both using the latest release, and it seems that other 8.5 users are having the same problem - there is a thread about it on FMForums. The only workaround is to host files using FileMaker 8, but that defeats the object - as none of the 8.5 features will be available. I’ll be suggesting this to our client, but I don’t know how easy (or otherwise) it is to get hold of version 8 nowadays.
FileMaker, if you’re reading this - FIX IT! Please 
I’m going to talk to FileMaker Support and see if they have a solution, and will post here if they respond positively.
POS in FileMaker - The Verdict January 21, 2007
Posted by Dan Stuchbury in : Business In General, FileMaker Pro , add a commentFollowing on from my last post, I’ve been able to consider our options with regard to developing a commercial Point Of Sales system in FileMaker Pro. The short answer is “we’re not going to do it at the moment”, and the long answer is below…
There is, without doubt, an opportunity here. My research suggests that whilst there are a few POS systems specifically for the independent retailer on the market, the user interface of those that I’ve researched leaves a little to be desired, which suggests that ease of use is potentially an issue. Our experence is in the B2B sector, and I want to maintain this as it’s a sector I understand - know very little about the consumer market and don’t currently see the real need to change this.
The key reasons for leaving this opportunity then, are:
- Lack of understand of B2C marketplace
- Lack of understand of retail sector
- Unsure about return on time investment due to this lack of understanding
I am currently investigating a number of other application opportunities, and will post details here as soon as I’m able to.
POS in FileMaker January 11, 2007
Posted by Dan Stuchbury in : Business In General, FileMaker Pro , add a commentIt is very possible, I don’t doubt, and has probably been done elsewhere, but I wonder how commercially viable it would be to develop a POS system, in FileMaker Pro? I can see how it’d work, or at least the basics of it, in my mind, but I’m not going to put hours of work into something that isn’t going to generate sufficient return.
It would be great to talk to an independent retail business about their views on such a system, and perhaps enlist their opinions throughout development, probably in exchange for a complimentary license. One such business cones to mind, but I’m not sure about their willingness to adopt new technology - not that ePOS is new, but to them, it would be!
I’ll put some initial thoughts together, and see how it pans out. I won’t be able to share these thoughts here, to protect our intellectual property, but I will share the decisions made as a result.
Web Viewer in FileMaker 8.5 January 10, 2007
Posted by Dan Stuchbury in : FileMaker Pro , add a commentThe first time I saw the Web Viewer control, I thought “that’s useful, I might use that one day”. Then I came across a method of creating graphs & charts in Flash, using the Web Viewer control to display an HTML page with the .swf embedded.
The attached .zip file was obtained from FileMaker and details three techniques to achieve different results, with different levels of complexity. I am about to re-develop one of my solutions, Golf Tracker - a golf score management system, to include charts presented this way, as it is much more professional-looking than the way I did it before, using calculation fields. I won’t go into detail about that now, but if you want to know how I did it, let me know.
I’m sure there are loads of other uses for charts, and the Web Viewer control, and as I come across specific applications for me, I’ll post them here for all to see.