Killed The FileMaker 5 to 9 Conversion Blog

From Dwayne Wright - www.dwaynewright.com

Well, I’ve done it again and killed off one of my experimental blogs. It was a video diary type of blog where I was converting an old FileMaker 5 solution to FileMaker 9 and updating it. I had produced a little over 20 videos but wasn’t happy about the end product. I was doing it after work and on weekends. I was mentally tired in much of the videos and was rambling way too much. Besides, I’m becoming aware that FileMaker conversion work has likely peaked and will become less of an issue in the coming years.

When I attended the FileMaker Train The Trainer series this month, they mentioned the entire section of converting FileMaker 6 solutions to the newer engine had been removed. At first, I was a little taken back because we still do a lot of FileMaker 6 conversion work but as I pondered it, I think FileMaker made the right call.

If you are still running a pre-FileMaker 7 solution, I understand your reluctance in going forward but do need to stress that you are missing a lot of opportunities not staying current with FileMaker updates.

I will, more than likely, undertake another FileMaker video diary project in the future but I will want to make it more polished. So thanks for checking out this experiment while it lasted and your feedback is always welcomed.
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2007 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.

The Monthly Sale Report Scripted ( Part 4 )

From Dwayne Wright - www.dwaynewright.com

This is a series of discussions on the breakdown of a monthly sales report. This report is designed to be able to be reused in just about any sales report situation. The total script itself can be found at ...

/2007/10/monthly-sale-report-scripted-part-1.html

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ABOUT DISPLAYING THE REPORTS RESULTS
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#REPORT DISPLAY
Go to Layout [ original layout ]

New Window [ Name: "MONTHLY SALES REPORT"; Height: 50; Width: 50; Top: 50; Left: 50 ]

Show/Hide Status Area [ Show ]

Go to Layout [ “monthly sales report” (MonthySales) ]

Adjust Window [ Resize to Fit ]

Sort Records [ Specified Sort Order: MonthySales::Date; ascending ]
[ Restore; No dialog ]

Move/Resize Window [ Current Window; Height: Get ( WindowHeight ); Width: Get ( WindowWidth ) + 100 ]

Enter Preview Mode

Pause/Resume Script [ Indefinitely ]

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ABOUT WHAT THE SCRIPT IS DOING ABOVE
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Wrapping up this discussion, you can see the window management of this report. It is pretty standard fare except perhaps the Move/Resize/Window option. In preview mode, a window using the Adjust Window [ Resize to Fit ] command seems a bit small. So I’m taking the adjusted window length and adding 100 pixels to it.
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2007 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.

SNAPSHOT: FileMaker Server Admin Toolbar

From Dwayne Wright - www.dwaynewright.com

The FileMaker Server Admin Console is an application designed to work with FileMaker Server. At the time that I’m writing this, it is designed to work with FileMaker Server 9. You can run this application on the same machine as the FileMaker Server or via any networked computer capable of running FileMaker Pro (and can access the FileMaker Server you need to access).

Across the top of the FileMaker Server Admin Console is a toolbar with 7 buttons. These buttons do not have labels, icons only. They do have tooltips that will pop up when your cursor hovers above them and this well help you identify them until you get familiar with their purpose. The buttons are as follows ...

Start The Database Server - this will of course start the designated FileMaker Server that has been stopped.

Stop The Database Server - this will of course stop the designated FileMaker Server that is currently running.

Start The Web Publishing Engine - this will of course start the properly configured FileMaker Web Publishing Engine on that machine that has been stopped.

Stop The Web Publishing Engine - this will of course stop the currently running FileMaker Web Publishing Engine on that machine.

Start The Database Upload Assistant - allows you to put a database directly on the server from the machine that is running the FileMaker Server Admin Console.

Open FileMaker Server Start Page in the default Web Browser from the machine that is running the FileMaker Server Admin Console.

Open FileMaker Server Test Page - which I discussed briefly at the following web post (CLICK HERE)

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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2007 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.

DYK: Keyboard Shortcut For Record Navigation?

From Dwayne Wright - www.dwaynewright.com

Did You Know? (a series of quick discussions on things that you might have missed about FileMaker).
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DID YOU KNOW?
You can navigation from one FileMaker record to the next without taking your hands off the keyboard? It’s true, there are a set of keyboard shortcuts using the Control key and the arrow keys.

Control & Up Arrow - Go Up One Record (previous)
Control & Down Arrow - Go Down One Record (next)

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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2007 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.

DYK: FileMaker 9 Server Built In Test Capability?

From Dwayne Wright - www.dwaynewright.com

Did You Know? (a series of quick discussions on things that you might have missed about FileMaker).
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DID YOU KNOW?
FileMaker 9 Server has the ability to run quick tests on your newly installed server. From the Admin Console, you can execute a menu command "Open Test Page" from under the Server menu. These tests will be run with the sample database FileMaker Server comes with (FMServer_Sample.fp7).

You can run tests on how the server hosts in FileMaker Client, IWP, CWP (XSLT) and CWP (PHP). Very cool don't you think? If you don't get the expected results, you may want to refer to the Troubleshooting section of FileMaker Server Getting Started Guide (automatically installed with FileMaker Server). If your answers are not found there, a great second place to look is the KnowledgeBase section in the support area of the www.filemaker.com web site. There you can perform searches to see if there are known steps to take to fix the issue you might be experiencing.

Here you can see the pull down menu from the www.filemaker.com site for the online support options.

Many users will not have a problem with the install but you might run into some issues with the multiple machine install of FileMaker Server (used when optimizing serving FileMaker database via a web browser experience).
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.

© 2007 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com

The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.