FileMaker best practices for developers to follow

FileMaker is used to create custom solutions in several companies nowadays as they do not demand any additional time or effort. The presence of a cross platform relational database further helps users to modify or update their databases by simply dragging new elements into layouts, screens and forms. The latest version of FileMaker also allows the data to be accessed from various mobile as well as conventional devices. There are certain best practices that the developers must consider and implement in order to build accessible and robust solutions with the help of FileMaker.

FileMaker 13 - New Features and Updates

The 2013 version of FileMaker comes with over 50 new features. It also offers several enhanced design and development tools to make it easier for developers to build, maintain and publish a database on iOS and OS X. At the same time, the users also have option to access FileMaker Go on their iPads and iPhones to quickly add, edit, sort and search data, and create reports. These new features and updated make it essential for existing owners to upgrade to FileMaker 13 optimize the performance of their enterprise-level solutions.

FileMaker 13 Features for Web-Friendly Custom Application Development

Does Filemaker score over Bento in user friendliness?

According to Katsunori Shigeta, a FileMaker Database Developer & Trainer, the big difference among FileMaker & Bento happens to be its mechanism of relationship. FileMaker is able to deal with a lot of different relationship. Bento likewise has easy relationship, but it is enforced and can not be changed by user. He further explained exactly what the "relationship" means? It means connection in between the tables. And the table means the place of storage data, along with row & column. It is just like bookshelf. When you need to deal with real world data (for instance consumer, product, or perhaps transaction), one particular table will manage just one real world entity. Consumer table will manage consumer's data alone, product table works only with product's data. If you wish to handle several entity, such as consumers & products, or perhaps students and classes, make sure you consider relationship in between such entities. You may function many kind of entities on the FileMaker, however, Bento includes various limitation. If you'd like to create address book, Bento is a great one. Simply because address book handle person as well as their attribute. If you would like to manage two or more entities, and then make relationship among them, FileMaker is definitely is a good option. it isn't very simple, however as soon as you have an understanding of distinction between "table" & "table occurrence" with FileMaker terms, it isn't really difficult.

There were lots of opinions over the Mac App Store regarding the current version in Bento to become quite disappointing. Is that FileMaker thinking about phasing it out? FileMaker, Inc. reported that it might discontinue Bento so that it could put the focus on the FileMaker product family. It will eventually carry on supporting for Bento till July 30, 2014. FileMaker does not provides the Bento consumer products. It was informed that they'll give tech support for the Bento products through 30th July, 2014. This particular change had been a part of the greater concentration on the FileMaker products. FileMaker Pro are going to be suitable for different users of the Bento for the Mac. They encourage Bento for the Mac consumers to see their "Is FileMaker Pro Right For You?" page to find out distinctions between Bento & FileMaker Pro and also to download a cost-free trial of the FileMaker Pro.

In case you are using Bento, it will continue to provide what you need for a long period. When you choose to export your data from the Bento to some other application, there are helpful tips regarding your options. FileMaker Pro in considered the greatest user friendly commercial database for the teams and the companies. FileMaker Pro just isn't as easy to use just as Bento, then again is much flexible and extensible. Along with FileMaker Pro, you could develop custom solutions, that usually appear and function absolutely the manner in which you want. FileMaker Pro usually takes more work to setup as compared to Bento. Yet it is at the same time a lot more flexible. For instance, in Bento you could drag-out a field then Bento would automatically setup the different fields however it would certainly space them the way Bento believes is better. With FileMaker Pro you need to move fields personally however you could put things just as you want. with Bento you'll be able to select an address field & Bento will likely to have it set up. However there aren't many changes you can create in order to the way the address field performs. With FileMaker Pro you need to set-up every single portion of the address field by yourself (street address, city, state, etc) however you could make different types of address field you want.

You can hire developers from top filemaker development companies in India who can help you with your database requirements within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide filemaker application development services. If you would like to discuss with our filemaker certified developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

HTML5 - Why should FileMaker Developers Care?

As cross-platform relational database software, FileMaker is being used widely by organizations to track a variety of data. The database tool is used for customer relationship management (CRM), inventory management, report generation and invoice generation. The latest version of FileMaker also comes with a set of new features, along with enhanced web deployment options.

It also supports HTML5, the technology being used by developers across the world to build rich web applications rapidly. As HTML5 is the combination of HTML, JavaScript and CSS, the technology is effective in optimizing the look and feel of web applications across web browsers. So the FileMaker developers must know HTML5 to deliver custom made solutions without putting any extra time and effort.

FileMaker 13 Features that Require Developers to Know HTML5

WebDirect
The FileMaker 13 comes with a marquee feature called WebDirect. The web-sharing technology enables developer to share the database through any web browser that supports HTML5. The FileMaker database can be further shared across HTML5-compatible browsers without requiring specialized web development skills. While accessing the databases online, users have to use an interface that resembles the interface included in the desktop app version of FileMaker.

So the changes made to the FileMaker database through the web reflect in the databases in real time. The users can further view and access the most updated information regardless their choice of client. The features will further make the updated information accessible to the users of non-FileMaker databases.

Browser-Based Admin Console
The most recent version of FileMaker also allows users to manage their FileMaker Server through a web browser-based admin console. The browser-based admin console runs seamlessly on HTML5-compliant browsers without requiring support for Java programming language. The feature makes database server administration clean, efficient and responsive.

Further, the FileMaker database can be administered without using any additional third-party software. With more and more organizations working with distributed teams, the feature makes it easier for the authorized users to administer the centralized database regardless of their geographical location. The updates will further reflect immediately in the databases in real time.

Web Viewer
Normally, HTML5 is used by developers to optimize the look and feel of a web page while being accessed on a web browser. But a FileMaker developer has option to generate HTML5 from within the calculation engine. The HTML5 generated within the calculation engine can also be included as part of the layouts and used as a fully integrated application. The developer can use the FileMaker Web Viewer as a tool to generate HTML5 that can be read by web browsers.

While using Web Viewer, the FileMaker developers are required to pass a calculation string as input to generate a properly formatted URL or a browser-readable page of text. Similar to other calculations, Web Viewer can be used to deliver a web experience that users can access and interact with as part of the FileMaker layouts. At the same time, the HTML5 on FileMaker Go can be generated with localized techniques.

So the output can be accessed by users on their iPhones and iPads without any internet connectivity. The programmers can avail the option to optimize the look, feel and performance of their FileMaker solutions. A developer can further integrate the feature seamlessly into the FileMaker application without having any programming skills. He can simply use his existing scripting and calculation skills to get the code from online sources.

The modern developers are required to integrate FileMaker and HTML5 to leverage the power of the cross-platform relational database software. When a developer has experience in HTML5 development, he can integrate the technology smoothly to easily applications that complements the varying needs of modern enterprises.

You can hire developers from top custom filemaker development company in India who can help you for your requirements within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide filemaker development services. If you would like to discuss with our filemaker developers from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

New features in FileMaker 13. Is it going to meet your requirement?

FileMaker Pro can be defined as a relational database application compatible across various platforms that was designed as well as developed by FileMaker Inc. The application is used to integrate a particular database engine with an interface that is GUI based. This provides the users a unique option of modifying the database by dragging a new set of elements into screens, forms or layouts. Now the current version, Pro 13 comes with some latest features that are handy when it comes to meeting business needs of clients.

Let us discuss the features and see how they will meet the clients’ requirements.

Redesigned Layout

The latest version comes up with features that offer an option to the users to create customized layouts as well as reports that are specifically optimized for iPhones as well as iPads. The feature also helps incorporation of predefined screen dimensions, views, themes and sets. All these in turn help businesses by making the process of designing various iOS devices much easier.

Popovers
It also has the feature that helps creating iOS-style popovers for iPads, iPhones and desktops to group links, fields as well as other information without the need of moving to other windows or layouts.

Slide Control
The new version also helps in creating controls of multi-panel slides that can be used for managing images along with various other information or data in separate slide panels within the same layout. It also provides the option of swiping for navigating between one panel to another on FileMaker Go.

New iOS Keyboards
The latest version comes up with 7 new keyboards so as to match the data type that the user needs to collect. The new keyboard types that the latest version comes up with, include number, URL, phone etc.

Bar Code Scanner
This feature provides a unique option of automatically scanning the bar codes by using iPhones or iPads with FileMaker Go without the need of any plug in. Besides, it also gives the liberty to access the scanned data from the desktop.

The new version of FileMaker helps the business to develop customized solutions that are unique besides being professionally designed. They are gorgeous and hence, extremely compelling from the customers’ point of view, which in turn helps the businesses. The data becomes easily sharable as well as manageable. This makes them more productive, which also helps the business in more than a way.

Customized Themes
This feature helps to modify as well as save changes to the existing layout themes. Thus, it helps the themes to match the exact business requirements. The themes are reusable across various solutions and can be shared with others in the business fraternity.

Built-in themes
The new version also comes up with 11 brand new as well as ready-to-use themes, which are a part of the 51 themes that the platform is equipped with. This helps the business to design customized solutions that are specifically meant for desktop, iPhone and iPod.

New Set of Styles
The new themes have new styles that are rich with new sets of innovative colors, text sizes, fonts that can be applied to certain objects like buttons, backgrounds, as well as fields. This helps the business solutions by giving them a consistent and professional look and this naturally helps in promotion of the business to a large extent. There is the option of choosing from a large variety of predefined styles and customize them to meet the specific business needs and save it. These changes can also be modified if and when needed.

New style of layout and theme saving
The enhanced options of managing styles as well as themes help in formatting the styles to layout various objects, parts, backgrounds and other properties for promoting a consistent look all through the business solutions.

Content Object Visibility
This offers the option of hiding as well as showing various layout objects through the process of indication of whether an object is displayed or hidden depending upon a specific calculation or situation.

There are a number of other new features that offer a wide range of advantages and option to come up with improved business solution. However, discussed above are the most prominent ones that the new version of FileMaker Pro comes up with – the ones, which meet the customized business solutions.

You can hire developers from top custom filemaker development companies in India who can help you for your requirements within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide filemaker database development services. If you would like to discuss with our expert filemaker developer from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

FileMaker Best Practices for Developing Accessible Solutions

Many enterprises, nowadays, use FileMaker to create custom solutions without putting any extra time and effort. The cross-platform relational database application further enables users to update or modify their databases simply by dragging new elements into the forms, screens and layouts. The current version of FileMaker also comes with capabilities to make the data accessible to users on a variety of conventional and mobile devices. However, the programmers must consider and implement several best practices to build robust and accessible solutions with FileMaker 13.

Best Practices for Developing Accessible FileMaker Solutions

Enhance the Code Readability

FileMaker currently does not provide a comprehensive code editor to developers. So they miss the convenient options to write clean and structured code. However, the programmers have option to external editors and snippet along with several keyword expansion tools. It is always important for the code writers to rite cohesive code that can be encapsulated and reused without any hassle. In addition to using strongly named grouping conventions, they are further required to handle all probable errors, while avoid using additional dependencies.

Make the Layout Mode More Accessible
The accessibility of a FileMaker solution also depends on its layout design. The programmers can connect field labels to the active field by using the Accessibility Inspector. As the field labels will be read by the screen readers, it is important to include navigation and buttons in the tab order. Further, each button must have short and simple text labels. The screen reader can read the text label of each button, so no title or label needs to be added to the button text. Instead of displaying the status bar, the layout buttons can be used to get enhanced control and accessibility.

Optimize the Images
While designing the layout, developers must avoid using images. Similarly, the decorative objects also need to be avoided if they provide no relevant information or function. The Accessibility Inspector allows them to describe images in the container fields. However, each text object must be spelled correctly to be read and understood by the screen reader. It is also a good idea to opt for pop-up menu style instead of the drop-down list style. Similarly, instead of using the drop-down calendars, the programmers can display calendar icons within the field. The existing tooltips also need to be copied and pasted into the Title field in the Accessibility Inspector.

Opt for List View Layout
While creating FileMaker solutions, programmers have option to choose from both List View and Table View layouts. But they can enhance the accessibility of the solution by using the List View layouts, while hiding the Table View layouts. Further, they need to use the field objects instead of merge text when working with the List View Layout.

Optimize the Application’s Search Capabilities
The accessibility of a FileMaker solution can be further increased by optimizing its search capabilities. Nowadays, users access database solutions from a variety of devices including computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets. So the solution must find the relevant data based on the search keywords entered by users, and display the search results quickly. It will become easier for the solution to find data when the fields are identified, and results are read out clearly. Thus, each field must be described in a clear and unambiguous way to enhance the FileMaker solution’s search capabilities.

Work on the Application’s Look and Feel
The look and feel of the FileMaker solution will also impact its accessibility level. So the layout must be optimized by applying high-contrast themes. Similarly, the users must have option to increase the zoom level of the document window. You must opt for interface designs that will appeal to all types of users. It is also important to avoid using videos, animations portals, and tab control to make the solution work faster. While using the FileMaker solution, designers can be prompted for the next action through custom dialogs. The dialogs can also be used to give error alerts.

Each updated version of FileMaker comes with enhanced capabilities and new features. Each developer needs to implement these best practices by keeping in mind the features provided by the most recent version of the cross-platform relational database application.

You can hire filemaker certified developers from top filemaker development companies in India who can help you for your requirements within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide filemaker development services. If you would like to know more about the expertise of our filemaker certified developers, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solution.