TECH BRIEF FileMaker Go 1.2.
FileMaker Go 1.2.1 Technical Brief Version Updates 4 Version 1.2.1 4 Version 1.1.2 4 Version 1.1.
Performance Considerations 16 Performance Recommendations 16 Tailoring an Interface for FileMaker Go 17 Iconography 17 Log Out Buttons 19 Refresh / Request-based Processing 19 Sizing Layout Elements 20 Object Autosizing & Portrait/Landscape Rotations 22 Screen Dimensions 22 Window Management 22 Zoom Management 23 Scripting for a Mobile World 23 Scripting Strategies 24 Testing for Platform 24 OnTimer Scripts
Version Updates Version 1.2.
That said, while most things work, there are some limitations; please pay special attention to the section on Scripts. Depending on the application and how frequently it is used, some developers will decide to tailor specific layouts and database files for the mobile devices. These mobile layouts could be aimed at smaller screen sizes, or simply provide larger targets for touch.
Network WiFi and 3G networks will work; Edge networks are not supported. FileMaker Go cannot discover FileMaker Server hosts available through LDAP or view and use SSL certificates from LDAP hosts. Noteworthy Supported Features People familiar with using and developing for FileMaker Pro will immediately be struck by the fact that FileMaker Go is FileMaker Pro. There is wide support for most FileMaker Pro features, and to list them all would be both tedious and redundant.
FileMaker Go properly displays rich text stored in your FileMaker database. However, the following formats are not supported by iOS: highlight, strike through, condense, extend, small caps, superscript, and subscript. These formats will not be displayed but remain stored and displayed in FileMaker Pro. Bold, italic, underline, title case, upper case, lower case, word underline, and double underline (appears as underline) are all displayed.
The Timestamp iOS control, as seen below, does not support inserting seconds (or fractional seconds). However, you can type seconds into any Time or Timestamp field before or after using an iOS control. There is no direct means of inserting the Current Date, Time, or Timestamp via keyboard shortcuts or menus. If you wish to provide such functionality, you will need to write scripts for those behaviors and optionally associate those scripts with buttons placed on your layouts.
When the signature capture feature is activated, a signature capture window will be displayed where the user will be able to “draw” on the touch surface of an iOS device. The user may touch the Clear button to erase what has been drawn, the Cancel button to exit without making any changes to the container field, or the Accept button to save the signature to the container field. A PNG image will be generated when the signature is saved.
Keep the following in mind when creating printing scripts for FileMaker Go • Perform without dialog is not supported in FileMaker Go. A print script that has the Perform without dialog option checked will go to the Print dialog and to the Print Setup dialog if this option is unchecked. • The Print Setup script step will not show a dialog but the settings stored in the script step will be applied. Sorting Sorting, including custom sort order and ascending/descending operations, is supported.
The FileMaker Go client should honor all of a solution’s existing security settings. This means anyone authorized to access a database via FileMaker Pro is similarly authorized to access that same database, with all the same privileges, in FileMaker Go. Scripts Scripts are available to run in FileMaker Go just as they are in FileMaker Pro.
Script Triggers Script Triggers, including OnTimer, work in FileMaker Go as long as they use supported script steps. See the “Scripting for a Mobile World” section below for an example. Calculations The calculation engine is fully available on FileMaker Go with plug-ins being the only exception. Custom functions are also supported including recursive functions with the same stack limits as FileMaker Pro.
• In the menu: - Add new Record - Duplicate Record - Delete Record… - Delete Found Records… - Revert Record… • In the Tools Menu Pop-over dialog: - Refresh Window - Save / Send - View As - Print (including PDF) You cannot override the Quick Find menu item, the Save Record menu item, or the Exit Record menu item. You also cannot add custom menus to your databases nor can you remove menus or menu items.
Save Records As PDF Save Records as PDF is supported as a scripted process or by clicking the Tools Menu ( ). As with Export Field Contents, the resulting file can be emailed and is available in the FileMaker Go Files on Device list accessible via the Window menu > File Browser option.
There has been a slight change to the “Record changed while disconnected” error message. The error “Your record changes cannot be saved because this record was modified by another user while you were disconnected.” now has a revert button so that users know what they need to do to get out of the current state. FileMaker Go will now recognize files with an extension of “.USR” so that runtime solutions can be recognized and opened automatically by Go. A new file icon will be associated with the .
Hosting/Sharing FileMaker Go does not allow sharing or hosting of any kind. If a file is local to an iOS device, only a single user is supported. Save/Send Records As Save/Send records as Excel and Snapshot Link are not supported. Performance Considerations Just as with FileMaker Pro, developers need to consider both network speed and operational speed when building databases for FileMaker Go. In testing there were few surprises.
This may be commonsensical, but use the excuse of less screen real estate to remove items from layouts. Scrutinize how many unstored calculations and related fields your layouts require, and be judicious with summary fields. All of these considerations are as true for solutions deployed to FileMaker Go as for those deployed to FileMaker Pro on a wide area network. This technical brief will not dwell further on WAN optimization except to remind you that it is important.
Table 10-1 from the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines shows some of the standard buttons the iPhone platform provides for toolbars and navigation bars.
Log Out Buttons During testing with FileMaker Go, only the most disciplined users remember to close all open files before hitting the Home button and closing FileMaker Go. Most users will, when finished with FileMaker Go for the moment, immediately hit the device Home button without a second thought.
Adopting this sort of mechanism clearly depends on how developers approach their database and on the expectations of their users. This is one example of how a developer might consider adjusting an interface to accommodate both performance issues and the different experiences with mobile devices. An argument can be made that this practice would benefit FileMaker Pro users across wide area network connections as well.
The example above demonstrates what might be considered a reasonably well laid out interface for the iPad with a form view and a list view. The example also shows a JPG background image that has been compressed significantly. The example above mimics Apple’s guidelines for an expense report layout that might appear on the iPhone. Please note that these are only recommendations. Interfaces should be driven by the needs of the people using a database.
Likewise, interfaces primarily aimed at iPad and iPhone users may be completely inappropriate for users of FileMaker Pro on the desktop. One of the core strengths of the FileMaker platform is its ubiquity and compatibility; one layout can serve the needs of Mac OS users, Windows users, and iPhone/iPad users. Using pinch-zoom and swipe scrolling, you can create a common ground for your users without alienating desktop users by exclusive use of iOS-like layouts.
All of this leads to the general recommendation that you should design your solutions to be single-window-centric in their primary functions. Zoom Management Window zoom settings behave somewhat differently in FileMaker Go. Zoom settings can be applied to a layout and those settings will be retained for the layout until the setting is changed. This is slightly different than in FileMaker Pro, where the zoom setting is applied to the window and is retained even when a layout change occurs.
be rare for someone “in the field” to need to run large batch scripts. While a concern, and something this technical brief addresses, the practical reality is that developers will accommodate the limitations of mobile networks. Developers should consider leaving the heavy lifting to FileMaker Pro users and FileMaker Server. Scripting Strategies There are a few different ways to approach data processing scripts for mobile or, more universally, WAN-accessed databases.
Using Location Information While FileMaker Go cannot access any GPS features of the iPhone, with a little creativity and a web viewer, it is possible to work around this limitation. The technique involves a combination of a simple HTML5 page and some JavaScript. Since Safari on the iPhone supports HTML5 geolocation services, so can FileMaker Go because a web viewer object uses the Safari engine to handle rendering of web pages.
Server Side Queuing Rather than having FileMaker Go handle your entire scripting load, consider moving some scripts to your FileMaker Server or a FileMaker Pro client machine dedicated to supporting your solution. Queuing is a common technique used by FileMaker developers. It is sometimes referred to by different names; asynchronous processing, (ro)bot processing, and server side processing all refer to this concept.
Appendix A: Unsupported Script Steps (excerpted from the Developers Guide) FileMaker Go does not support some script steps. Running scripts without handling unsupported script steps appropriately may lead to unintended behavior or data corruption. Returns Error code 4 The following script steps return error code 4: Command is unknown. Use Get(LastError) to check for this error code. If Allow User Abort is on, FileMaker Go displays an alert that gives the user the choice to continue or to abort the script.
Returns Error code 3 The following script steps return error code 3: Command is unavailable. Use Get(LastError) to check for this error code. FileMaker Go does not display an alert for these script steps.
Knowledge Base Articles Please also check out the Knowledge Base articles on the FileMaker website at: http://help.filemaker.com/ Credits Written by Scott Love at Soliant Consulting with assistance from Jeremiah Small, Carl Young, and Aaron Gutleben. Soliant Consulting creates custom databases, web sites, and mobile applications for businesses around the country. We specialize in FileMaker, PHP and the Zend platform, the iPhone/iPad OS, Adobe Flex, and Salesforce.com. www.soliantconsulting.
