The new script workspace in FileMaker Pro 14 lets you enter script steps from the keyboard, something skilled scripters will appreciate.
This change doesn’t make a whit of difference to end users, but FileMaker adepts are going to love it. You can add script parameters from the keyboard, too, and even edit calc formulas inline and when the calc formula is a little too long to edit inline, you can switch to the more spacious old-fashioned calculation editor.
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But developers who daydream in code will be delighted that they can now create a new script and simply start typing.
Those of you who don’t spend hours every day scripting will be happy to know that you can continue to build scripts by pulling steps from the script step library. FileMaker Pro: Scripting and calculationsįor advanced developers, the most welcomed change in FileMaker Pro is likely to be the redesigned and renamed “script workplace”-in particular, the ability to enter scripts almost entirely from the keyboard. This lets you display the field label right inside the field, which, at least in some circumstances, can make for much cleaner data-entry interfaces. There are other improvements in the design tools, including some modest improvements to the handling of custom styles, but I do want to mention the new placeholder label. This is a great example of how a rather technical new feature, put to use properly by a developer, ultimately makes life easier for end-users. If you use button bars in FileMaker Pro 14, sort and export dialogs will display only data fields to users. The presence of those user-interface elements in the dialogs inevitably confuses users. This works okay but has an undesirable side-effect: when users are shown a dialog that lists the fields on the current layout-for example, the sort dialog-the fields used as objects will be listed, too, even though they are not data fields at all. The old way to get dynamically labeled buttons involved defining fields in a utility table, placing the fields on layouts and turning them into de facto buttons by attaching actions to them. There are many reasons why this matters, but one reason is that it makes it possible to change a button’s label simply by modifying the calculated result if you couldn’t do that, you’ve have to edit each instance of the button on possibly scores of layouts, one button at a time. Developers of large solutions often want their buttons to have calculated or dynamic labels. Because button bar elements can generate labels from calculations, they are a very smart alternative to old-fashioned buttons.Įqually-if not more important-the button bar eliminates an old headache for developers and users alike. The new button bar makes it easy to create user attractive, consistent interfaces.
The new button bar object eliminates most of the busy work, because the buttons in a button bar are defined as a set from the get-go. Invariably, however, you’d spend a lot of time fiddling with the placement of individual buttons. It’s always been possible to drop multiple buttons on a layout, then copy and paste them on another layout. FileMaker Pro 14 provides a generous assortment of ready-made buttons for your use, but you can create your own if you like and add them to the assortment.Ī more significant new feature is a new layout object called a button bar. For starters, you can now format buttons to display text only, or text with an icon, or if you’re the silent type, an icon without text.
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Here, the listing of records has been zoomed out considerably, but the navigation part stays full size.įileMaker 14 innovates in another surprising area: buttons. I expect that FileMaker 14 developers will soon start using the navigation part for UI widgets like buttons, and will leave headers and footers for printed reports.įileMaker 14’s new navigation and control elements resembles the old header or footer layout parts, but it doesn’t scroll out of sight in form view and it is always displayed at 100 percent. But unlike headers and footers, navigation parts don’t scroll out of view and they aren’t affected when users zoom in or out. Navigation parts can be placed at the top and/or at the bottom of a layout, and at first glance, look like the old header and footer layout parts. FileMaker Pro 14 introduces the first change in ages to the basic part structure of layouts: a new part for navigation elements.
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