Today will go down in the annuls of broadcasting, as possibly the worst narration of a maiden screencast in living memory.. However, I really don’t give a damn (even though I hate the sound of my own voice) as long as I convince one or two of you to try out something new.
This screencast is the first in what will eventually turn into a series of help for beginners that are just starting out with FileMaker.
Up front, I can tell you that some of the future content will be paid, but I don’t think we’ll be getting to that point for little while yet.
FileMaker Pro Basics: The Purpose of these Screencasts
The format of these introductory screencasts is purely just to show you basic techniques with FileMaker Pro that can either save you time, or help you organise your solution. This might mean some help on layouts, UI, relationships and so on..
I will not be covering how to make these techniques optimally productive, or even secure. I’m simply starting you off on a journey, and you’ll learn those other things along the way.
If you are already developing in FileMaker, even at a basic level, these early screencasts may not progress you too much, other than maybe the odd hidden tip with the video.
Developers take note: Some of the scripting in these early demo’s is not shown according to what we would call best practice. I know it, you know it, but the people not “in-the-know” don’t know it. So don’t spoil future demo’s, where I will be covering such aspects, by flashing your tail-feathers at me in the comments.
Multifunctional FileMaker Buttons
So what do I mean by multifunctional buttons? Simply, they are layout buttons you use for more than one purpose. A multi-tasking button, if you will.
Depending on keyboard actions and things like depressing the Shift Key you can make FileMaker layout buttons behave in different ways, or execute different scripts. I don’t want to expand on that description any further at this stage, so that I don’t confuse you.
There are many ways to execute a script in FileMaker Pro. Buttons are a nice clean way to give users this functionality. The problem for new FileMaker Pro developers is often that your layouts end up plastered with buttons. This makes for a busy and noisy layout, not good.
A simple technique is to use a process called a ‘switch’. This simply means that an object, such as a button, can be made to do different things depending on the action your user takes. More about switching techniques in a future screencast..
That’s all the explanation I need to go into for now. You can play the screencast below.
Play Screencast
If those beginners that watch this video want to ask questions, or give me some feedback on how it could be improved, then by all means leave me a comment below.
About the Author: Darren Lunn is on a mission to help FileMaker beginners become competent FileMaker Pro developers. You can connect with Darren on Twitter
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Nothing wrong with the narration or your recorded voice, Darren! That’s a great explanation of the technique.
Paul, thank you for the feedback, I really appreciate your comments there. I guess sometimes we are all our own harshest critics.
Thank you for taking the time to come and contribute with your comments.
Darren.
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