Tip of the hat
Having skipped DevCon in order to afford an iPhone, I’ve been dealing with my DevCon envy by exploring some of the wonderful sample files that people have been putting together for FM9.
The fuss over Andy’s conditional formatting tricks, for example, is certainly well-deserved (though let’s face it, we all would have worked that stuff out on our own, right? no?). After playing with those for a bit, a post about Ray Cologon’s “Progress Bars” ( http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos.html ) caught my attention, and I ended up spending a good afternoon hacking that file apart. Read more
What I Learned At DEVCON, Chapter 2 (2007)
The 12th FileMaker Developer Conference concluded the other day. It was held in Orlando, Florida, again this year at the same venue as last year.
Just as was the case last year, I learned quite a few things at this DEVCON, and I thought I’d share some of them, in no particular order of significance.
1. It is good to have more of some items (workshops and “Under the Hood” sessions with engineers) and less of some other items (chicken at every meal, unless of course, it’s Southern fried).
2. Energy is not a fungible commodity; it is however an absolutely indispensable one. Do something to take it away, or to send it away, and the entire community will suffer as a result.
3. A relearn: Andy Gaunt of FMPUG fame is possibly the greatest showman since the late Phineas T. Barnum. His second FileMaker Excellence Award is also extraordinarily well–deserved. Same as last year.
4. Another relearn: Several FileMaker, Inc. Engineers and Product Managers could give up their careers in the software industry and become highly successful emcees of television shows or comedians in nightclubs. Some of these guys are really funny, and they are really good performers. Same as last year, except more.
5. A lot of developers and IT administrators still do not understand some fundamental elements of FileMaker security, and as a result, both their data and their jobs are at risk. Tim Neudecker is not among this group, and he did a superior job of presenting useful suggestions for securing an otherwise insecure FileMaker Pro solution.
6. It is better to take steps to prevent corruption and damage to files than to try to alleviate or remediate such damage once it occurs. Use of proper server class hardware, especially hard drives, for hosting FileMaker Pro files is a major component of an effective file maintenance and safety plan. Thanks to the Engineers for again stressing this important information.
7. Reconfirmation of long-known item: The FileMaker, Inc. System Engineers are a huge asset for both the company and the developer community.
8. Headgear worn at DEVCON can be unusually clever and distinctive as witness the FMDiSC Fez Brigade.
———-
Steven H. Blackwell
Platinum Member, FileMaker Business Alliance
Partner Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance (1997-2007)
FileMaker 8 Certified Developer
FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
FileMaker Certified Trainer
DevCon 2007 Closing Session
5:30-ish PM…the room is packed and people settle in.
Ryan Rosenberg MCs the session. On the stage sits Chris Crim (CC), Jon Tatcher (JT), Clay Makel (CM), Eric Jacobsen (EJ). Q & A session follows. Most of these questions were submitted ahead of time and preselected by the panel and projected overhead for the audience to follow:
Disclaimer: I was blogging as fast as I could, please forgive any inadvertent errors or omissions. Where I have I not been able to quote verbatim, I have tried to paraphrase as best as I could without losing essential information. I have also tried to attribute the answers to the proper panel member. I may have gotten some of those wrong too. Drop me a line if you catch any omissions or see anything that needs correcting. I’ll do my best to keep this accurate.
Q. If i run a backup in FMS 9 and then copy that folder of backed up databases, are those database “complete” exact replicas of the live databases at the point of backup?
A. [Yes]
Q. Date fields stored internally as integers
A. Everything is stored as text…the calc engine will do type promotion….could use GetAsNumber() function explicitly. (CM)
Dispatches from DevCon 2007
We are back in theme-park country of Orlando, Florida. This year, DevCon returns to the Grande Lakes Marriott in Orlando, (10 minutes from Sea World). If you were lucky enough to get a room at the JW Marriott or the Ritz, the conference is conveniently right in the hotel. Corn Walker, Steve Ritchie and I made it this year from Proof. Haven’t run into Steven Blackwell or Peter Vinogradov (fellow fmCollective contributors) yet.
Day 1
Opening Session Snippets & Highlights
8:30 AM
Dominique Goupil opens. “Biggest DevCon todate…1300+ attendees…(Bubble Charts are back)…”
“We play in the Enterprise…but we are not pretending to be what we are not…still focused on sweet-spot…workgroups…strategically very important for us…The big thing with FileMaker 9 is seamless connectivity…making easy to extend FileMaker to IT…integrate more than ever…important to satisfy IT/web [integration]…bridging the gap, partnership with MySQL.”