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.

What I particularly love about this solution is the idea of dumping a bunch of webviewer resources (pictures, etc.) into the user’s temp folder using the get (temporarypath) function. While I’ve certainly employed some variations on this – sneaking some garbage PDFs into a my docs folder or out to the desktop prior to e-mailing, etc – I’ve been overlooking the temp folder for years (mostly I guess because there’s never been a convenient get function for it before). Now with FM 9 data URLs finally working, the webviewer has (almost) completely arrived, and a convenient place to dump huge amounts of rubbish couldn’t be more timely. [edit - just read the "dispatches from DevCon" post. Evidently this demo was a big hit there, too]

Lately, I’ve been scrambling to finish a rewrite of a scheduling solution for a school that I work for. The requirements are simple – be able to define courses in any variety of blocks and times and dynamically generate graphical student schedules with seamless handling of overlaps and conflicts. Once upon a time, I tried to achieve this using microscopic portal rows and a schedule table with zillions of records and dozens of lead-like calculations. It worked, but it was only “dynamic” from a geologic perspective and it made white smoke pour out the back of my Dell.

With the web viewer, of course, that all changed – almost. I was able to throw out the schedule table and generate a whole mess of CSS Divs instead. The schedules were coming out slicker and faster than ever, but FM was still doing all the heavy lifting of stitching together adjacent course blocks, knocking out overlaps, and sizing text based on available block sizes. Spitting out a batch of schedules was no longer an overnight project, but it was still burdened with a sluggishness that gnawed at me in light of all the extra coding and testing it took to implement.

Over the course of this project, it did occur to me to try moving the heavy lifting over to the web browser, but I hesitated for a couple of reasons:

- I hadn’t written a word of Javascript in over 3 years
- generating HTML in an FM calc or CF is painful enough. Imagine having to debug a bunch of Javascript with escaped quotations everywhere.

Finally, though, it was Ray’s sample file that gave me the kick I needed. If I could simply pack my javascript into a container file, have that dumped into the user’s temp folder, and reference it in my HTML, life would be a lot simpler.

After two days of dusting off the cobwebs in my Javascript memory (nothing like a few years of FM calc habits to help THAT along…), I’ve finally got a rough library of functions that can connect and polish several dozen disjointed, poorly formatted div tags in a split-second. It beats the pants off the custom functions I had going in FM, and only rarely does it lock up my browser in an endless loop (okay, so there’s some debugging to do).

So, three cheers for sample files, particulary Ray’s 9 for 9 collection. Looking forward to 10 for 10 - unless of course FM comes out with something boneheaded, like  ”FM Creative Suite”, “FMX”, “FM smooth ultra king 100s”…

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

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)

Q. How does tab panel load the information fro the end user? Is it a bad idea to load up the layout with stuff…
A. Things are drawn on demand…if it is not visible, you are not paying for that

Q. Some SQL dbs slow down if there are too many fields indexed..true for FMP?
A. The number of indexes you have does effect time for inserts and deletes…for modifications, for text fields, we do differential indexing…we don’t re-index the whole thing, only the changes that are added.

Q. Is there a practical limit to the size of SQL data source linked from FileMaker?
A. Size of table doesn’t matter so much, main issue is number of records you are working with…just like FileMaker…if you do a summary across a lots of records it is slower….don’t try to do summary totals on 14 million records

Q. Why can’t value list be based on external SQL data sources?
A. because it is base on indexes….aware of the issues…working on improving this it in the future

Q. Does FMP 9 evaluate calculation expression in a specific order?
A. We use a postfix form….a+b is really “a, b +”…we have to start ‘inside out’…prior to v7, FileMaker will evaluate the entire expression. That has been improved, short circuited, evaluates only when it has to Does it matter how you construct the expression? It can matter if you are referencing same fields several times in the expression…everytime you do that reference, you have to go get that value…use let function, use variable now you can reference variables much quicker than going to the reference…use recursion…you can take advantage of tail-recursion if the main function is isolated. (CC)

Q. How does the Evaluate() function perform compared to other functions…if is slower, why?
A. Have to parse it…can be more expensive, but take some parsing time…great to be able to use it but it may be more expensive. (CC)

Q. Does the order of predicates listed in the relationship dialog have any bearing on the speed of the evaluation of the relationship
A. Predicates are based on equality first, relationship operators next (greater than, less than)…do not have to worry about this….will take care of this for you…(CC)

Q. Why do you have to pick two match fields in Cartesian products?
A. doesn’t matter, quirk of user interface…those fields don’t matter. (CC)

Q. If the same plug-in exists in both the application “extensions folder and the user’s “ApplicationData” folder, which one is used
A. The one in the user specific folder gets loaded. (CM)

Q. If you have enabled “secure connection to FileMaker Server” does this secure the connection between the FMS9 admin console and the server?
A. The checkbox only controls communications between client and server. Admin console is using a different method…using the https://…don’t need the SSL certificate (JT).

Q. Best fonts for cross platform use. Is there a list?
A. Use web-safe fonts: Arial, Arial-black, courier new, comic sans, georgia, Impact, Symbol, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, Verdnana, WebDings…allow extra space for your fonts. (EJ)

Q. Can a PHP solution hosted by a hosting provider connect to a remote FileMaker server databae for PHP use?
A. Yes. Use standalone PHP API files that come with Server, put those files on the external server as well. (EJ)

Q. Does PHP site assitant do ‘real’ html <table>’s or does it use <div>’s?
A. We use both…we use <table> for real tables…other things are in <div>s to enable CSS use. (EJ)

Q. When is it safe to use ESS in PHP?
A. Still some issues using ESS and PHP, basically, the operations that are safe are “Finds” and “Adds”…anything that relies on recordid may not be safe….anything generated by site assistant will be clear…looking at this for the future

Q. What sort of things has FileMaker Server 9 done “under the hood” to prevent or in some cases, repair file corruption?
A. We’ve made some minor changes in the engine to prevent corruption in some unique cases. (JT)
NB: I didn’t really catch this answer in full. Please let me know if you can fill it the blanks or fix the answer.

Q. Will it be possible to back up database to a location that is not local?
A. …not a best practice to rely on the network for your initial backup…back up to a local drive first or a super reliable external volume (fiber channel), then use backup software such as virtual tape to archive that. (JT).

Q. Why does the plug-in API require a JPEG stream when returning an image?
A. When it was implemented JPEG was the only fully cross-platform graphic format…PNG is becoming more prevalent…JPEG may not be a requirement in the future. (CM)

Q. Why can’t FileMaker Pro 9 can’t luach via RDC on Windows?
A. Activiation technology we are using right not can’t tell the difference between a remotely launched session or not, but you can launch it first then connect…looking to address this this for the future. (CM)

Q. Does Recover create a clean database?
A. NO. See my (JT) DevCon session. Recover can drop blocks out of the file. If there is damaged blocks…it can cause the file to crash…who knows what part of the file could have been corrupted….use a backup. Not the recommendation. (JT)

Followed by questions from the floor…I got caught up talking to Corn and futzing with my flaky wifi…Blackwell, sitting to my left insisted I do not use unsecured Wi-Fi and wasn’t able to catch much…

Q. Is there a document about what might break on 9 and when we move to it?
A. Ryan Rosenberg says don’t think there is any…Eric says, check knowledge base first.

Q. Why are date formats not stored in a standard format instead of the local format?
A. Everybody would wait for conversion [to their local format] all the time…it is optimal this way
Closing remarks by Rosenberg. Rosenberg jokes that the DevCon Site Selector picked Desert Desert for the next location and reveals that DevCon 2008 will be in Phoenix, in July. DevCon ends, people file out of Coquina hall, some head outside to see the shuttle launch.6:30 PM – I pack up, say my goodbyes and begin the drive back to Jacksonville, FL

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.”

Jon Sigler on FileMaker 9. “How we got to where we are today…FileMaker 9 is built on a fundamental principal, The FileMaker Difference…big win, release of all FileMaker 9 products on the same day…[talks a bout FileMaker 9 features]…fantastic release but didn’t stop there. Working with FileMaker means working with other Developers. Added PHP API…allows web developers to use PHP to build sites based on FileMaker…Need to work with database administrators…with FM9…much more palatable, it is about flexibility on both sides…DBA can maintain the server the way they like…(demos)”

Andrew LeCates (clap, clap, clap). LeCates demos his Ctrl-Alt-LeCates app in FileMaker, shows off object-anchoring, stretching of screens and objects. “This is good stuff”….webviewer demo, data-url, storing photograph in data-url protocol (data:image/png etc..)…shows off Ray Cologon’s demo of using a webviewer to do progress bars in FileMaker Pro 9…..I love Get(TemporaryPath)…checkout Ray’s 9-For-9 demos….the new scriptmaker…non-modal windows…login with different user privileges (clap clap)…deep breath…I’ve got one more thing, conditional formatting, ways to change FileMaker’s display of a field, as developers we are going to use conditional formatting for more than that…conditional formatting of field names, field highlighting…tie conditional formating to the window size (oooh), portal highlighting without calculation fields…custom functions can be driven by variables and other things….that’s all I am going to show about 9 today…(clap, clap, clap).”

Around 9:10 AM…

Bill Heizer (Senior Consulting Engineer) comes on to talk about external server/sql stores (ESS). “…amazed we’ve done this in such a short amount of time without a file format change…quickly attaches to MS SQL source, do finds, do exports, create relationships based on ESS data…standard FileMaker techniques on external sources….server-based DSNs (!), install drivers on the FM server, access it from FileMaker Pro….Bill shows off FileMaker finds in portals and shows the corresponding SQL statement in mssql’s SQL trace stack (dude!)…about being a better IT citizen..remove the islands, not become a silo anymore.”

9:30 AM…

Kevin Nathanson (clap clap), Sr. Product Manager for FileMaker Server 9. “I have a problem. I now have a reputation as the guy who comes on and shares the secret stuff…now I have this obligation…feeling a lot of pressure, anxiety to deliver…I am getting older…I want you to know it’s not you, it’s me…but I think I have come up with something that will satisfy you…(audience laughs)…no one outside of FileMaker has ever seen the DevCon Site Selection Assistant (SA) (audience laughs)…this is the tool we use to figure out where to hold DevCon sessions….shows off PHP site assistant…we support portals with PHP…show’s off PHP app built with Site Assistant re: DevCon sites (inside jokes about about DevCon, the desert thrown around…chicken recipes….lots of chicken)…renaming of cryptic field names (custom labels)…create summary reports with SA…

…future features (with standard heavy disclaimers that these may not actually happen) , database maintenance schedules, send SMTP mail from Server, Import/Export on Server, XML/PHP support for container fields, PHP Site Assistant improvements…”

9:50 AM

Jon Sigler returns…talks about “FileMaker 9 as a ‘great foundation for the future’…FileMaker Mobility, shows off iPhone…Andy Gaunt’s DevCon schedule for the iPhone…show’s off iPhone Theme for PHP site assistant…have FileMaker generate all the CSS properly formatted for iPhone…this week is all about FileMaker 9. This release is all about productivity, getting to external server sources.”

I finally got a chance to clean some of this up this morning. I was typing fast and don’t claim to have captured everything accurately. Please drop me a note about omissions or errors. Cheers.