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FileMaker Performance Update 2024

FileMaker Performance Update 2024 - Preview Image

What does FileMaker 2024 bring in terms of performance? Which features got faster? And did any other get slower? We performed various tests to find out, and here we're going to share their results with you. We discovered, for instance, that starting server-side scripts got slightly faster, but not as much as we hoped for...

When a Millisecond Matters

When a Millisecond Matters - Preview Image

Some time ago one FileMaker developer, when discussing calculation performance, responded to me like "If it evaluates in a few milliseconds then I don't really care how long exactly it takes." This is a very dangerous statement because you can easily get into a situation when every millisecond matters a lot.

From FileMaker to App Store Step by Step

From FileMaker to App Store Step by Step - Preview Image

I was a guest of Richard Carlton’s live stream 5 days in a row to explain, step-by-step, how to build a native app from a FileMaker database, and how to distribute it to iPhone and iPad devices, with and without using the App Store. Here’s a list of all the topics discusse with direct links to the corresponding moment in each recording.

Help Ukraine

Help Ukraine - Preview Image

Help to stop the war in Ukraine via information! To help Russians bypass their government's censorship, we have created this small PHP script, which you can easily add to your website. Then anyone accessing your website from Russia or Belarus will be presented with special page with basic info about the war and a fresh feed of uncensored news.

Meet Tracksy

Meet Tracksy - Preview Image

Tracksy is our new complete software & hardware solution for tracking and locating goods, assets, orders and people within controlled space, leveraging RAIN UHF RFID technology, ready to integrate with existing systems based on Claris FileMaker, SQL or REST API.

Claris has released FileMaker 19.4

Claris has released FileMaker 19.4 - Preview Image

19.4 brings macOS Monterey and Windows 11 compatibility, Shortcuts automation on Mac, custom OAuth providers and several stability, security and performance improvements. 10.15 is the minimum macOS version to run FileMaker 19.4.  We are testing our products with the new version and will let you know as soon as we can confirm their compatibility.

Monitor FileMaker Server Temperature with Bridge for Phidgets 4

Monitor FileMaker Server Temperature with Bridge for Phidgets 4 - Preview Image

Bridge for Phidgets 4 adds support for 13 new VINT sensors, but also for FileMaker Server. Learn how to use it to automate monitoring of your server temperature, tracking access using RFID tags, unlocking doors, and anything else you can imagine, all that 24 hours a day without having to leave a dedicated FileMaker Pro client open all the time.

Gonector Prints RFID Labels

Gonector Prints RFID Labels - Preview Image

We have made our mobile hardware integration plug-in able to print labels on the Zebra ZQ630 RFID and compatible label printers, including reading and writing UHF RFID tags embedded in the labels. Gonector print labels quickly and reliably via Bluetooth using ZPL, so you don’t have to rely on wi-fi or AirPrint.

BenchTest Community Results 1st Wave

BenchTest Community Results 1st Wave - Preview Image

Since June, when I made an updated public beta of BenchTest available, 45 valid complete test results were submitted by 19 different people. It’s just a beginning, but enough to make some comparisons and share the results with you, so here they come, along with an updated version of the tool.

Reading and Writing NFC Tags from FileMaker

Reading and Writing NFC Tags from FileMaker - Preview Image

Every iPhone 7 or newer can read NFC tags. Starting from iOS 13, iPhone can also write to NFC tags. Our Gonector plug-in enables you to do that directly from your custom FileMaker apps. You can use this to store any data to the tag, such as product ID, inspection history of a device, link to instructions on how to use a device, or anything else.

Equipment Loan tracking with Zealous Accuracy

Equipment Loan tracking with Zealous Accuracy - Preview Image

To remain efficient when integrating hardware devices with software, we created ELZA to keep track of where each device is located when we need it. We use QR codes to identify devices, responsive web app to start and finish loans, RFID to always know what's in its place, and Claris FileMaker to keep track of the history and state of each item.

FileMaker Performance Lab June 2021

FileMaker Performance Lab June 2021 - Preview Image

During the January FileMaker Performance Lab meeting I shared the first beta version of BenchTest, my performance testing tools. I was working on it since then and today I am pleased to announce the first version ready for you to easily compare the performance of your own FileMaker Server or hosting with my reference setup.

FileMaker Pro, WebDirect and Custom Web App in One Solution

FileMaker Pro, WebDirect and Custom Web App in One Solution - Preview Image

Phil Hanson has a vertical solution for managing Australian gymnastics clubs. He’s using Claris FileMaker Pro for club/gym managers and WebDirect as a staff portal. We’ve helped him to create a members portal as a proper web app with responsive design and professional user experience, leveraging the best of all three worlds in a single solution.

PDF Examples Updated

PDF Examples Updated - Preview Image

All our three recently released free examples for creating and manipulating PDFs solely using FileMaker custom functions have been updated. Get the latest version to add clickable hyperlinks to PDFs exported from your custom FileMaker Apps, generate print-quality barcodes, or dynamically draw scalable vector graphics.

Adding Webhooks to FileMaker is Easy

Adding Webhooks to FileMaker is Easy - Preview Image

We have released fmRESTor 19. Even though there were no news in FileMaker Server 19 Data API that would require fmRESTor to be updated, we wanted to bring a significant improvement to you anyway, so here it goes, along with a brief 8-minute step-by-step video on how you can use fmRESTor to add a webhook to your own FileMaker database.

New Year with New Test Results

New Year with New Test Results - Preview Image

A new year has come and we all hope it will push us forward to better tomorrows. New year also deserves new performance test results, especially since Claris released FileMaker 19.2 just a few days ahead of Christmas. So I used some of the calm holiday time to prepare new sets of tests and  discover some new interesting things…

Xgode 2.0 on Steroids

Xgode 2.0 on Steroids - Preview Image

According to our customers. Xgode is the best and easiest to use way to build and push mobile apps made in FileMaker to the users. Now version 2.0, faster, with more controls and better support for the App Store, has been deployed and is ready for you to try out!

Christmas Lights Automated with FileMaker and Raspberry Pi

Christmas Lights Automated with FileMaker and Raspberry Pi - Preview Image

Some people control Christmas lights by plugging them in and unplugging them every day. Then there are those who will control them in some other way, for example using FileMaker. Milan belongs to the second group and he likes to automate repetitive tasks. That’s why FileMaker has been controlling his Christmas lights for the second year in a row.

Visualize Data with PDF Vector Graphics

Visualize Data with PDF Vector Graphics - Preview Image

Vector graphics can be scaled without any loss of quality or accuracy. That can be very helpful for visual representation of data, such as printed reports or complex structures. Generating vector graphics as PDF in my example is handled solely by 42 custom functions. 100% compatible with server-side scripts, WebDirect, and even FileMaker Go.

FileMaker Server 19.1.2 Performance First Results

FileMaker Server 19.1.2 Performance First Results - Preview Image

Claris has released FileMaker Pro 19.1.3 and FileMaker Server 19.1.2. I have added these new versions to my performance lab and here are my first test results. Linux version seems slightly faster than Windows version, JavaScript is way faster than FileMaker calculation engine, and sorting on server can surprise you as much as it has surprised me.

Engaged by Claris Engage 2020

Engaged by Claris Engage 2020 - Preview Image

The first Claris Engage, a successor of FileMaker DevCons, was originally planned to take place in Nashville, Tennessee. The coronavirus pandemic has changed plans for most live events this year, and so Claris Engage turned to a virtual experience. We attended, and even participated as a virtual exhibitor, so let us share our highlights with you.

Adding links to PDF from FileMaker

Adding links to PDF from FileMaker - Preview Image

As a Claris partner, we resell FileMaker licenses. As an extra benefits, we also provide a nice PDF document with all information about the license, including download links. To generate this document from our FileMaker based CRM, I needed a way to include functional web links in it. So I wrote a custom function that does it, without any plug-ins.

Automated Greenhouse Climate Control

Automated Greenhouse Climate Control - Preview Image

As a little boy I grew tomatoes and some herbs in pots on balcony (because we didn’t have a garden at that time). Over time my hobby evolved into growing vegetables in a greenhouse. Since I also like technology and automation, now many of the repeating processes are controlled by Claris FileMaker, Raspberry Pi, Hardwario, LoRa, Node-RED, etc.

Scavent Makes Event Management Efficient

Scavent Makes Event Management Efficient - Preview Image

Scavent is a complete software solution for live event organizers, that grew up on our personal experience with the use of modern technologies. We can customize Scavent to fit your individual needs and use it to help you organize your event, so that you can focus on providing great content and leave the organizational difficulties in our hands.

Announcing fmRESTor.js

Announcing fmRESTor.js - Preview Image

We have just added fmRESTor.js as a second flavor of fmRESTor, our open-source library helping web developers to leverage the RESTful FileMaker Data API with ease. The new flavor lets you connect to FileMaker Server directly from JavaScript, without a need for any hosted intermediate code.

Claris Connect integrates CRM with Mailchimp

Claris Connect integrates CRM with Mailchimp - Preview Image

Claris has recently released Claris Connect. It’s an integration platform provided as a cloud-based service, letting you easily connect many different apps and make the data smoothly flow between them. To show you how it works, I have prepared a short demo using Claris Connect to integrate a FileMaker based CRM with Maichimp.

Time Warp to FileMaker Konferenz 2016

Time Warp to FileMaker Konferenz 2016 - Preview Image

After presenting at four German-speaking FileMaker conferences, let us take a brief look back at the first one in 2016 where all our European DevCons presence began. For the first time, in 2016 we had some really interesting stuff to show, including two case studies and results of over four thousand performance tests.

Pause On Error Portland 2014 Recording

Pause On Error Portland 2014 Recording - Preview Image

After participating on Pause[x]London 2011 and Pause[x]Berlin 2013 I got invited to attend Pause On Error Portland 2014 as well. Even though my schedule did not allow me to attend in person, I managed to host one session about Efficient Optimizing and Troubleshooting of FileMaker Solutions and Business Processes remotely over Skype. 

Bridge for Arduino released

Bridge for Arduino released - Preview Image

We are extending the range of hardware modules that can be easily integrated with the FileMaker platform by adding support the popular open-source hardware platform Arduino. The successful Phidgets Plug-In so becomes Bridge to reflect the growing range of supported hardware platforms.

Convert FileMaker Styled Text to HTML

Convert FileMaker Styled Text to HTML - Preview Image

If you care about text styles then you care about presentation. And if the text you produce is going to be presented in the digital world, such as on a website or in an e-mail client, or any other platform based on HTML and CSS, then you should pay attention to what the HTML you produce tells about you, both to humans and to computers.

How Fast is the New FileMaker Cloud?

How Fast is the New FileMaker Cloud? - Preview Image

How fast or slow is FileMaker Cloud and what should you know before deciding to throw away your old Mac mini you're using to run FileMaker Server and move your databases to FileMaker Cloud? Let me put the other aspects, such as cost or security, aside for now, and focus solely on the performance.

RFID and NFC are on the Rise

RFID and NFC are on the Rise - Preview Image

You may have already seen my hardware integration demo where I combined iPads, iPhones, motors, barcodes, RFID, digital scale, mobile receipt printer, and payment cards. Although everyone loved the automated moving parts built from LEGO, the after-session questions and discussions were actually mostly focused on RFID and NFC.

24U at DevCon 2019

24U at DevCon 2019 - Preview Image

Our team crossed the ocean again to show our skills and upgraded demo at the FileMaker Developer Conference, which took place in Orlando, Florida. We answered a lot of questions about FileMaker and we discussed every problem our customers came with.

Accept payments on the Go

Accept payments on the Go - Preview Image

We have added support for mobile payment terminals to our Gonector plug-in to allow seamless integration of mobile paymens for custom apps developed using the FileMaker platform. The new version of Gonector lets your app talk directly to mobile payment terminals from Infinite Peripherals (for Noth America) and Ingenico (for Europe).

We have a new website

We have a new website - Preview Image

24U has been known for providing great and easy to use plug-ins for the FileMaker platform for over 18 years. Over time our expertise has expanded, so we have re-designed our website from the ground up to reflect our whole current range of services and make it easy to get in touch with us. Check it out and let us know what you think about it!

All 24U Plug-Ins Updated

All 24U Plug-Ins Updated - Preview Image

Since eSellerate has recently announced an end of life of their services, we have updated all our plug-ins to use a new way to verify license validity, independently on eSellerate. We also included latest minor improvements and optimizations, including optimizations for better compatibility with the recently released FileMaker 18.

Ted Hoehn talks about 24U’s performance optimization service

Ted Hoehn talks about 24U’s performance optimization service - Preview Image

“One of 24U's developers was able to analyze it, make changes to it and the results really exceeded or met my wildest expectations.” Ted asked us for help with a script that was critically important to his solution but became too complex and slow over time. Within a few days we were able to cut the script run time from 20 to just 5 seconds.

Plug-In Dreams Come True

Plug-In Dreams Come True - Preview Image

As time passes by it’s often hard to notice what changes it brings and fairly judge what wishes are being listened to and fulfilled. We FileMaker developers often tend to complain about FileMaker ignoring our feature requests but let’s be honest and admit that’s often just an oversight.

Jacques Kirouac

Jacques Kirouac - Preview Image

“The 24U Phidgets Plug-In turned out to be solution and the answer.” Jacques Kirouac developed his own sheep sorting solution for farmers in Canada based on FileMaker Pro and 24U Phidgets Plug-In. It’s interesting to hear how it works and we are happy that Jacques is satisfied with our plug-in and services.

Fasten your seatbelt!

Fasten your seatbelt! - Preview Image

Just like fastening seatbelt can protect your life, having your core systems audited by an independent expert can save your company. In this video excerpt from FileMaker Konferenz 2016 HOnza talks about how our audit service helped KLM to make their own solution more scalable and reliable.

Toolbox Plug-In 3.0.5 released

Toolbox Plug-In 3.0.5 released - Preview Image

This update addresses issue when function Toolbox_Merge didn't work with stylised text as expected and is recommended to all users of version 3.0 Toolbox Plug-In allows your FileMaker databases to execute FileMaker or System shell scripts to automate tasks inside/outside of FileMaker Pro and much more!

Joe King

Joe King - Preview Image

“If you are trying to figure out what’s wrong with your solution or how you can make it better, 24U guys are a great resource!” These words come from WorldCloud Inc. CEO Joe King. We are happy to hear feedback like this all the time.

Sheep Sorting Is No Longer a Nightmare with 24U Phidgets Plug-In

Sheep Sorting Is No Longer a Nightmare with 24U Phidgets Plug-In - Preview Image

Counting sheeps may put anyone asleep but for a sheep farmer sorting sheep a real madness and commercial solutions are too expensive. Therefore one developed a new solution powered by the FileMaker® platform and 24U Phidgets Plug-In!! Our customer Jacques Kirouac from Quebec developed a new solution Sheep Sorter which works on FileMaker Pro.

Become a Troubleshooting Hero!

Become a Troubleshooting Hero! - Preview Image

You know what it feels like to be the hero who has just fixed “the thing”. Imagine you have spent hundreds or thousands of hours developing your solution, and now you’re ready to deploy it. Is your work done? The truth is that until now you have been playing your favorite game. Now the real life begins.

App Helps with School Grades

App Helps with School Grades - Preview Image

My son Štěpán recently surprised me by bringing an insufficient grade from a math exam. He needed to improve quickly, so I launched FileMaker Pro Advanced and decided to create an app to help him. The next day he got the best grade for a followup exam, not making a single error…

Life before and after Xgode

Life before and after Xgode - Preview Image

We can build native iOS apps with the FileMaker platform but we struggled doing that too often. Xgode has changed this for us, and now it is not an exception when we build a FileMaker based native app more than five times on the same day. Why is the life after Xgode so different from the life before it?

Google Maps become affordable

Google Maps become affordable - Preview Image

Since the introduction of WebViewer, Google Maps were quite popular in FileMaker solutions. What many FileMaker developers may have missed though is that in most cases they were using Google Maps API illegally and Google could ban their API key or IP address from accessing the feature at any time.

Echoes of the Past

Echoes of the Past - Preview Image

As time passes by, we quickly and easily get used to new technologies and new versions of all the apps we use. Occasionally, the history decently knocks on the door, checking if we remember. Just like recently, when a customer contacted us, asking for help with converting his invoicing solution, made in FileMaker Pro 1.0, to the current version.

Compression vs Encryption

Compression vs Encryption - Preview Image

Many years ago, when designing backup strategy for our server, we decided to take advantage of one typical aspect of FileMaker databases. By using a simple bash script, we could easily keep a history of 4 times more backups than without compression...

Perform Script On Server

Perform Script On Server - Preview Image

The idea of being able to off-load time consuming tasks from FileMaker Pro to FileMaker Server is as old as the scripting abilities of FileMaker Pro, which were introduced with the FileMaker Pro 3 release. But it was the FileMaker Server 13 that finally made this idea easy to implement.

Save the Planet Through Automated Planting

Save the Planet Through Automated Planting - Preview Image

These brothers created the first mobile system for automated planting and we are really proud that we can the part of it. This system will not only make planting easy but it can really help us to save our planet. You can plant anything, anywhere in the world. Tomatoes in a desert, strawberries in a cellar, in a few years maybe on Mars as well.

Text or Numbers - What's Faster

Text or Numbers - What's Faster - Preview Image

One of the questions I am getting from time to time since I testing FileMaker performance is whether there is any significant difference between performance of text and number fields, So I tested it and discovered that there is even a case when indexed field can be slower than an undindexed one.

Safe Housekeeping

Safe Housekeeping - Preview Image

When you have a FileMaker solution that you have developed and used over a long time, you are likely to have objects like scripts, table occurrences, value lists, custom functions or layouts, that you don’t use any more. Once in a while you probably want to delete some of them to remove their impact on your solution’s size and performance.

24U at DevCon 2017

24U at DevCon 2017 - Preview Image

We have spent over 7 years taking care of our customers, mostly through FileMaker® solutions. Let us show you our experiences... Our award-winning team is going to cross the ocean to help you with your challenges again. Now in Phoenix of Arizona, July 24-27. See you at DevCon at our 24U booth!

24U Toolbox Plug-In 2.0.3

24U Toolbox Plug-In 2.0.3 - Preview Image

24U Toolbox Plug-In is a robust FileMaker Pro plug-in which allows your FileMaker Pro databases to do many exciting things... In this new version you’ll find for example more precise error code handling. There is also removed limit of number of system scripts performed in single session.

How 24U FM Bench Detective works

How 24U FM Bench Detective works - Preview Image

Get the best performance out of FileMaker Pro by optimizing your solutions and achieve 100+% speed gains in almost no time. See how 24U FM Bench Detective benchmarks your FileMaker solution with microsecond precision to tell you how long exactly your scripts and calculations take to execute.

24U Appearance OSAX

24U Appearance OSAX - Preview Image

24U Software announces the version 4.0.1 of 24U Appearance OSAX. The scripting addition for Mac users allows AppleScript script writers to interact with users via dialogs, notifications, alerts, progress indicators, and floating messages without the need to use a complex development tool, such as Xcode.

24U PHIDGETS REMOTE

24U PHIDGETS REMOTE - Preview Image

24U Software announces free download availability of a new mobile application for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch that allows for controlling and monitoring Phidgets devices connected to the network with the help of various control layouts.

24U Toolbox Plug-In 2.0

24U Toolbox Plug-In 2.0 - Preview Image

24U has released the version 2.0 of 24U Toolbox Plug-In, toolbox of the most useful calculation functions for daily use. The new version has been rewritten to be fully compatible with FileMaker Pro 14 and stable on FileMaker Server even when being used from several simultaneous threads.

Transformation Service

Transformation Service - Preview Image

24U Software is able to provide you with a custom solution on the level of enhancement or transformation that best suits your actual situation. You will be able to effectively get the most out of any new technology. Don't hesitate to contact our sales department!

Integration Service

Integration Service - Preview Image

Let us integrate your FileMaker solution with your other systems to avoid human error and waste of time by duplicated data entry, and get your business running smoothly by having your data where they have the highest value. Don't hesitate to contact our sales department!

24U SimpleDialog Plug-in 5.0 released

24U SimpleDialog Plug-in 5.0 released - Preview Image

24U SimpleDialog Plug-In allows your FileMaker solutions to interact with users via professionally looking dialogs to provide excellent user experience with minimum development effort. New version of our popular plug-in for displaying native custom dialogs and progress bars bring full 64-bit support for FileMaker Pro 14 and latest operating system.

We can help you to update your plug-in or mobile app to 64-bit!

We can help you to update your plug-in or mobile app to 64-bit! - Preview Image

Our team has gained a lot of experience updating our plug-ins to work with the 64-bit architecture of FileMaker Server 13 and our mobile apps to work nicely with iOS 8 on the new devices. Thanks to our rich experiences with updating our own products for 64-bit we are now ready to offer this as a service to you as well! Don't hesitate to contact us.

Team Development

Team Development - Preview Image

The good thing about growth is that you’re getting stronger. You can deliver more work in less time and provide more unique values to your clients, such as stability, reliability, or variability. The difficult part is to make the team work together like clockwork.

Client Offload

Client Offload - Preview Image

In the last article I mentioned I attended Pause[x]Berlin 2013 with my team and gave you the video recording of my session Optimization Madness. I'm glad to tell you that I have one more recording from this event for you. We also recorded Fabrice Nordmann's session Client Offload.

Optimization Madness

Optimization Madness - Preview Image

In May, I participated in Pause[x]Berlin 2013, a European format of the popular unconference Pause On Error, organized for FileMaker developers by FileMaker developers.. There I presented a session called Optimization Madness focused on optimizing performance of FileMaker solutions.

Why is FileMaker 12 slow?

Why is FileMaker 12 slow? - Preview Image

A lot has been written and said since FileMaker 12 was released about its speed, compared to FileMaker 11. Emotions left aside, if I was supposed to compile all the recent findings into a single brief message, I would say that some people find FileMaker 12 slower than FileMaker 11 while others experience improved performance.

Marvelous Optimization #4 - Optimized Again

Marvelous Optimization #4 - Optimized Again - Preview Image

Last September I wrote an article about a custom function that I optimized to evaluate hundreds times faster. At the end of the article, I challenged my readers and myself by claiming that the already optimized custom function can be optimized even further. Do you remember? Later on I actually really optimized it again, and talked about this.

Marvelous Optimization #3 - Faster Imports

Marvelous Optimization #3 - Faster Imports - Preview Image

This example demonstrates that even a single-step script can be optimized. You just have to think a little bit out of the box... I was showing this as a surprise in my session Marvelous Optimizations at Pause On Error [x] London 2011. I used a sample file with 25 fields and 5,000 records and imported these records 5 times in a row in just 13s.

Marvelous Optimization #2

Marvelous Optimization #2 - Preview Image

The second example I was showing in my session Marvelous Optimizations at Pause On Error [x] London 2011 was the script for selecting Random Set of Records. I found this example in the FileMaker Knowledge Base and optimized it to run at least 158 times faster when selecting 10 random records out of 50,000.

Marvelous Optimization #1

Marvelous Optimization #1 - Preview Image

This is the first example I was showing in my session Marvelous Optimizations at Pause On Error [x] London 2011. I already wrote about this optimization some time ago. It’s the one that led me to unveil the Marvelous Optimization Formula. I took the example and added FM Bench Detective into it to be able to exactly measure and examine what happens.

Debugging Scripts by Writing to Event.log

Debugging Scripts by Writing to Event.log - Preview Image

This is a fresh story of me spending hours trying to fix a technical issue and accidentally revealing a gold nugget. A few days ago one of my nightly server-side scripts stopped working without any apparent reason. But when I tried to run the script in FileMaker Pro it worked just fine. I really needed a way to debug the script on the server.

Random Set of Records (optimized)

Random Set of Records (optimized) - Preview Image

I noticed that one of the articles updated in the official FileMaker Knowledge Base on September 23, 2011 was explaining how to select a random set of records in a FileMaker database. I was wondering how fast the currently recommended technique is and whether I can make it faster with the help of FM Bench.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion - Upgrade or Wait?

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion - Upgrade or Wait? - Preview Image

Everyone is excited about Lion. Even though many new features on Mac OS X 10.7 are giving us improvements we kept asking for since 10.1, Apple has again succeeded in giving all the new features the strong essence of innovation that makes us unable to hesitate to install and try Lion out as soon as we are able to.