Generate Scalable PDF Barcodes Purely with Calculations
Have you ever dreamed of being able to generate high quality scalable barcodes in FileMaker solely using calculations, with no plug-ins, fast enough in a way compatible with server-side scripts, FileMaker Go and FileMaker WebDirect, and completely free of charge? Your dream has just come true.
New Year with New Test Results
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
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
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
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.
Automated Greenhouse Climate Control
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.
FileMaker 19 Performance Lab and Compatibility
Claris has released FileMaker 19. We have tested all our products and are happy to confirm that they all work fine with the new version, only iOS versions of our plug-ins need to be updated for the new iOS App SDK. Now we are preparing our performance lab to test FileMaker 19 performance and compare it to the previous versions.
Optimizing FileMaker Performance for Working from Home
When most of the world is forced to work from home, many things you took for granted can disappear over night. Speed of the internet is one of them, performance of your business critical apps follows very closely. So let me share a few tips on how you can optimize your FileMaker apps for working from home over the slower-than-usually internet.
Pond powered by FileMaker and Raspberry Pi
A few years ago I made one of my dreams come true. I built a pond in our garden. There are water plants, fish, and other water animals living in the pond. To keep the pond in good conditions, I have automated control of its environment with the help of Claris FileMaker and Raspberry Pi…
Another FileMaker Konferenz is over and it has been great again
This year, hosted in Hamburg, Germany, over 180 German-speaking FileMaker developers came to this local conference to learn something new and get inspired. The atmosphere of the 3-day conference was very friendly and forward looking, as, how we already learned during the past 3 years, FileMaker Konferenz always tends to be.
Tour de Conferences Germany and Scandinavia
The 2019 European FileMaker developer conferences are just behind the door. This year we have chosen two to participate in - FileMaker Konferenz in Hamburg, Germany, from October 16 to October 19 and DevCon Scandinavia in Helsingør, Denmark, from October 20 to October 21.
Google Maps become affordable
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
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
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...
Text or Numbers - What's Faster
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.
Why is FileMaker 12 slow?
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
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 #1
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
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.
Custom Function Optimized to Evaluate Hundreds Times Faster
Experts in optimization and hardware integration, platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance. We build custom apps, FileMaker plug-ins, native apps for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, we are able to to integrate even hardware and software noone has integrated before.
PHP Debugging & FileMaker Custom Functions Do Exist
I have just read Anders Monsen's post "Read on Mightydata's blog" A Simple Debug Function for PHP at the "Open the Mightydata's blog" Mightydata's blog. My first thought was this is similar to what I have been doing since I learned PHP a few years ago.
FileMaker Script Execution Time Cut From 5 Hours To 6 Seconds
Sometimes, not often, I accidentally achieve results that look too marvelous to be real. But they are. Just like in this case. Last week I assigned Petr, our internal system developer, the task to optimize one server-side script. The script recently started taking over 8 hours to run and reaching the expiration limit we have set for it.
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