When you create your own custom filemaker theme, you spend a lot of time accounting for all the possible opti. Over the past few months weve been working on a large filemaker php project for a client that required a web based interface to their filemaker solution that worked on smartphones and tablets both ios and android, as well as the traditional desktops mac and windows. If you want the data shown in an area to change, you can use a calculation field. Best practices in layout design for fmgo extreme filemaker. This makes it very easy to centrally store whole layouts. Filemaker get functions and layouts thepracticalba. Watch filemaker tutorials and learn how to customize each layout using the filemaker layout design tools. In order to achieve this, you should use developer. Ive encountered a weird scrolling issue that i cant seem to resolve. Data changes made on your ipad, iphone, or ipod touch are not synchr onized to the remote file, and vice versa. Below are some guidlines to consider when designing layouts for the desktop, iphone, ipad, and ipod touch. Specify the dimensions and position of the new window. Im a mac fm developer, with limited experience on windows, designing a db for a client on windows 7 enterprise.
At the moment that im writing this, i have three filemaker windows open. Youll establish a strong understanding of how to approach your hybrid layout design by watching this video. Rather than have a navigation bar on each layout, we took advantage of one of filemakers newer features, card windows. It is important to understand each filemaker products features so you can design layouts that will work best with each product.
Mention of thirdparty products and urls is for informational purposes only and. Filemaker pro includes the body, header, and footer parts as needed on a layout depending on the choices you make in the new layout report assistant. Design considerations in filemaker go linkedin learning. Alexis allen from, designing filemaker, shares her session introduction to the ui design process, from this years filemaker developer conference. Home designing and creating databases creating a database setting file options. To do this, go into layout mode, click on the portal object and then look at the position tab on the inspector palette fm 10 and 11 only. As a developer of any complex filemaker solution, the need to retain a clear picture of how the solution is structured becomes increasingly critical as the size of the solution increases. Designing a layout optimized for filemaker go claris. So while its possible to open any filemaker database in filemaker go, it can be challenging to navigate to layouts that are not designed for a small screen. My technical understanding of filemaker is getting good and i can do pretty much what i wantneed to but my design of layouts is rubbish.
Optimizing a filemaker database for ipad or iphone. Switch to layout, then choose a layout from the list in the specify layout dialog box. Go into edit layout mode, then go to layouts part setup and youll see that you can create your. Some filemaker pro layouts are divided into layout parts, which are areas on the layout that control how and where to display and print data, text, and graphics. Filemaker layouts are static, but there are still some things you can do to alter the layout based on the values of fields. A design which would work on a microsoft surface go, ipads and both mac and windows desktops. Manage images and other data in separate slide panels all within the same layout.
The 360plastic pos layout themepack is a filemaker layout theme which can be used within your own filemaker pro database. If you dont select this option, filemaker pro opens the layout you displayed when you worked in the file, or opens a layout you specify in a startup script. When designing layouts that are going to be used with filemaker go, up and down vertical scrolling of a layout is generally acceptable but left to right horizontal scrolling should be avoided. A filemaker database solution customized for you in minutes. In addition, layout objects and spacing between layout objects should be adjusted when designing for an ios device. We created a navigation layout that displays as a card window.
But, what do you do when the default filemaker themes dont provide exactly what you want. Some tips and advice for designing a solution within filemaker from. Even a free version of visual studio will provide you with a lot more layout controls than filemaker. The session was a jampacked roundup all the various things you can do with filemaker layout objects in order to meet the objective of creating designs which work well within a small form factor. If you can change layouts or edits scripts you can customize godraw. Interface design overview and troubleshooting filemaker. Filemaker pro designing for ios using filemaker go. The filemaker layout object window allows you to work with stacked objects and quickly find an object or field on a layout. Fm quickstart is a free crm template, custom built by a team of certified filemaker developers, which is designed to use the latest version of filemaker. By walking you through my own process, and the tool i use for creating a hybrid design, well get you familiar with hybrid layout design. See filemaker go development guide, filemaker webdirect guide, and filemaker server custom web publishing guide.
In addition to screen size, it can also be difficult to enter fields, tab buttons and perform a variety of other necessary functions when the layout was not designed with filemaker go in mind. Filemaker templates 360plastic pos layout themepack. Filemaker go filemaker create custom apps filemaker. The new window s distance, in points, from the top of the filemaker pro window windows or the top of the screen os x. Open and interact with other apps on your ipad and iphone while you are using filemaker go. Ive accepted the fact that i need to stay within the 8 x 11 boundaries for printing purposes, but it sure drives me crazy when working in the database and my database is shoved to the left while i have a huge margin of empty area to the right of the center. For example, you could browse donor records one at a time or view them all in one long list. Filemaker designing for screen size and maximizing. Since even simple apps have many layouts, filemaker pro also provides a handy way to keep them organized for easy upkeep. By doing so, your invoice can go on for as many pages as it needs to show all the line items, because in a layout based on line items, every line item is a. The fm kickstart filemaker template offers companies the following basic functionality. From that point you can save named styles into your own theme. Windows users, you may be able to adapt these instructions to inkscape.
Thanks to filemaker s wysiwyg editor, its easy to get a lot of great design practice without a lot of time invested in learning a program. This allows you to create some truly beautiful layouts. You create, design, and manage databases in filemaker pro on the desktop. Its either borrow the styling of specific layout elements or apply the whole theme to your layouts. Use filemaker go on your ipad or iphoneor share data on the web. So heres a couple of tips for you specific to designing filemaker layouts. If taking advantage of filemaker gos highly portable convenience is one of your personal objectives, then set aside an hour of time and watch this video. It is very easy to create the perfect layouts for your solutions with a few simple practices. With newer versions of filemaker, whole files can be exported from the theme studio. Filemaker pro includes the body, header, and footer parts as needed on a layout depending on the choices you make in the new layoutreport assistant. Export your data from filemaker go in formats such as excel, csv, tab, or html files. Most popular of 2016 from filemaker examples filemaker.
Read more and see some examples of awesome layouts in filemaker solutions. If you use a filemaker pro database on your ipad or iphone using filemaker go, chances are it doesnt work as well as it could. I end up with buttons all over the place because i think of lack of planning. You can create different layouts to show the same data in different ways. One of the most useful features of the theme studio is the fact that its a database. Chapter 1 setting up databases for filemaker go 7 about file transfers for information on transferring files to or from a device, see filemaker go help.
Set anchors as you go, and test windows at multiple sizes. Everything the drawing app can do is exposed via a filemaker script, that is probably attached to a button. With 29 years of filemaker experience and a long time speaker at filemaker s developer conference, richard will teach you all the ins and outs of building filemaker solutions. To achieve the same, we should make a single layout for iphone having size 320w x 255h and for ipad having size 768w x 673h instead of.
These layouts can be taken apart and used in part or in whole. Can anybody point me in the direction of a good book cd on the subject. Why spend days designing a interface from the ground up when it is possible to adopt the filemaker template style offered by fm kickstart. In attempt to reduce potential confusion and to increase solution comprehension, a developer perspective of the data is often very helpful. Some themes were designed prior to filemaker 12s layout changes. Find answers to filemaker designing for screen size and maximizing window. When you start working with any of the layouts in the file youll be moving parts around to accommodate your database structure and design. The closing script will be performed each time the last open window of the specified file is closed. Youre accustomed to designing layouts at an ideal size, where each field is big enough to show typical data. Although this is filemakers biggest weakness, it also means that you arent overwhelmed with options when designing layouts. To achieve the same, we should make a single layout for iphone having size 320w x 255h and for ipad having size 768w x 673h. I find this very useful when im designing layouts for filemaker go apps. A nonprofits introduction to filemaker articles and howtos. Alternative methods include simply dragging the layout being viewed into your own filemaker file.
One of the things that sets filemaker apart from other database applications is that it runs on both windows and macintosh operating systems. In the second section, autosizing, youll see four anchor points for the four. Important when you transfer a file to your device, you are creating a copy of the remote file. Filemaker has a very advanced user interface compared to some database programs. The new layoutreport assistant helps you design several types of layouts and. The theme library uses all of the best practices for visual design along with filemaker specific optimization. Filemaker pro includes the body, header, and footer parts as needed on a. For example, filemaker go can capture signatures, and filemaker webdirect is accessible from any compatible web browser.
You can even have a mixed platform of client machines. Filemaker extra designing cross platformfriendly layouts. As an example, im going to show you how to draw a simple flag icon in sketch, and then convert it for use in filemaker. For the beginning designer, though, knowing where to start when designing a filemaker user interface ui can be daunting. So when you design a filemaker layout for deployment on filemaker go, keep in mind that you cant remove views or. Use new calculation and scripting tools to crunch numbers, search text, and automate tasks. The end goal is to create an svg file you can import as an icon in filemaker. The layout objects window is an exciting feature released with filemaker 16. Previous versions of godraw couldnt be changed by filemaker developers very much. Card windows, introduced in filemaker 16, allow you to layer windows within the same window, a great feature to take advantage of when designing file navigation. Find answers to filemaker layout design from the expert community at experts exchange.
Themes purchased from this site may be used for dedicated software development projects and may not be resold or licensed in any manner. Join cris ippolite for an indepth discussion in this video, design considerations in filemaker go, part of learning filemaker go 15. Is there a way for me to center my layout and still stay within the printing margins. There are script steps that can open new windows and even give the windows specified names. As a matter of fact, if you look at that guideline and you look on page, it talks about a comfortable minimal size of tappable ui elements, like buttons and fields, to be 44x44 points. Filemaker layout design solutions experts exchange. You should be aware of the things filemaker go can not do. Accept the settings in the panel but go back to the previous panel available for. When youre designing layouts for filemaker go, the ios tool that turns a filemaker database. Filemaker pro layouts are divided into layout parts, which are areas on the layout that control how and where to display and print data, text, and graphics. Designing an effective ui for filemaker filemaker medium. Optimizing a filemaker database for ipad or iphone itworld. Filemaker go can append additional data to a specified pdf file using a script step. Currently, im developing on my mac and then porting it over to a windows 7 laptop for testing fm 11.
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