FileMaker Design – Page 3 – Design for FileMaker Pro Developers

Prevent Jump After Drop-Down List Selection

When a user selects a value from a drop-down list, FileMaker’s expected behaviour is to move the cursor automatically to the next field (or object) in the tab order. If that field also has a drop-down list attached, this will have the effect of activating the list.

Under normal circumstances, this is fine and even desirable. But sometimes you don’t want this to happen, and there is no native option to prevent the cursor from jumping to the next object after a user selects from a list.

Why would you want to do this in the first place? Well, I was creating a global search field at the top of a layout with a drop-down list attached, and a script trigger On Object Save that finds a set of records corresponding to the user’s list selection. I wanted it to stay on the field after the user selected an item from the list, since the interaction is essentially over at that point.

Visual Design Basics for FileMaker: Space

The second in a series on the basics of visual design for FileMaker. Space is the basic element that designers work with. How we divide it up determines what we ultimately present to the user as our design.

Space: The final frontier… (Okay, that was bad.) But as designers, we are all “space explorers.” In fact, our main activity as designers is to “explore” the space on the screen by dividing it up in a way that helps users meet their goals.

As we move through an application’s windows, there’s a sense of existence in space, of “coming” and “going” somewhere. We use “forward” and “back” buttons to help find ourselves in the application. This journey happens only in our minds as we discover the various features and functions, but that doesn’t make it any less important.

9 Creative Improv Lessons for Designers

I’ve always been curious about how to develop creativity. Since creative skills overlap disciplines, it’s worth examining how people in other creative pursuits go about learning their craft. What important things can we learn that also apply to FileMaker design and development? This article explores how lessons in spontaneity from improv theatre can help us generate new ideas and be more confident designers.

Send SMS Easily from FileMaker 13

I’m happy to welcome our first guest post! It’s from Jeff England, a FileMaker developer and owner of Neb’s Fun World, an indoor amusement park located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. This article is about how redesigning an existing process can both enhance the user’s experience and save money at the same time. Using the new httpspost function in FileMaker 13, combined with Twilio, he’s now sending information-rich text messages directly from FileMaker, and will show you how, too. It’s a good lesson that creatively examining your existing functions in light of new features can yield great results.