Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes      

I’ve spent the last several years working on solutions using a variety of databases – primarily FileMaker, but I’ve also used MySql, SQL Server and even Oracle a time or two. One of the things I like about using SQL databases is that you can join tables together pretty much on the fly. In FileMaker, if I have a calculation that requires a relationship that I haven’t defined, it means that I need to go to the relationship graph, create a new table occurrence and a new relationship. Not necessarily a big deal, but if you’ve got a lot of these calculations, your relationship graph can get complicated fairly quickly.

I recently came across a thread in the FM Forums discussing running SQL commands in FileMaker (click here to view it). It is possible to run SQL commands in FileMaker – there’s just nothing in the FileMaker interface that allows you to do so. It is possible using plugins though. There are several plugins that allow you to do this – among them are ScriptMaster Advanced (360Works), DoSQL (SH Partners / MyFMButler) and MMQuery (CNS). I did some testing using DoSQL, but the article above discusses the other plugins as well. It’s actually fairly easy to use – below I have a simple calculation that I created:

mFMb_DoSQL( “select name, province from company where country=’CA’” )

If you aren’t familiar with SQL, this statement simply retrieves the contents of the name and province field from the company table (note – you need to use a table occurrence name here, not the table name), where the value of the country field is CA. This statement is then run through function mFMb_DoSQL – below is a sample result:

CoreSolutions Software|ON¤Test Company|ON

By default, fields are separated by the ‘|’ character, and records are separated by ‘¤’ ( although there are functions that allow to change those values). So in this case two records have been returned – one for CoreSolutions Software in Ontario, and Test Company in Ontario.

While I haven’t had a chance to use this in a full solution, it’s something I’d definitely like to use in the future. I can definitely see it being useful, and a good way to cut down some of the complication in the relationship graph.

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Estimated Time To Read This: 2 minutes      

Just a quick post as I get back into things after the holidays. While I’ve had a chance to use most browsers (Internet Explorer, Opera, Chrome, Safari, etc) I tend to use FireFox day to day, so it’s no surprise that I do most of my testing and development on it. One of the nice things about modern browsers is that they allow you to use add-ons, and there are a number of them that are useful for web development. Here are a couple that I use.

Firebug

Firebug is a good, all purpose add-on that lets you view and debug HTML, Javascript and CSS on live webpages. I mostly use it for debugging Javascript, and it works well for that. There’s an extension for this called FirePHP that lets you use the FireBug consol to debug PHP code, but I haven’t really used it much.

Webdeveloper

Mostly I use this for looking at CSS on a page, but it’s also useful for letting you view the structure of a page, viewing form information, outlining and highlighting elements like tables, links, etc on a page.

YSlow

This is a handy little plugin from Yahoo; it monitors a page while it loads and gives a break down of how long it takes to render/load each section (javascript files, images, etc). Pretty good for finetuning a page if it’s particularly slow.

HTML Validator

HTML Validator is a Mozilla extension that adds HTML validation inside Firefox and Mozilla. The number of errors of a HTML page is seen on the form of an icon in the status bar when browsing.

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Estimated Time To Read This: 4 – 6 minutes      

My relationship with checkboxes has been one of those love/hate ones.  They’re amazing because they allow for text to be entered exactly how I want it to be, but they’re a pain because of the fact that checkboxes with large value lists take up so much screen real-estate.  Well, I’ve started taking a new approach to handling them, and I think it’s a relatively elegant one, so wanted to share it with you.  This technique will let you enjoy the benefits of the tidy data-entry that checkboxes allow for without sacrificing any more real-estate than a typical text box would.

To explain how I use this technique, I’m going to have to start by naming some fields for you — this should make things easier to follow.

Let’s say that I have a field on my layout called “languages”.  It’s the one that you would normally have displayed as a checkbox, but I’m displaying it as a plain text box.

Even though it’s on my layout, and is enterable in browse mode, it’s not going to be immediately visible to any users of your database system.  The reason behind that is because it’s actually covered up with another field.  We’ll call that field “zc__languages”.

zc__languages is defined as a calculation field with the following definition.

zc__languages

Substitute ( languages ; "¶" ; ", " )

All that does is replace every carriage return with a comma followed by a space.  This field will also be displayed as a text box, but will be non-enterable in browse mode.  It will be placed directly on top of  your languages field.

The end result will look something like this

We’ve already saved ourselves quite a bit of screen real-estate, however, we don’t have the benefits of the checkbox for data-entry any longer.  In order to get the benefits of the checkbox back, you’ll need to do a little bit of scripting.

The script that I’m using will require:

• a global text field “zv__temporaryStorage__gt”
• a layout “Temporary Storage” that displays zv__temporaryStorage__gt using a checkbox set linked to the proper value list.
• a script “Display Value List”

zv__temporaryStorage__gt is defined as a global text field because when it’s a global field like this, it will allow multiple users to enter values into it at the same time.

The Script is the trickiest part.
First, you should define the script to be called as a script trigger onObjectEnter, and attach it to your “languages” field.

When the script runs, it will analyze the current field, and extract both its contents, and its fieldName… storing those into separate variables ($fieldName and $fieldContents)  to be used later.  Within the script, you will want to set the value of zv__temporaryStorage__gt so that it becomes equal to $fieldContents.  Once this has been done, you will want to open a new window, go to the Temporary Storage layout, size it, center it etc.  By the time it appears on the user’s screen… it will look to the user like they’re still in the same field.

When finished with this checkbox, the user should have to perform some kind of action in order to signal that they are done.  At that point in time, you will grab the new contents of zv__temporaryStorage__gt, and write it back to the original languages field.

In my particular case, I displayed the Temporary Storage layout in a modal pop-up window, so the user had to hit OK or Cancel in order to move away from it.  I also took this a few steps further, and re-used this layout for multiple value lists by taking advantage of a hidden tab panel trick.  One of the hidden tab panels on this layout is used for a simple text box instead of a checkbox, and I’m able to use that for almost anything!

Are you already using a similar technique?  Got any ideas on how I can further expand upon this idea?  I would love to hear from you!

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Estimated Time To Read This: 1 – 2 minutes      

Each Christmas season I love the effort we splurge on to connect with friends and family. These are people we talk to on the phone, text, watch on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter – we know more about their whereabouts and life than we did 20 years ago when we saw them regularly: so why do we go through all the effort of planning events just so we can ‘connect’ when we really have never stopped connecting.

The reality is there is no substitute for seeing the people who are important to you face to face. In a digital age of ‘connectedness’ we are full of information, but lack the main point of relationships – sharing time and experiences together.

It is the same for business: saving time to make contact with people is essential to understanding them and their needs.

Now, I am adamant on the value of technology in keeping teams located all over the world updated on their tasks and project progress, but at the end of the day I will always save time and take every opportunity to connect in person.

Remember the role of technology: to make doing tasks easier. If you use is exclusively then you have missed its point – how bad has it gotten for you? If at your next teleconference you can hear all you attendees in the cubes around you talking, then you have taken it too far… get a room next time.

Happy Holidays.

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Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes      

The Resource module of PD Place provides a great respository for documents, videos and web sites that can enhance their professional development. An item added to the resources of PD Place can be restricted to public or private users, but in general your employees will have full access to all of the content.

It is also possible to link specific resources to any number of in-services via the in-service detail screen. If you do this, then users who view the in-service detail information screen, will be provided with links to the associated resources directly from this screen.

All of the above has been in place for most of the life of PD Place. However, in version 3.7 and higher, a new field was added which provides a powerful tool in situations where you want to restrict who has access to certain resources.  This new field is available during resource creation and can also be toggled on or off by those with access to the the resource detail screen.

The new field on the resource detail screen is shown below:

Setting this field to “YES” has the following affect:

a) Any user who does not have data entry access rights (General Users, etc), will not be able to see the existance of the resource unless they are currently registered in an in-service linked to this resource. This is true for all the resource module search methods. The links on the in-service information screen will also not appear until the user is actually in an attending status. Those on a waiting list or pending payment can not access the information.

b) Any user with data entry access rights will still be able to see the resource regardless of the setting fo this field.

This can prove to be an extremely useful feature in situations such as:

a) You must pay copyright or usage fees when a resource is used. In these cases you know exactly how many individuals you have accessing the information based on the in-service attendace lists.

b) You can limit the number of potential individuals accessing large resources or resource restricted to certain employee groups.

I am sure there are also many more uses of this functionality in the professional development environment.

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Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes      

More and more recently I’ve found that I’ve had to add Javascript functionality to my PHP based websites; from something simple like hiding/displaying sections of a webpage based on user input to adding in UI features like Datepickers, menus, tabs, etc to using Ajax to modify the contents of a page. While it’s possible to do all of this from scratch, it’s time consuming – and most of it has probably already been done by someone else. That’s where Javacript libraries come in – they allow you to easily perform the actions I’ve mentioned above, along with many others. There are several Javascript libraries out there (Prototype, scrip.aculo.us, etc), but I’ll talk about JQuery and JQuery UI in this article. I won’t go too in depth, but it should give you enough to get started.

Using JQuery is pretty simple – a simple command looks something like this:

$(“#content”).hide(“slow”);

This will take an element on your page (a div, table, etc) with an id of “content”, and make it slowly disappear. To make the same element appear, you would use something like:

$(“#content”).show(“slow”);

This allows you to do a lot with a very small amount of code. For example, if you wanted to apply a style that you created (let’s call it ‘blue’) to all links on the page, you could do it as follows:

$(“a”).addClass(“blue”);

These are only a couple of examples; there are a lot of things you can do with JQuery like getting the contents of an input field on a form, writing HTML code to the page, write AJAX commands, etc. As I said above, it’s nothing that you couldn’t build yourself in javascript. but the code is easier to write and easier to read.

Adding in JQueryUI makes things even more interesting. JQueryUI is an extension to JQuery that allows you to easily add in some standard widgets like Date Pickers, Progress bars and Autocomplete, and allows you to do some interesting effects like dragging items, making part of your webpage resizeable, etc. As with JQuery, the code is pretty simple. For example, to add a datepicker to an input field on a form is as simple as:

$( “#datepicker” ).datepicker();

As with JQuery itself, there’s a lot more that you can do with JQueryUI. To get started, and to read more about how to use both these libraries, you just need to go the websited (jquery.com for JQuery, and jqueryui.com for JQuery UI), and download the latest versions of each. Both sites offer fairly extensive demos and tutorials to get you started.

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Estimated Time To Read This: 3 – 5 minutes      

You don’t have to take it from me.   A quick google search of the terms, “professional development” and “student achievement” will provide a profusion of scholarly articles that discuss the merits of teacher professional development and the direct correlation between it and student achievement.  We all know that staff excel when they possess the skills and knowledge to fulfill their role as educational thought leaders and students excel when they are provided with the best possible learning environment.   To create this ideal learning experience, well-planned, thorough staff professional development is a necessary component for success.  But that’s not all!

Ask yourself this:  How will I organize, track and manage our professional development programs?  It’s true that your professional development content (whether on-demand and online or facilitated live and on-site) is a crucial aspect of the PD process, but so too is the management of the logistics behind the professional development days.  Success is not dependant on one or the other, but both.  To improve student achievement and increase graduation rates, content necessarily requires management (or framework) and vice versa.  When your content lacks framework, your organization suffers.

Consider your professional development content to be akin to bricks and cement and your framework to be similar to a “blueprint for a bridge.”  To build that bridge, you require knowledgeable and proficient staff that are capable of creating a solid structure.  Your students will utilize this bridge to journey to wherever the other side will take them, so you want to be certain that this foundation is firm so that no one looses their way.  You could ask your staff to build the bridge without the blueprint and solely with the materials at hand, but this will likely result in “trial and error.”  Consequently, your staff will be bogged down with managing the logistics of bridge-making and focusing less time on what they do best.  With a “step-by-step blueprint,” building a bridge can be done with ease and your staff will be free to guide and mentor your students across the structure and through the educational landscape.

PD Place is your blueprint for success!  PD Place will assist your staff in reaching their career goals and your students will benefit from the best possible learning experience there is to offer.  All staff will be kept up-to-date on all professional development opportunities that pertain to their profile and all members of your team will be kept in the “information loop.”  If the inevitable scheduling change does arise, PD Place will handle the clerical duties and notify all registrants of the new course details via email.  Clerical staff will feel satisfied knowing that PD Place automates all confirmation emails, course reminder emails and any other emails relating to scheduling changes, thereby freeing up valuable time for more pressing matters.  If you offer professional development opportunities that require payment, PD Place can manage those payments online and will provide your members will an email receipt.

PD Place provides you with a high level of organization that will increase the overall efficiency of your institution, will offer you newfound transparency and accountability and will streamline and expedite your PD programs.  PD Place provides the necessary framework to manage your professional development course offerings and subsequently, will assist in improving student achievement.  Attempting to generate effective professional development programs with high quality content but lacking the proper framework is like trying to build a bridge with bricks and cement but without a proper blueprint.  The best bridge-makers always use high quality materials and a well-established blueprint to reach their objective.

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Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes      

I recently had the pleasure to attend the annual ATLE (Alberta Technology Leaders in Education) Conference in Red Deer, Alberta.  I go to many educational conferences and always come away with the impression that the people who attend these events are dedicated, committed and most importantly they care.  They really believe in what they are doing and are always looking for ways to improve and benefit their staff and the children whose education they are responsible for.

I believe the best thing that comes from events such as these, is the collaboration between people with a common goal. I had the pleasure to sit with a group of people for dinner one evening and they were all talking about the issues that they were facing at their various school districts.  One lady mentioned that they had a resource library that their staff had access to but it was empty as nobody had the time to create the content for it.  A member of another school district immediately offered their content for them as a starting point and said they found the same thing when they started but once there was a little content there people started adding to it, modifying it, creating it and all that was needed was a little something to start it all off.

That led on to another conversation from another school district about a resource they had found online which provides content and only asks in return that when you add something new to your own library that you upload it to them as well.  The words were – take all that you need and when you are ready to give back do so.

Maybe these people would have found each other online or by email or some other way but to watch it all unfold in front of me – with people face to face – collaborating in the true sense of the word was amazing.

The other great thing about this conference is their twitter feed which is just another way of collaborating with a wider audience.  There was even someone from Scotland following the ATLE twitter feed!  People were offering information, links, insights and commentary on things that matter to this group.  People from far and wide all collaborating on a common goal.

Well done ATLE – keep up the great work!

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Estimated Time To Read This: 3 – 4 minutes      

In the modern business environment we know that relationships are everything. Honesty is a crucial component for any relationship. As the selling marketplace changes to a more online environment, trust becomes more challenging. This is why businesses need to be honest all the time. Word of mouth travels fast and to build long term success we have to make sure that every customer is satisfied, which starts with honesty and trust.

Being honest has other benefits too. When you are completely honest, expectations become very clear. It is hard not to live up to expectations when you are completely transparent as to what you can and can’t do. Also honesty can help weed out poor prospects that may end up being a waste of time otherwise.

Does this mean that by being honest you will lose business? The answer is – potentially, in the short term. If your product does not have clear benefits for a customer, they may choose to go to a competitor, but the odds are that they’ll remember you and your honesty. Customers may initially go to another supplier for a comparable product but you will be top of mind when they are looking to replace their current system/product. Additionally, if the current product does not live up to expectations, you will be the first person that the customer will call. The key here is that you have to really understand what your customer is looking for, and demonstrate how your product meets those needs. You must do this without dodging and avoiding questions or topics. This is easier said than done.

I would like to use a real world example. When I used to work retail, I would often have customers come in to the store I worked at and ask questions. I would give them the most honest answers I could. If our products couldn’t meet their needs (often price) and a competitor had something that could, I would let them know. I would leave the decision in their hands. Sometimes the people would buy our product because “I had been so helpful” and other times they would go and purchase the competitors product. I felt good knowing that I was actually helping people make decisions based on what they needed instead of just what I was selling. Even if those people left to purchase their product somewhere else, they would most often return later when they needed something else and look to speak to me. I may not have gotten the sale at the time but I would build trust and have customers coming back because of the relationship I built. Of course this is just a simple example and as you move to a more complex selling environment; the relationships you build are the backbone of your sales and business. Honesty in any relationship is key.

Key Thoughts

Being honest is easy if you can objectively evaluate your product and find out exactly where you can help a prospect, but don’t exaggerate or make promises that are not able to be kept. It doesn’t help anyone and breaks any trust that you may have established.

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Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 4 minutes      

I’ve done a couple of posts now on viewing FileMaker databases over the web via different methods – Instant Web publishing, using Site Assistant to build a PHP based site; using custom web publishing and FileMaker’s API to build a PHP based website from scratch. Each technology has their has their Pros and Cons, but which one is the best one to use? There’s no cut and dried answer to that question; it really depends on a number of things. If you are familiar with FileMaker but don’t have the interest (or time) to learn PHP, then instant web publishing will work pretty well – you don’t get exactly them same functionality in IWP that you would on the desktop, but it’s getting closer with each version of FileMaker. It’s also easier to make changes using IWP than it would be with PHP. Need to add a field, or move it? Just go into FileMaker and make the change and that’s pretty much it.

One place you will hit a problem with is the number of users. Right now, FileMaker server has a hard limit of 100 simultaneous users. If you’re building a system that’s only going to be used by yourself or your company (assuming that your company has less that 100 potential users) then that’s more than enough, but if you’ve got a website that’s going to be hit by a lot of people (even if it’s for a short period of time), then you could have some problems with IWP – once that 100th person logs on, that’s it; no one else can get in until somebody logs out. IF you hit this scenario, then it may be time to make a change.

So why would custom web publishing be different? It still has the same 100 connection limit doesn’t it? Well, yes, but the way it’s handled is different. With IWP, once a user logs on, they use one of those 100 connections until they log off (or they time out) – so they could in theory use up that slot all day. With CWP, the connection is only used as long as it takes PHP to get the data it needs from the database – usually less than a second. So you still only have 100 connections at a time, but since they are only being used for a fraction  of a second, it increases the number of users you can have on your site.

So what’s the best approach to publishing FileMaker data on the web? There really isn’t one – any of the current solutions is viable. You might even use more than one of them in the life cycle of a database – you could start off in IWP for the ease of development, but once your site gets bigger, you might get a web developer in (or learn PHP your self) and switch over to custom web publishing. There’s no right or wrong approach – just what’s best for you and your database.

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