Tips of the Week

If you have a solution that is accessed with FileMaker Pro client as well as web browsers via Instant Web Publishing, use PatternCount ( Get ( ApplicationVersion ) ; "web" ) to avoid executing script steps that are not IWP-compatible.

End your sub-scripts with an Exit Script result so your calling script can test it with Get ( ScriptResult ). Very handy for passing errors encountered in a sub-script.

When starting a series of scripts that make several layout changes, you can store the starting layout number in a variable (in FMP 8 or higher) permitting you to return to that layout number when the scripts are complete. If it`s a single script, Go to Layout (original layout) will do the same thing.

Make sure your relationship is dynamic: one side of the relationship can be based on a global field or a calculation allowing you to relate to different values in the other table as your data changes.

Need to make a bunch of fields have the same formatting as one another? Group the fields to be changed, select the one with the desired formatting then choose Format Painter from the Format menu, click on one of the grouped fields. All the fields in the group will get the same formatting. Ungroup the fields to access them individually again

Want to make all your fields have the same height, width or both? Choose the fields to be changed and select the Arrange / Resize To menu (or right-click to see the same menu) and choose how you want them to be resized.

Merge Fields allow you to display static text and field data within the same text element. If a field name is too long ( such as << this_is_a_long_field_name >> ), it can occupy a lot of space on the layout even if the data contained in the field is very short. To reduce the space occupied by the merge field in layout mode, select the text within the two outside chevrons ( < this_is_a_long_field_name > ) and reduce the point size to 1pt. When FileMaker sees the merge field, it uses the text formatting of the first chevron to display the field`s data

Tired of seeing horizontal or vertical scroll bars on your windows, even if you scroll and there`s nothing there? Vertical scroll bars will show if the body, or other part of the layout, is longer than your window. They will display even if you don`t have any objects placed lower than your window. Make the size of the layout`s body part smaller than your window size to make the scroll bars disappear. For horizontal scroll bars, objects that appear off screen will cause those to show. If you can`t see any objects off to the right, try selecting all (Cmd- or Ctrl-A) in layout mode to see the handles of all objects, even invisible ones.

When writing a custom function, use unique parameter and variable names so they are not identical to a field name. One way to ensure this is to use a naming convention that violates your naming convention for field names. We use an underscore prefix for all parameter and variable names.

Want to change a text element`s corner from square to rounded? Just select the text element, choose Button Setup... and change the button style from "rectangular button" to "rounded button". No need to define it as a button.