FileMaker Pro 11: Advanced Tutorials
Recursive Phone Filter / Startup Layout
Visitors to VTC.com will be able to view all introductory videos for each training course.
Free Trial Members will gain access to first three chapters for each training course.
Full Access Members have full access to VTC.com�s entire library of video tutorials.
Learn More
Subtitles of the Movie (FileMaker Pro 11: Advanced / Recursive Phone Filter / Startup Layout)
While we're on the subject of Preferences, let's talk about the many ways they can enhance the user experience. We'll do this by showing you many different examples of Preferences and the first one is how to specify a Startup Layout. So what we need is a new field, so we'll go to Manage, Database, go to our GLOBALS, we'll make xstartup underscore layout. Make that a Text field, go into Options, Stored as a global field. Then we'll go into Layout Mode and switch over to our GLOBALS Preferences. Now, I've moved it up into the GLOBALS section here, it makes more sense here. What we're going to do is duplicate this, so I'll duplicate it right here, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, move it down a little bit with the Arrow keys and that's good enough for right now. We'll probably change it later. This should be called Startup Layout, or whatever you think is a good name for it. Then we'll double-click on this, change it to our startup layout, and then we need to change the Value List so we'll go in here and Edit, create a New one, call it Startup Layouts. And you can type in anything you want here, but I want to make my script easier to write so I'm going to be very specific about what I type in here. I'm going to put in Invoices, Customers, Products. I want this to match my naming convention from my layout so I can have an easier time writing the script and we'll go into that in a little more detail. You don't have to do it this way. You can put anything you want here, but if you do it this way you'll see how much easier it is to write your script and edit it later. Let's go into Browse Mode, make sure it's working. We can choose whatever layout we want to start up on. We'll go over here into our Script now and modify it. So let's go find out script that opens up, so there we go, runs on Open. And we'll find out what we're doing to Go to Layout. We've, in the past, chosen just to go to CUSTOMERS Form, but now we're giving the user their choice. This is a great impact on the user. It gives them the flexibility, it gives them ownership of the solution, to customize it to the way they want, so rather than specifying it directly here what we're going to do is specify to look at the Global field. Now we could write an IF statement, we could say: If the Global field equals Invoices go to the Invoices layout, Else If equals Customers go to the Customers - we could go on and on and on like that and you may have to do that but in this situation I've written it in just such a way that I can actually make it easier on myself and have something that's more dynamic, something I don't have to update with another IF statement if I had another layout, it'll just update based on my naming conventions. So what we're going to do is - and I actually chose the wrong area here, we want to choose Layout Name by calculation and all we do is go to our GLOBALS, double-click on xstartup layout and concatenate on quote underscore Form quote and again, this relies on good layout naming conventions. We have them, though. Anything we put in here that equals a layout with this added onto it will work perfectly and we can just simply modify that Value List so that we don't have to keep coming into Script and remembering to update it and I like that a lot. Now, it will be overridden if somebody has this extended privilege right here, Overdue, because it will find the Overdue Invoice and go to that layout, but otherwise it will go to that layout that they've chosen. Now you probably have to explain that with some type of trainer or put it into a user manual. It's not something really you can, if somebody comes up and says why didn't it go to the Customers layout when I chose that, well, that's because you have this particular Extended Privilege. So, that's it. That's all there is to it. Very simple Preference but very powerful. It has a large impact on the user. They'll really appreciate having the ability to say, you know what, I'm more often working in Invoices than Customers, I like to go there first. So, some people like to go to Customers, so they can choose where they go and that's really going to benefit the user a great deal and they can customize a solution to their own needs.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | FileMaker Pro 11: Advanced |
| Author: | John Mark Osborne |
| SKU: | 34140 |
| ISBN: | 1-936334-36-4 |
| Release Date: | 2010-07-09 |
| Duration: | 14.5 hrs / 159 lessons |
| Work Files: |
Yes |
| Captions: | No |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
VTC Sign up & Benefits
- Unlimited Access
- 81,350 Video Tutorials (14,200 free)
- Video Available as Flash or QuickTime
- Over 715 Courses
- $30 for One Month Access
- Multi-User Discounts Available
