8/14/2019 FileMaker 101 and 102 Notes

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Session 1

Created a file and added the following fields to

the People table.

Feel free to name develop your own naming

convention style; just be consistent. Fields names

should contain only the characters:

Upper & Lower Case: a-z or A-Z

Numeric: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

Single underscore

No math operation or punctuation characters

Use spaces carefully

The table name uses a plural noun. The ID field

has a singular noun with the field name beginning

with underscore-k so that it sorts to the top in

an alphabetical presentation (dialogue boxes). The

primary key is always designated as _k. A foreignkey field should be titled _kf.

Other fields are named using subject modifier

format. This, too, groups similar types of fields

together in an alphabetical manner.

I place the calc (for calculation) and sum (for

summary) after the subject and modifier of the

field name if I want that field to appear on a

printed report.

For other housekeeping fields most developers

preface the field name withz (to sort to the

bottom), cfor calculation,gfor global, m fortimestamp, etc.

_k Person ID

Addr City

Addr State

Addr Street

Addr ZIP

Appt Date (date)

Appt Time (time)

Name First

Name Last

Phone Phone Type

Photo (container)

Status Active

Work Fee (number)

Work Hours (number)

Work Charge calc (fee x hours)

Total Charges sum (work charge)

zc Name Full (first & & last)

zg Find Field (global)

zm TS Create (timestamp)

zm TS Modify (timestamp)

At a minimum, create a People Form View (you

may modify the default view that is created).

Session II

To take Session Is flat file format and turn it into

a relational system, it will be necessary to add a

table to the file, create appropriate fields and

then link the foreign key of the new table to the

primary key of the original table.

The new table will be named Jobs. Field names for

my starter solution are as follows.

_k Job ID _kf Person ID

Appt Date (date)

Appt Time (time)

Description

Work Fee (number)

Work Hours (number)

Work Charge calc (fee x hours)

Total Charges sum (work charges)

zc Name Full (first & & last from People)

zm TS Create (timestamp)

zm TS Modify (timestamp)

Delete the following fields from the People table.

Appt Date

Appt Time

Work Fee

Work Hours

Total Charges sum

Change the name ofWork Charge calcin People

to Work Charges calc . It will be used to display the

total of the charges in the portal on the

appropriate layout.

After the fields are created it is time to define

the relationship between People and Jobs.

In the Relationships view, draw a link between _k

Person ID in the People table to _kf Person ID

in the Jobs table. Set the. Be sure to check Allow

creation of records in this table via this

relationship on the Jobs side.

Getting Started with FileMaker

(Byrons Notes) - Page 1

8/14/2019 FileMaker 101 and 102 Notes

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Redo the People Form View

Since the Jobs table was added, a Jobs form view

will be created by default. By deleting the fields

from People, the fields will also be deleted from

People Form View. This view is the more critical

view to modify.In the place vacated by the deleted fields, use the

Portal Tool to create a portal wide enough to

handle most of the fields such as:

Appt Date

Appt Time

Description

Work Fee

Work Hours

The portal that is created should be based on the

Jobs table. Its a good idea to make room for at

least three rows of information. Set the portal to

show the scroll bar. If you want to set a sort

order for the display, make that selection now.

Job Done

Now youve created a simple yet powerful

relationship. In the People Form View you may

now enter a transaction in the portal. Since

Allow creation of records was checked, the

portal will always be ready for you to enter anew record in the Jobs table via this view.

Design Hints and Tips

FileMaker, by default, uses a grid spacing of

three pixels.

In Layout mode I always have Object Info,

Arrange Pallet and Align Pallet displayable.

Set the measurement system to be pixels

instead of inches or centimeters. Do this by

clicking in or cm in the Object Info display.

Keep in mind that strong colors make viewing

over time difficult. Therefore, use colors withgray tone or some cool color such as blue. The

eyes will tire less. Also, keep a high contrast in

the fields (dark type, light background). Also, try

to keep backgrounds as light as possible to

reduce eye fatigue.

Getting Started with FileMaker

(Byrons Notes) - Page 2