Sorry for the teaser, but the plugin does not yet exist; that is the purpose of this post. I am exploring the feasability of having a plugin created for FileMaker that would allow the creation and manipulation of fields, relationships and layout items using AppleScript. I may be way off base and this is not possible but I want to find out for certain. I am willing to pay for this plugin (and I think others would be as well).
I emailed the folks at Troi about this but got no response.
Are you interested in such a plugin? Can you help?
I do not think that FileMaker Inc. has exposed many of those things in the API for plugin developers, based on what I’ve seen (my company is a FileMaker Solutions Alliance member). I could be wrong, though. Maybe Troi will get back to you, at least to say “that’s impossible” or “We’re not interested.”
I think so, too. Don’t think it will happen, though.
Well, not the answer I was hoping for but good to know at any rate. It is unfortunate, though. I think the ability to manipulate FileMaker on that level would be incredible. You would also think, that since they are an Apple subsidiary, this would be a reasonable request/expectation.
You would (and could!) think of many ways that FileMaker Inc. could dramatically increase the usefulness of FileMaker Pro. I know I have. So far, they’ve done very little on my list. The next version is supposed to bring with it dramatic performance gains, but it sounds like they aren’t going to break open the possibilities of new ideas.
The only two things on my wishlist are this issue and the ability to store PICT previews in FileMaker container fields. The current way FileMaker handles imported images is, I think, pretty bad. The way it handles images just doesn’t seem to make sense. Don’t get me wrong, I really like FileMaker. I make my living developing AppleScript and FileMaker database solutions but these two things would allow me to work more effeciently and spend more of my time doing what I like best, writing AppleScript code.
Yeah, like FileMaker and Troi should drop everything for this dimwitted scheme. There are enough problems with layout and data corruption with straight FileMaker, let alone having some insecure poorly thought out utility make hash of your vital business data.
The purpose of this BBS is for developers to aid one another. If you lack anything helpful to say, perhaps you should find some place else to spend your time.
Perhaps bfr00 misunderstands the notion of a plugin - in FileMaker, these are designed to add features to the program. They are not hacks, unless the programmer did a poor job. Plugins should NOT cause any data corruption or instability.
And apparently misunderstood my post. I never said FileMaker should do anything about it. I simply meant that I would expect it to be possible either by default or by plug-in. And as for Troi, being that they are a company that develops custom plug-ins for FileMaker (according to Troi’s website), yes, I think they should do something about it if someone (Me) is willing to pay for it. But imagine the nerve of asking a plug-in company to develop a plug-in.
You could ask Troi to develop a car that flies. We’d all love one. Just be sure to mention that you’d be willing to pay for it.
I understand the purpose of plugins and the scope of features accessble by plugin. Have you made any effort at all to understand the plugin architecture? It does the FileMaker community no good for you to make such a blatantly unrealistic proposal. I’m also in the FileMaker/applescript market. More power to you if your product is successful.
You might begin be using the 24U free plugin framework to develop a plugin that incorporates applescript. Nobody has done this yet and I suspect there ARE practical things that could be done. In any case it would be a first step and a necessary step towards the future you imagine, so why not start there?
I don’t think your proposal is realistic and I don’t see why a plugin developer would limit themselves to applescript if in fact they could manipulate the things you describe. The people who understand FileMaker metadata are at New Millennium and you should talk to them. How many tens of thousand of dollars did you mention you are willing to invest in this process, by the way?
Some of the things you are trying to do regarding relationships are a dead end, and some are design problems that you could solve right now if you understood FileMaker better.
Finally, it is possible now and has been possible for years to manipulate the user interface and control script, field, and relationship definitions, on the Mac and on Windows. You don’t have to wait for anybody.
I don’t know what you told Troi but what you’ve said here is extremely vague. What exactly do you want to do? Have you considered switching to Servoy, EVERYTHING is just data there.
You know, I was going to respond to each point of your argument but I will only say this: An unrealistic proposal may do the FileMaker community no good, but small unhappy people who have nothing better to do than pick fights via a BBS are a bigger waste of everyone’s time.
Encore, quelle espece d’idiot, et de salopard, et beaucoup d’autre chose que je ne peux pas dire ici. :evil:
What he said was not vague. He obviously was asking whether it was possible to have a plugin that allowed one to control the placement of object in Layout Mode via AppleScript, and to create/edit scripts and relationships. I informed him this was probably not possible, given what I had seen of the plugin API (which I admitted I was unsure of). That kind of control in FileMaker would be great. The fact that you point out that it is a feature of Servoy just reinforces the idea that it IS useful to have that kind of control.
Adding power-user features like that to FileMaker would not take away its vaunted ease-of-use - it would make FileMaker even better.
Thanks, Krioni. I’m glad someone in this discussion is aware of what is going on and has the decency to offer helpful comments. As stated in the original post (second sentence) the purpose of the post was a feasability exploration. I never proposed anything. Now I know it is not possible and am satisfied. This post has served its purpose despite the best efforts of some immature and unkind people.
It seems that it should be theoretically possible, if FileMaker has allowed for access on this level, which they have not. An app like FaceSpan allows AppleScript to create menues, windows, window objects, etc. So it is possible to manipulate such objects via AppleScript. I will check out Servoy however, because it may serve my purposes. The other alternative is to create a browser-like application that reads different database types but allows more control.
Actually, a web-browser is the perfect example of how it is possible to manipulate objects on the level I am seeking. Javascript can do it to some extent because web-browsers are built to allow it. The interface that the user interacts with in FileMaker is simply a browser. It is not the database itself.
And by the way, bfr00, if Troi made flying cars, asking them to build one would be a reasonable request. 8)
And if they made regular cars, asking them to make a flying car that runs on water and vaguely waving your wallet in their direction would not be a reasonable request. Troi makes Filemaker plugins. Filemaker plugins use the calculation engine to place values in fields or to talk to external utilities. You asked for something that was completely beyond the well known constraints of the plugin technology.
If the goal is to have a magic plugin, that’s dead. If your goal is to actually explain what you want and explore improved productivity and automation in creation and manipulation of FileMaker fields, scripts, relations and layout objects, then quite a number of things are possible. Like almost everything Filemaker, the way to get where you want to go may not be what you first imagined. Scripting the user interface is one way. Talking to the metadata experts is another. They are already handling script sorting and renaming, layout sorting and ranaming, access privilege control, file reference changes - all on closed files.
But he probably won’t ask you, since you were so rude to his polite request. He was merely asking what the possibilities were, and you roasted him. Now that he understands FileMaker’s feature set better, he’s going to look into other possibilities. FileMaker may still do what he needs, but you didn’t help.
bfr00, I mentioned in my very first post that I may be way off base. Obviously I was, you could have just offered helpful direction in the first place. You obviously know the architecture of FileMaker plug-ins and the application very well. You didn’t have to choose the low road for communicating your knowledge.
I checked out Servoy. Interesting but I couldn’t find any documentation on Servoy and AppleScript beyond the little bit in the Advanced Programming for FileMaker Developers guide. Whatever solution I use needs to be able to control the database and QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign. The utility I’m seeking for manipulating metadata is to help automate the customization of my solution on the developer side. It would not be deployed to the end user.
The system I build is for companies who produce product catalogs. It manages digital assets as well as allows the user to point and click to lay out the catalog and automate the construction of Quark or InDesign document. There is a lot more info about the system on my website www.catalystworkflow.com
Krioni, you have been very kind and supportive. Let me know if you are ever in need. FileMaker plug-ins are apparently not my specialty but I know AppleScript quite well, especially with QuarkXPress. I also know scripting for Extensis Portfolio, Canto Cumulus and other popular graphics apps pretty well. Peace on you. I hope you get all you wish for (that goes for you too bfr00).
Such a black and white world view. Yes I was overbearing, and I probably shouldn’t have put it that way. On the other hand, I have provided more help and more leads than anybody else here.
Thank you. What do you want to customize really? It’s not clear whether you want to customize the features of a product that you sell, or change the features of a product developed for your own use. There are a lot of techniques that can make a layouts and scripts more versatile. I have been prototyping a sytem in which quite a number of features are entirely controlled by data. You want different features, they are imported. You never touch field definition or relatiship definition or scriptmaker. It’s all data-driven. There ARE limitations; but this is an approach that has some very interesting possibilities.
Let’s say I have, in Layout 1, a container field originating at coordinates {x,y} with a width W and height H. I want to move that container field to origin {x + 3, y + 5} with new width W2 and new height H2. I want to be able to add and delete items from the layout. The items can be pre-defined fields, I just want to be able to add, arrange and delete them from the layout as needed. The ability to format the fields (ie., popup list with value list x) would be great also.
BTW, You have been most informative but the ends never justifies the means. It shows a lot of character to be gracious especially when one knows they are more informed than someone else.
When does it make sense to automate this? I’m trying to ask this as a meaningul question, not rhetorically or sarcastically.
If it’s individual layouts, I would suspect that some hand tweaking will be required anyway to figure things out. So by the time you’ve tweaked it enough to finalize a configuration, when does the automation make sense? Usually you autmate repetitive tasks. You’ve got multiple similar layouts? You have multiple versions of files? You have made changes on your master template and now you want to replicate these on customer files?
The other reason to automate things is kind of a variation - can you specify attributes? Do you want to switch all customer data fields from engraved to embossed?
Do you know that you can use ScrapX and one or two other utilities to store scrapbooks f layout objects that can be dragged/dropped to other layouts?
If you are trying to produce a common appearance across multiple layouts, then have groups and regions make sense. Your header is 800 x 30, grouped. So on the first layout you ungroup, twiddle the pieces, regroup the header, then, copy, and automate replacement of the grouped headers across other layouts.
Long ago I asked FileMaker to be more like Access, where you can programatically include tab groups, report components, etc. Unfortunately I don’t see it happening so we have figure out for ourselves. What I want is not a data portal, but a layout portal. It doesn’t show me idential rows of data - it’s a portal to set of layout objects, and I can choose the objects dynamcially. I don’t see any signs that we’re going to get that.