NightWing Enterprises — Demo for FileMaker Pro™ 9 and 10
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Display Data Using No Fields or Relationships!
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Layout Calculations
For FileMaker 10
(also works with v9)
As a courtesy to fellow developers and potential clients, the
following demonstration file is provided for free download.
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One of the consequences of the flexibility FIleMaker Pro offers is that the Database Schema and Relationships Graph can become cluttered with fields and relationships that are there solely to support the interface of the solution. This technique shows a method for taking selected calculations and relationships out of schema and building them into the interface instead.
The Layout Calculations demo shows a conventional selection portal based on a Cartesian Product ('X') join. However , rather than using a second (equijoin) relationship to display data from the selected record, the relevant fields from the selected record are instead isolated by calculation and are shown in web viewer objects rather than fields. In addition, a derived value (Population Density) is calculated and displayed directly on the layout (there is no field for population density in the file).
The use of web viewer objects to display calculated data on the layout is facilitated by a Custom Function* that applies the required formatting and protocols for data display. A second Custom Function uses an indexing procedure to retrieve the relevant related value (based on the key value of the record the user has selected in the portal). By using these techniques together, the file achieves interface functionality that would otherwise require an additional relationship and calculation field. The technique is open-ended and can be used to significantly streamline the structure of your solutions.
Using the techniques shown in this demo, you can efficiently create interface elements that behave like unstored calculations, yet require no modifications of schema, and you can limit the requirement for utility table occurrences to isolate selected records from a related table.
This demo file is unlocked and password-free, compliments of NightWing Enterprises.
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*
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To install Custom Functions in your solution file(s), you will require access to a copy of FileMaker Pro Advanced .
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NB: Should you require assistance implementing procedures such as those shown in our
example files, please consider establishing an account with us for developer support.
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