Random

12/20/2011 The purpose of this file is to show you another way to generate a random number within FileMaker Pro but with a specific requirement. That requirement is I only want single digits as the result opportunity.

The Standard Way

Using standard built-in functions ( no custom functions ), you can learn the default way to generate a random number but even better you can learn the exact limits of the random function within FileMaker.

Single Digit Random Number

How to generate your own random number with the possible results of “0″, “1″, “2″, “3″, “4″, “5″, “6″, “7″, “8″, “9″ which is really ten numbers? Let’s go!

- Brian Ginn

About the author - Brian is a founding member of the Kentuckiana FileMaker Users Group. He is a regular contributor of content at the regular meetings. He is an accomplished FileMaker developer as he works in the private sector as an independent consultant to businesses. Contact Brian via email brian@brianginn.com or cell (502) 550-0092 direct.

Reference

“FileMaker Pro 10.0v3 addressed an issue where the “Random” calculation function could generate non-random values on certain machines. The “Random” calculation will now generate values greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1. The value will never be 1.

In versions prior to FileMaker Pro 10.0v3, the “Random” function returns “a random number between zero and one” including “zero and one”.”

FileMaker URL reference web link

I want a single digit random number. To get it I simply use the Random function but I add the Middle function to wrap it in. I ask the Middle function to start at the second value because the first is a period. I ask the Middle function to get one value as the second parameter. I command FileMaker via a script to give me a random number of one of the following: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ( that gives me ten single digit numbers which I can then use in other ways within FileMaker. How?

Take the Middle ( text ; start ; numberOfCharacters ) in the form:

SetField [ table1::data21 ; Middle ( Random ; 2 ; 1 ) ]

NOTE: You could use: Right ( Random ; 1 ) but you’d never get a opportunity for a zero and therefor only nine possible digits instead of ten.

QR Code to this post:

Easy access from your mobile.

Holiday Get-Together!

Wouldn’t you all like to take a much-needed break from the relentless pursuit of rampant consumerism? Instead of going shopping for yet another gag fruitcake for that friend you don’t like all that much anyway, why not make something really yummy and bring it to share with your software sidekicks!

Yes, we’ll talk a bunch about FileMaker, but that’s not nearly as important as chowing down on Christmas cookies, or loading up on latkes, or putting away the pizelles, or (our personal favorite) eating a whole cheesecake by ourselves! Oh, did we say that out loud? Uh, we meant sharing one of Jonathan’s wife’s world-renown cheesecake masterpieces, with a fine selection of our software co-celebrators. Yeah, that’s it. Uh-huh, share. (Hey, maybe we can get her to make two!)

So, stay up all night on the 19th crafting your culinary creations–or merely stop by the convenience store on the way for a bag of cookies–and come gather with your Fellow Festive FileMaker-ers from 12:00 to 3:30-ish on December 20th (THIRD Tuesday this month!).

Yes, yes, we’ll have presentations on FileMaker and all, but we ask you, what is that compared to getting an early start on your holiday weight-gain? It’s better to pace yourselves anyway, rather than going for all those pounds at once! (We think we read that somewhere. Probably on the internet.)

–The Committee
Alan, Bill, Brian, Byron, & Jonathan

Date & Time:
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 (This month only: THIRD Tuesday)
12:00 PM - 3:30 PM - ish
BATTS (Bring A Treat To Share)
Vegetable soup and soft drinks provided

Location:
1234 South 3rd Street  (YES, that’s the correct address!)
Louisville, KY 40203
Holiday Treat Delivery Coordinates here:
http://g.co/maps/y3u77

Registration:
http://www.kyfmp.com/reg/

Resources to aid the FileMaker developer

At our August meeting Jason Scharf talked about the things he discovered at this year’s FileMaker DevCon. While presenting he showed off some tools and resources that he had accumulated, some recent, some he’d had for awhile. Asked to share them, he kindly forwarded a few of his favorite things:

Resources

Matt Petrowsky
http://filemakerstandards.org/dashboard.action
https://github.com/petrowsky/fmpstandards (includes custom functions)

Todd Geist (Geist Interactive)
http://www.geistinteractive.com/blog/2011/08/understanding-commit-record-video

Skeleton Key (ODBC FileMaker 11)
http://www.skeletonkey.com/FileMaker_11_ODBC_Drivers

Custom Functions
http://fmfunctions.com
http://www.soliantconsulting.com/customfunctions
http://www.briandunning.com/filemaker-custom-functions

Design Patterns
http://fmPatterns.com/
http://UI-PATTERNS.COM/

Development Tools
QuickCursor (Mac Only): http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/quickcursor
TextMate FileMaker Bundle : http://buzz.beezwax.net/2011/07/30/the-filemaker-ninjas-toolbelt-textmate-bundle
E-Text Editor (Windows, works with TextMate Bundle): http://www.e-texteditor.com/

Other cool stuff in Jason’s toolkit:
Safari Omnibar makes the Safari address bar behave like the Google Omnibar (unified search and url); free and open-source.
http://hackemist.com/SafariOmnibar/#about

TotalFinder, adds tabs and Copy/Cut/Paste to Finder; commercial, $18.
http://totalfinder.binaryage.com/

iTerm2, nice alternative to Terminal; free.
http://www.iterm2.com/#/section/home

The Unarchiver, will extract just about any archive format; free and open-source.
http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html

Enjoy!

It’s fall. It’s FileMaker. It’s fun!

It’s starting to cool off outside, but inside the FileMaker camaraderie is as warm as ever. Come on out and have lunch with us and talk the afternoon away about anything FileMaker. This month we have a variety of topics ranging from the real world practical to the downright geeky.

We’ll start off by helping one of our members with their in-house application by reworking its invoicing module to create a great deal more flexibility. Come see how invoices are generated when you have a lot of items to put on them.

Brian Ginn will be showing off a really awesome, but dead simple, technique he developed for creating very free-form reporting. He’ll also show us the demo he’s putting together with the goal of presenting at the Developer Conference next year. Come see if he has what it takes.

Alan Bird has a great bar code generation tool that doesn’t require a font or a plug-in (so it works on an iPad even!) that fellow committee-member Bill Holt wrote for him. He’ll show us how that works and talk about how he uses it as part of a process of quickly registering thousands of attendees at the shows and conferences he provides services to.

Cool stuff all around.

Schedule:
12:00-1:00 BYOBB (Bring Your Own Brown Bag) lunch and social (soft drinks provided)
1:00-3:00 Presentations and discussion
3:00-? Networking

DATE:
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 (Remember: FOURTH TUESDAY of the month)

LOCATION:
Universal Design
1234 S. Third Street
Louisville, KY
Map: here

Join us this coming Tuesday!

Scott Adams’ nod to, um, us

While humorous, yesterday’s Dilbert was not entirely complimentary to us database solution-mongers. Scott Adams, Dilbert’s counterpart in meatspace, makes the point that it is hard to be objective when you’re presenting yourself as a consultant and as a supplier.

I love the saying, “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” I have been known to use it to put other people’s products and services in their place. The problem is that I am guilty of the same thing. I can see a FileMaker-shaped nail in every business I look at. I can see that FileMaker is the solution to every business’ data/workflow/management information issues. I can see the need for solutions that save money, improve efficiency, supercharge the bottom line, whatever, where oftentimes the business owner doesn’t even know they need one.

That begs the question, “Am I being objective?” or am I just a FileMaker fan-boy. Do I really think that the need is there, or am I just trying to sell something.

Every consultant needs to ask themselves that about any of their favorite solutions. FileMaker is a great tool for a myriad of jobs, but I still need to step back once in a while and ask the hard question: Has it become my hammer?

—jonathan fletcher

July Subject-of-the-month: Layout Design

Our next meeting is Tuesday, July 26th at the usual time and place.

Byron Songer and Jonathan Fletcher will be talking about the lessons they learned from a FileMaker layout design webinar they participated in this month. The webinar included 10 hours of tips, tricks and user interface design goodness. Jonathan and Bryon registered for the seminar simultaneously, each ignorant of the other’s interest. So, you get two completely different points of view on what was useful and important in this really intensive workshop.

As usual, you may also bring your questions, problems, solutions and just about any FileMaker related subject you want to discuss.

We’ll be there. Come join us for good, clean techy fun.

Schedule:
12:00-1:00 BYOBB (Bring Your Own Brown Bag) lunch and social (soft drinks provided)
1:00-3:00 FileMaker Design and Q&A
3:00-? Networking

iPad/iPhone/Touch Development for the Rest of Us

By popular demand (and due to yesterday’s upgrade of FileMaker Go) our meeting this month will focus on the easiest way to create apps that run on the your favorite iOS device.

Our good buddy, FileMaker Business Rep, Bill Kaiser said recently that he has never been called in to talk to so many Fortune 500 companies as he has in the past several months. And it’s all because of the iPad.

[BTW, Apple just announced that they sold every last iPad they can manufacture, and that the ONLY reason why they didn't sell more was because they couldn't make any more. Good problem to have! That also means that as iPad adoption skyrockets more and more businesses will be wanting to explore putting their data on the iPad.]

Rising up out of center stage bathed in a pool of light: FileMaker Go.

Companies are realizing that they can create their apps for the iPad and totally bypass Apple’s app approval process and distribute functionality to their employees and customers almost immediately. This month we’re going to talk about how to do that.

Adding to the flurry of interest in FileMaker Go are new features that will make Go even more attractive: charting, signature capture, better PDF creation, and (Byron’s favorite) printing! Byron says that that means now it’s a real app. Good-natured sarcasm aside, these new features will only make Go more attractive as the mobile power tool of choice for lots of businesses.

The aforementioned Byron (Songer), who happens to be our resident guru of all things Apple (and is an interface design savant as well), will give us an overview of how to create content for the iPad, along with some guidelines for efficient user interface design.

Jonathan Fletcher will delve a little deeper into the various ways FileMaker data can best be used on the iPad with a special focus on the new functionality added by FileMaker Go 1.2.

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn more about the exciting new world that Apple and FileMaker have opened up to us: Having your data and taking it with you as well.

Don’t miss this special discussion. Data on the Go. This month at the Kentuckiana FileMaker Users Group.

Schedule:
12:00-1:00 BYOBB (Bring Your Own Brown Bag) lunch and social (soft drinks provided)
1:00-3:00 Discussing the easiest way to put apps on an iDevice
3:00-? Networking

DATE:
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 (Fourth Tuesday of the month from now on)

LOCATION:
Universal Design
1234 S. Third Street
Louisville, KY

Map: here

Join us on the 26th!

Info & RSVP: here

Love and Hate and the Relationship Graph

Many thanks again to the good folks at Cardinal Aluminum for hosting our last meeting, giving us the tour, and even going so far as to feed us our favorite Louisville fare! Props to the CA folk, especially Chip and Frank!

And now, this month:

LOVE AND HATE AND THE RELATIONSHIP GRAPH

The first time most of us opened the relationship graph it intimidated us not unlike the fresh-gesso’d blank canvas does the artist, or the fresh white expanse of a blank word processor screen does a writer. Well, this month we are going to have a spate of “mini-presentations” on the Relationship Graph.

We currently have three speakers presenting 4 different approaches to and techniques for the Relationship Graph. Because the subject is no where near exhausted with such a puny spate of speakers, we are calling on members who have an interest in a particular aspect of the ‘graph to join in the fun. Let us know if you would like to wax poetic, or expound philosophically, or pontificate pointedly, or ramble randomly about any subject related to the ‘graph. We will provide you with whatever assistance and resources you may need. You do not have to be an expert, just someone who wants to share their exploration into the subject that’s all the rage with the cooler kids today: DATA STRUCTURE! (Awesome, man!)

While questions (and sometimes even answers) are usually a big part of our presentations (discussions?), a block of time will be reserved at the end for a “crowd-source” style Q&A extravaganza. Bring your greatest solutions and mysteries and join us as we dive into the inner workings of FileMaker’s Relationship Graph.

PLEASE NOTE: DAY OF MONTH CHANGE
Due to the desire to move things around a bit (and some scheduling conflicts), we are changing the regular monthly meeting time from the third Thursday to the fourth Tuesday of the month. That means that, yes, once again we will be meeting on the 22nd of the month (well, in March, anyway). Please change your future calendars to reflect this adjustment. We’ll try it like that for a while and see how it works out for everyone.

Schedule:
12:00-1:00 BYOBB (Bring Your Own Brown Bag) lunch and social (soft drinks provided)
1:00-3:00 Relationship Graph mini-presentations and group discussion
3:00-? Networking

DATE:
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

LOCATION:
Back to our “usual” location:
Universal Design
1234 S. Third Street
Louisville, KY

Map here.

Looking forward to seeing you (again) on the 22th!

Info & RSVP: http://fmpug.com/scheduleMeetings.php

Kentuckiana FileMaker Users Group February Notice

DATE CHANGE THIS MONTH!

Well, we’re going to try again to have a meeting! Our planned December and January dates coincided with severe weather events, so we’ll try extra hard this month to get caught up. We’ve missed getting together with our Fabulous FileMaker Friends, so we hope you can join us for a very special program.

KYFMPug member, and Cardinal Aluminum Sales Manager, Frank Bock has graciously agreed to reschedule the meeting we planned for last month, to this month. You may remember in last month’s notice we announced a brief tour of their manufacturing operation, followed by a caravan trip of a few blocks over to another of their sites for lunch. After lunch Frank will regale us on how they use FileMaker in support of their various operational functions.

Following Frank’s overview, Jonathan Fletcher will give a demo on connecting the very same FileMaker you use every day to different non-FileMaker business systems.

Get a tour, a demo on how Cardinal uses FileMaker, free pizza, soft drinks, and a connectivity demo, all in one afternoon!

The fun starts at 4005 Oak Lawn Dr. [Map link below] in Louisville at noon.

Schedule:
12:00-12:45 Meet at Cardinal Aluminum’s Oak Lawn plant for a brief tour of their manufacturing operation
12:45-1:15 Lunch (provided) back at Cardinal’s Industrial Blvd. plant a few blocks away (please see map)
1:15-2:00 Walk-through of the FileMaker systems that support Cardinal Aluminum’s operations by Sales Manager Frank Bock
2:00-3:00 Database connectivity demo
3:00-? Networking

Many thanks to Frank Bock of Cardinal Aluminum for sponsoring this month’s “field trip.”

Time as usual: 12:00 - 3:00-ish

Date NOT as usual (Sorry, scheduling conflict for the 17th):
Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Place NOT as usual:
Start at 4500 Oak Lawn Dr.,
Move to Industrial Blvd. location (please see map)
Louisville, KY

Map: http://www.fletcherdata.com/CardAlumMap2.jpg

Looking forward to seeing you on the 22th!

Info & RSVP: http://fmpug.com/scheduleMeetings.php

January’s Meeting Includes a Field Trip!

This month we’ll visit a real-live business that uses FileMaker for several of their essential data management operations. Cardinal Aluminum puts the pressure on aluminum: they soften it up and push it through dies to make all different kinds of aluminum parts for just about anywhere aluminum is used. They have also used FileMaker to manage a lot of what they do for over 15 years. We’ll tour their plant and get a particular view of how they use FileMaker to enhance their operation.

In addition, Committee Member Jonathan Fletcher will demo for you, and for our hosts (who are particularly interested in this technology), some real word applications of connecting FileMaker to other types of databases. With the H.R. department running one system on Microsoft SQLServer, their production and accounting system running on an IBM AS400, and several sales systems running in FileMaker, there is a lot of need to move data around and we will explore how FileMaker can make that easier.

Get a tour of their operation, get a demo on how they integrate FileMaker into their operation and enjoy free pizza and soft drinks, all for one low, low price: the gas it takes to drive you to 4005 Oak Lawn Dr. [Map link below] in Louisville (or you can mooch a ride off a friend and come for nothing).

Schedule:
12:00-12:45 Meet at Cardinal Aluminum’s Oak Lawn plant for a brief tour of their manufacturing operation
12:45-1:15 Lunch (provided) back at Cardinal’s Industrial Blvd. plant (a few blocks away)
1:15-2:00 Walk-through of the FileMaker systems that support Cardinal Aluminum’s operations by Sales Manager Frank Bock
2:00-3:00 Database connectivity demo
3:00-? Networking

Many thanks to Frank Bock of Cardinal Aluminum for sponsoring this month’s “field trip.”

Time as usual:
Thursday, January 20, 2011
12:00 - 3:00-ish

Place NOT as usual:
Start at 4500 Oak Lawn Dr.,
Move to Industrial Blvd. location (see map)
Louisville, KY

Map: http://www.fletcherdata.com/CardAlumMap2.jpg

Info & RSVP: http://fmpug.com/scheduleMeetings.php
Listserv signup: http://fmpug.com/mailman/listinfo/louisville_fmpug.com
Blog: http://kyfmp.com

Looking forward to seeing you on the 20th!