uLearnIT Training Newsletter - September 2008

Welcome to the September 2008 uLearnIT training newsletter. September already! Where has the year gone? But there is still plenty of time to upgrade your FileMaker Pro skills. We have scheduled courses up to the end of November so have a look at the schedule below to find a course to suit you or others in your organisation.

As a FileMaker Authorised Trainer, uLearnIT offers courses based on the official FileMaker Inc., training curriculum - the FileMaker Training Series. We have modified our Building Solutions and System Development courses such that they are based on FileMaker Training Series modules. We have also added a new course - FileMaker Server, Connectivity and Web Development - which is based on three modules of the FileMaker Training Series. All these courses require attendees to have the FileMaker Training Series course materials. We have special pricing for course attendees and there is also an offer where you can get FREE course materials.

There is another Quick FileMaker Tip for you - this time it is about how to stop users accidentally changing records. And we have a new FileMaker Quiz Question for you to test your FileMaker knowledge (with the answer to the question from last newsletter).

Enjoy this newsletter and feel free to pass it on to other FileMaker users.

Hope to see you again soon,

David Head
uLearnIT

FileMaker Pro Training Schedule

All scheduled courses require a minimum number of six (6) participants to run and generally have a maximum of twelve. If you want to see training run in your location, book now and encourage your friends and colleagues to book too. Courses will be confirmed as soon as we reach minimum enrolments. Book now to ensure your place.

The training schedule for September/October/November 2008 is listed below. We have had some interest for courses in Adelaide so we are offering the Using FileMaker Pro course on October 17.

Please note that the FileMaker Pro System Development and the FileMaker Server, Connectivity and Web Publishing courses are always scheduled on the same dates. This is not an error. For these advanced courses, we will be running the course with the greatest number of enrolments. If you are interested in either course, please enrol early to ensure the best chance that the course will run.

  Using
FileMaker Pro		 Building Solutions in FileMaker Pro FileMaker Pro
System Development		 FileMaker Server,
Connectivity & Web Publishing
SYDNEY Mo 22 Sep Tu-We 23-24 Sep Th-Fr 25-26 Sep Th-Fr 25-26 Sep
AUCKLAND Mo 6 Oct Tu-We 7-8 Oct Th-Fr 9-10 Oct Th-Fr 9-10 Oct
DARWIN Thu 22 May - We-Th 29-30 Oct We-Th 29-30 Oct
ADELAIDE Fr 17 Oct - - -
MELBOURNE Mo 20 Oct Tu-We 21-22 Oct Th-Fr 23-24 Oct Th-Fr 23-24 Oct
PERTH Mo 3 Nov Tu-We 4-5 Nov Th-Fr 6-7 Nov Th-Fr 6-7 Nov

Other Locations

We will run training courses wherever there is demand. We require a minimum of six participants to make a course viable. If you would like to attend training in a location other than those listed, please call or email us. We could be running courses near you!

Courses Offered

Using FileMaker Pro is a one day introduction to using FileMaker Pro. It is designed for people who do not have much or any experience with any version of FileMaker Pro. You will learn how to navigate around and use existing FileMaker Pro databases and get an introduction to creating a new database.

Building Solutions in FileMaker Pro is a two day course designed for people with some experience using FileMaker Pro databases who are ready to create their own solutions and modify existing databases. The course covers basic data modelling, layout design and reporting, and an introduction to calculations and scripting.

FileMaker Pro System Development is a two day course for more experienced FileMaker Pro users. It covers more in depth relational design, calculations and scripting, security and an introduction to FileMaker Server.

FileMaker Server, Connectivity and Web Publishing is a two day course for people wanting to extend beyond FileMaker Pro and integrate their solutions with other applications. It covers the configuration and options of FileMaker Server, connectivity with external databases and web publishing options.

Download full course outlines from the Courses page on the uLearnIT website.

FileMaker Training Series course materials

The FileMaker Training Series consists of 12 modules with detailed, step-by-step instructions on key FileMaker development topics. Includes a 500+ page, full-color manual plus a CD with demo files, exercises and videos. These course materials are required for attendance at any of the following courses:

If you do not already have a copy of the FileMaker Training Series course materials, you have a few options for purchase:

* If you book and pay for your course two weeks prior to the start date, uLearnIT will provide a FREE copy of the FileMaker Training Series course materials valued at AUD$129. Offer limited to one per organisation.

Book Now!

You can book online through our website. Go to the Booking page and complete the form with contact details and course bookings. We will process your booking and send an invoice via the method selected (email, fax or mail).

Custom Training for your Organisation

We can run FileMaker training courses specifically for your company or organisation. The courses can be customised to use your solutions and cover your specific issues. Minimum numbers apply. Submit the Request form for customised training or call us on 1300 797 201.

Support After Your Training

All people who attend a uLearnIT training course get special access to email support for their solutions. Our course feedback indicates that this is much appreciated by our attendees. It gives them the confidence that they have someone to turn to if they run into problems when they are applying what they have learned.

uLearnIT - Making FileMaker Easy

Did you know we have a blog? We have published a wide range of tips and techniques that could be useful in your solutions. Check out the blog at http://www.ulearnit.com.au/blog/.

Quick FileMaker Tip

Getting FileMaker Pro to ask if you want to save changes

When you edit data in a record, FileMaker Pro will commit (or 'save') the changes without asking if you do any of the following:

For new users, this behaviour may mean that they change data without meaning to save their changes. Can we warn them of what they are about to do? Read on...

Ask to Save Changes
Each FileMaker layout can be set to ask the user to save any changes to a record. This may not be necessary on all layouts but it will apply to all users regardless of their access privileges.

On the layout you want to change, switch to Layout mode (Ctrl/Cmd-L). Now select Layout > Layout Setup... Now UNCHECK the option to "Save record changes automatically". Back in Browse mode, when you make a change on the layout and then do something that will commit the change (see above), FileMaker will now ask you if you want to save changes to the record.

So why is this useful? When a user has changed a record accidentally or unknowingly, they are prompted if they would like to save the change. Now they can revert the change or changes made.

This may also become annoying to users who purposely make changes to a record only to be asked if they want to save the changes. You can provide a Save button that performs the Commit Records/Requests command (and perform without dialog).

FileMaker Quiz Question

New Quiz Question: Odd or Even?

QUESTION: How could you test a number to see if it is odd or even? Assume the number is always a whole number.

ANSWER: The answer will be in the next newsletter but if you can't wait for that, email us to check your answer at info@ulearnit.com.au.

Last Quiz Question: Date, Time and Timestamp Storage

QUESTION: Dates are stored as whole numbers representing the number of days since January 1, 0001. How are times and timestamps stored?

ANSWER: Times are stored as numbers (usually whole numbers). The number stored represents the hours, minutes and seconds converted to seconds. For example, 7:00 is stored as 25200 seconds. There are 3600 seconds in an hour and 86400 seconds in a day. Since time fields can store decimal values for seconds, the number may be stored as a decimal (e.g. 0:01:09.8 is 69.8 seconds).

Timestamps are also stored as numbers representing the days, hours, minutes and seconds converted to seconds since 0:00 on January 1, 0001.

TIP: When you subtract one timestamp from another, the result is the number of seconds difference. To convert this to a number of hours (in decimal form), simply divide by 3600 (the number of seconds in an hour).

More Information

For more information about courses including course outlines, please refer to the uLearnIT website.

PHONE 1300 797 201
FAX 1300 797 301
MOBILE 0402 839 829
EMAIL info@ulearnit.com.au
WEB http://www.ulearnit.com.au

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