Users will often benefit from cues about data entry. These cues can indicate whether data is required or optional, and they can provide further information about what is required or allowed.

One way of providing these cues is with tooltips. Tooltips must be created and edited with FileMaker Pro Advanced. All users of the database can see the tooltips. Tooltips can be attached to any layout object –  a field, a button, a field label. A tooltip pops up as a yellow note when the user hovers their mouse over the object.

 

 

Developer Quiz Question

Are tooltips visible in runtime solutions and databases published to the web with Instant Web Publishing? (Check the answer at the end of this article)

 

The downsides of tooltips are:

1. the user has to hover (not click) the mouse in the correct area
2. the user has to know there is a tooltip to view
3. the tooltip disappears after a set period
4. the user can only see one tooltip at a time

 

An alternative to tooltips is conditionally formatting text objects. Conditional formatting was introduced in FileMaker Pro 9. It allows the developer to set conditions on the appearance of text in an object such as a field, button or text block.

 

In this first part, we will create a text cue for a field where data is required. We have set the field validation to a strict not empty, and we want the user to know that they have to enter data in the field.

 

In Layout mode, create text and format it as required. Move the text on top of the field.

 

 

Next we apply conditional formatting. Select the text object and choose the Format > Conditional... command (or right-click and select Conditional Formatting... from the contextual menu). Add a condition and specify the calculation:

 

   not IsEmpty ( Contact Management::Last Name )

 

 

The field specified will be the field you are creating the text cue for. What we are saying here is that the formatting of this text will change when the condition is true –  when the last name field is not empty.

 

Click OK. Set the Format for the condition you have created. Set the text colour to white. Click the More Formatting... button and set the size to 1 Point. Click OK twice to close and save the conditional formatting.

 

Now test it! In Browse mode, create a new record and notice that the label is visible over the field. Tab into the field and enter some data. When you tab out, the label will be gone.

 

 

You can leverage what you have done for other required fields. Copy the existing label. Modify the text. Update the conditional formatting to refer to the new field.

 

In the second part of this article, we will look at text cues for fields where data entry is optional.

FileMaker provides an easy way to reorder script steps by dragging the double-headed arrow up or down. 

 

You can even use a keyboard shortcut to move a selected script step:

 

Ctrl/Cmd - up/down arrow

 

Did you know that one? That's not the tip – that was a bonus!

 

Select a block of script steps by clicking the first and Shift-clicking the last. Now try to move them. If you drag by any of the double-headed arrows, you find that FileMaker Pro deselects the block and moves only one script step.

 

So what is the solution? A simple copy, clear and paste. Note that in previous versions, this required FileMaker Pro Advanced. In version 9, you can do it in both FileMaker Pro Advanced and plain vanilla FileMaker Pro. Thank you FileMaker Inc.

 

Anyway, with your script steps selected, cut (Ctrl/Cmd-C) first. Now delete the selected script steps. Then click the script step below which you would like the copied steps to appear. Then paste (Ctrl/Cmd-V).

How simple is that? Obviously this is also applicable when you would like to copy (but don't delete) and paste blocks of script steps between scripts.

Here's something that came up in a recent FileMaker Pro course in Sydney. One of the people attending asked why FileMaker had removed a feature in the import Field Mapping dialog.

Specifically, in FileMaker Pro 6 when mapping fields for an import, you used to be able to click on the centre column and, without releasing your mouse, drag down the column. This turned all the import arrows on or off.

 

In FileMaker Pro 7, this feature was removed. Or at least this specific way of doing it. In fact, FileMaker engineers improved it! Here's how.

Now you can select multiple fields in the target table (right side of the dialog).

 

Select adjacent fields by Shift-clicking – click the first field, hold down the Shift key and click the last field.

Select non-adjacent fields by Control-clicking (Windows) or Command-clicking (Macintosh). Hold down the Control/Command key and click each field you want to select. Or you can even Ctrl/Cmd and drag through a block of fields.

Select all fields using Edit > Select All (or Ctrl-A/Cmd-A). 

Now here's the great feature. With a set of fields selected,  click one import arrow to turn them all off. Click again to turn them all on. Easy or what?! 

Well folks, it is complete. Over the last 20 days, we have detailed the 20 tips that were presented in the recent FileMaker Seminar series in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney. We hope that you have learnt something new about FileMaker Pro that makes your life easier and your development faster.

But we are not finished. No, that was just the start. We will continue to publish useful tips and techniques in FileMaker Pro.

So stay tuned and bookmark this blog or the RSS feed to keep up to date. 

There are many times when you want to ensure that two objects are in exactly the same position on different layouts or on different tabs of a tab object. If this is done correctly, there is no pixel jump as the user moves between layouts and tabs.

The Object Info Palette helps you to precisely position objects. First make sure that the palette is displaying measurements in pixels. Click the units until the display is 'px'.

1. Select an object or group of objects and copy them.
2. Take note of the first two measurements in the Info Palette – for the top and left of the object/group.
3. Move to the new layout or tab.
4. Paste.
5. Set the left and top Info Palette measurements to those you previously noted.