FM 13: Pseudo Indexing | FileMakerHacks

Most of FileMaker programming is fairly straight forward and repetitive:  Setting up T.O.’s, adding fields, building layouts, and so on.  The biggest challenges occur when a solution calls for specific feature or features that aren’t supported by FileMaker.

Then it’s time get creative.  And that’s where a of time is spent on a solution, experimenting with various options trying to make FileMaker do something it doesn’t want to do.

And making it work fast, every time, and scalable for multiple users, and so on.

That’s where Kevin Frank shines.  Frank has talent for finding solutions of these types, and then takes it further:  He often finds more ways to do it, and tests one against the other(s).

Finally, he shares his work with the world on his blog, FileMakerHacks.com.

Recently, Frank decided that the basic FileMaker field index option had too many limiting features:

It’s a great feature, but it has some limitations:

  1. Field indexes are not found set aware — you get unique entries for all records
  2. The field must be on the layout (and enterable)
  3. The field must be indexed
  4. When viewing a field index, it’s possible to accidentally insert data into the underlying field
  5. You can’t copy what you see — it’s view only
  6. If you’re doing a screen share, and zoom the database up to a higher magnification, the index window does not correspondingly zoom

Well today we’re going to look at a technique to circumvent these limitations, and I invite you to follow along in today’s demo file, FM 13 Pseudo Indexing, if you are so inclined.

and took on the task of building a replacement.

The replacement incorporates hacks from his earlier work, as well as work from other developers.  Check it out and pay close attention to how he attacks and solves problems.

FM 13: Pseudo Indexing | FileMakerHacks.

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