How to Export Calendar Files from FileMaker 13 | Homebase
GOOD THINGS HAPPEN when a developer is able to grab ideas and techniques from around the web and put them together to make a better solution. When that developer is able to make it modular, the whole developer community benefits.
Douglas Alder of Homebase Software did just that recently by making a stand alone export solution that exports calendar .ics files from FileMaker for import into a calendar application like iCal or Outlook:
I have been working on an event-based database project and my client was requesting some way to get the events to their Calendar application. I looked around and found the basics of how to do this, generating the required text for a calendar .ics file. I also found a good article on FileMaker Hacks that suggested employing a Virtual List, to deal with exporting text file issues in the .fmp7 format. With FileMaker Pro 13, there are some new capabilities —Get(UUID) and Get(CurrentTimeUTCMilliseconds) — and some older file formatting issues seem to have gone away.
I decided to write my own, portable script for exporting .ics calendar files from FileMaker Pro 13 databases and thought I would share it here for others who may find this useful. I built my script using ideas from the above resources. This script should give you the ability to export events from FileMaker Pro 13 into Apple Calendar, BusyCal, Google Calendar, Outlook etc.
To add this capability to your own solution, you will need a copy of FileMaker Pro 13.
Virtual lists, custom functions from Brian Dunning’s website, new features from FileMaker 13, modularity, and more. And downloadable example files for the desktop and iPhone/iPad. Follow the link to read it all.
via Exporting Calendar files (.ics) from FileMaker Pro 13 | HomeBase Software.
May 23, 2014 @ 7:25 am
I kind of underestimated the value of this function when I implemented part of the FileMaker Hacks resources into my solution about a year ago. Since then, my clients (Therapists) can do ‘unidirectional’ sync of date’s to iCal or Outlook and also email invitations with an attached .ics-File to theirs patients.
Seem’s that Calendar destination isn’t part of the .ics standard though you have to assign manually.
If a client uses Google Calendar, he can send this events in it’s designated Calendar in iCal or Outlook, where it sync’s with Google. Google provides some html-Snippets you can use to have your Google Calendar embedded in your homepage!