RESTfm, Button Bar as Progress Bar

Why Use RESTfm?

I’ve been looking for a good blog post showing a real life example of using RESTfm from Goya for a while, if only because I haven’t had the need to use it, and I wanted to know more about it.  Damien Kelly of Blackframe wrote such a post–and here is why RESTFM was the best solution for his project:

RESTfm is a different approach, in Nicks words, “we wrote a sync engine around REST because we thought REST as a model ( single fast short connections ) was a better choice than the more heavy network connection of a full FileMaker client.” . I also needed the app to be scalable, this is an extension to a vertical solution of ours, so I wanted to roll out 1 app for all of our clients, as opposed to 100+ iterations of the app. RESTfm was the solution, users no longer had to have constant service to access the data, now they can sync the data when in service, and be without service and still access the data from the last sync. I also wanted to get an app on Apple’s AppStore using FileMakers iOS SDK.

In Part 1, Kelly talks about the basics of REST (Representational State Transfer–this explanation will help clear thing up ) and how it applies to FileMaker. He also builds a request and breaks down the response, both very helpful.  In Part 2 (not yet published),  I want to see is how he parses the data into the App.  I’m betting the BaseElements plugin will play a part, but he may be using FMPXMLRESULT, instead.

Source: RESTfm + FileMaker (Part 1 of 2) | Blackframe


We all know button bars are great for menus, but developers are finding all kinds of other uses, from displaying data using the calculation engine to progress bars:

There are many tools out there that you can use in your solution to indicate the stage of some process in FileMaker. You can use HTML and Javascript or perhaps a plug-in to show progress. While plug-ins have become seamlessly integrated with FileMaker over the years, you still can’t use them in iOS, unless you install the plug-in on the server.

FileMaker Button bar as a Progress Bar, RESTfmAgnes Riley shows how to use the FileMaker button bar as a progress bar. Learn more and get the demo.

Source: FileMaker Button Bar as Progress Bar – Soliant Consulting


Absolutely off the topic of FileMaker: Happy police dog gets reunited with handler, leaps joyfully into his arms


Everything is funny as long as it is happening to Somebody Else.

Will Rogers, Illiterate Digest (1924), “Warning to Jokers: lay off the prince”
US humorist & showman (1879 – 1935)

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