The FileMaker REST Data API, which appeared in a beta version a year ago, has been considerably revised and is now out of beta. The Server Admin Console has a welcomed makeover. There are a few highlights in FileMaker Server 17, too. It’s a lot easier to work in layout mode in FileMaker 17. It makes working in layout mode much easier. My other favorite improvement in FileMaker Pro Advanced 17 is the way inspectors and tool palettes are docked on the sides of the window.

William PorterįimleMaker 17’s new found-set portal is well implemented. The new found-set portal has been brilliantly implemented so that everything just works. Advanced developers have long been able to achieve this UI effect, but it involved work. That in turn means you can now easily build layouts that have action buttons on the left or right side of the display area, as is so often the case in web applications. It can be used simply as an alternative to FileMaker’s native list view, with the advantage that you can now control how far the list extends to the left and right sides of a layout. But the new found-set portal is way more useful than that and does not have to be used for master + detail layouts. Master-detail is a nice interface strategy: it allows you to keep record details clearly in context. FileMaker Server has been further optimized to be even more responsive, especially the database is accessed in a web browser or after a disconnect. The Send Mail process now supports sending multiple attachments. Two ostensibly tiny changes greatly enrich the power of FileMaker’s scripting language: developers can now capture dialog input directly into variables (another reason we hardly need global fields any more) and scripts can be called by name in a variable (which makes generic coding easier). Layout object grouping was introduced a couple of versions ago, but now developers can select and move or reformat individual layout objects in a group without having to ungroup them first. New features in FileMaker 17 for advanced developers, server adminsįileMaker 17 ties up loose ends, fills in small gaps, and fixes little problems left over from previous versions. Long-time products aren’t glamorous, and a proclamation that “FileMaker gets even better!” isn’t a grabber, and that’s too bad, because the latest version, FileMaker 17, is the best version of a great product line. But what fuels those new ventures and ideas are products that long ago proved their value and continue to be strong-a product like FileMaker. Technology always seems to be about the newest thing, the latest and greatest.

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