In June of 1974, a pack of gum at Marsh’s Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, was the first item ever scanned. Since then, barcodes have become ubiquitous and have a multitude of applications and uses inside your Claris FileMaker solutions.
When I meet people and tell them I build custom apps in FileMaker, the number of people who recall the platform from years and years ago with a nostalgic smile is impressive. Perhaps the loyalty FileMaker users have toward the platform is an important reason Claris FileMaker has thrived for so long. Along with PowerPoint and Microsoft Word, FileMaker stands with some of the few software applications nearing 40 years old. It has become a software platform that has stood the test of time. But in today’s age, your FileMaker Pro database management system is no longer a stand-alone solution. It needs to become the hub to connect your existing business applications and integrate them with custom solutions in the cloud.
In this edition of the spotlight, we’re taking a deep look at the Calendar. Prior to FileMaker 19.1, building a robust, native calendar interface in FileMaker typically required some form of repeating fields, portals, and/or list view, combined with multiple layered objects or layouts. With the Calendar Add-on, a calendar interface can be quickly added to any solution with very little hassle.
Native image management within the Claris FileMaker environment has been limited, but the new Photo Gallery Add-On looks to change that.
In this edition of the FileMaker Add-on spotlight, we’re taking a deep look at the Rich Text Editor. If you’re familiar with web development, rich text editors have been around for years, allowing users to easily apply rich text in a browser for a “What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get” (WYSIWYG) interface.
Kanban boards are useful project management tools to help visually depict work. They visually depict work at various stages of a process using cards to represent work items and columns to represent each stage of the process. For instance, one of our clients, VN Graphics, uses them to track the flow of a graphic design job through the initial order, design, pre-press, and production. I love Kanban boards so when I found out that Claris had included one in their free Add-Ons, I was excited to try it out.
Barcodes are an essential tool in the modern IT world and being able to add them into your solutions without a plugin or barcode font is a welcome addition to native FileMaker functionality. Our clients use barcodes to identify products they’re selling, to apply a serial number code to a manufactured item, and to build a scannable shipping manifest among numerous examples. Documentation is limited at this stage, so I’m hoping this blog post will assist others in implementing the Barcode Generator add-on.
