Author Archives: Anders Monsen

About Anders Monsen

Anders Monsen is the Architect of Integration for MightyData. Anders is a certified FileMaker Developer 9-12, Authorized Trainer 9-12 and FileMaker Developer Conference speaker. He's a runner and triathlete, and spends his other free time driving his two kids to various practices and games.

Dynamic Compound Finds with FileMaker and PHP

The default behavior for FileMaker’s PHP API find requests is “AND.” Enter multiple criteria in the find request, and FileMaker treats this it as a “Find records where A = ‘this’ and B = ‘that’ in the request. But what happens if you need to search using OR? The PHP API documentation states that you [...]

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Virtual List in Three Easy Steps

The Virtual List technique has been around for a few years (created by Bruce Robertson ca. 2009). Over time and with changes to FileMaker, implementation of this technique has evolved. Knowing how to set up and use virtual lists will help with creating certain reports, especially if you draw the values from ExecuteSQL statements in [...]

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Getting Started with QuickBooks Integration

Intuit’s QuickBooks software organizes business information: contacts, vendors, orders, invoices, inventory, and more. Many small businesses use QuickBooks as their back-end accounting software, alongside FileMaker. Often these two applications perform separate functions, but sometimes there may be a need to integrate them. I’m going to briefly discuss one such method, using the FM Books Connector [...]

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Are You Ready for Coaching?

Consider team sports. They consist of players on various surfaces and sizes of environment (fields, courts, pitches, etc). The player performs the actions that directly affect whether the team wins or loses. Although not directly involved in the action on the field, virtually every sport includes a coach, someone who comes up with the game [...]

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Scanning Barcodes and More with FileMaker Go, part 3

In this third and last post (see post one and post two) we look at pulling data into FileMaker Go using magnetic stripe readers. In principle this is very similar to the barcode method. A button in the FileMaker database calls an Open URL script step. This Open URL step calls the iOS app – [...]

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SQL Reserved Words in FileMaker

Unless you are a fan of Steve Ditko’s the Question, debugging FileMaker 12′s ExecuteSQL function is an art in itself. Even using a Custom Function to display the exact error message in the Data Viewer, as with Andries Heylen’s debug function, you may not always get the full story. As MightyData’s Darren Burgess wrote about SQL [...]

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Scanning Barcodes and More With FileMaker Go, Part 2

This is part 2 in a 3-part series. In part 1 of this 3-part post examining bar codes, magnetic strip readers, and FileMaker Go, we looked at the tools necessary to integrate all the components into one FileMaker Go solution. We will focus on just the bar code and FileMaker portion here. The necessary resources [...]

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Scanning Barcodes and More with FileMaker Go – Part 1

This is Part 1 of a 3-part series. A smartphone today does far more than make calls. With a variety of apps available we have access to a world of information at our fingertips, or hours of distraction. Productivity is vital from the business side of mobile computing. Reading and storing data is one powerful aspect, [...]

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Real-World FileMaker Web Service App

In a previous post, I enthused about FileMaker 12′s new “Insert from URL” script step. The ability to pull in data from web pages through RESTful web services is akin to the science fiction idea of wormholes into other dimensions. Programmable Web currently lists over 6,000 web service APIs in its directory, and the trajectory [...]

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DevCon 2012 Recap

The annual FileMaker geek-fest known as DevCon recently wrapped up its 17th edition in Miami, Florida, from July 16-19. DevCon featured over 70 sessions, a vast exhibitor showcase where you could talk to vendors, several social events, and a beach only a short walk from the hotel. Over 1,200 people from more than 30 countries [...]

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