Claris FileMaker

Want faster, smarter FileMaker apps with AI? We compared gpt-oss, Llama & DeepSeek to find the best local model for Apple hardware. Find out who wins

What is new in FileMaker 2025?

Integrate Claris FileMaker with local vision AI using llama3.2-vision and Ollama. Keep data private while adding powerful image processing to your workflows.

Discover the power of DeepSeek R1—an efficient, open-source AI model ideal for private, local deployment using Ollama and Apple Silicon. Learn how DeepSeek compares to LLaMA, Mistral, and other LLMs in real-world applications, and explore how it integrates seamlessly with Claris FileMaker for secure, on-premise AI automation. Ideal for businesses needing low-cost, high-performance, and fully private AI solutions.

Learn how to run private AI locally using Ollama and integrate it with Claris FileMaker. Discover step-by-step setup, model recommendations, and how to build secure, AI-powered workflows without sending data to the cloud. Perfect for businesses prioritising data privacy and compliance.

Integrate Claris FileMaker with local LLMs like LLaMA 3 to boost efficiency with AI—without risking data privacy. Secure, intelligent automation for your business

Still running your business on Google Sheets? Spreadsheets are great—until they start holding you back. If you’re managing complex processes, critical data, or multiple users through Google Sheets, it’s time to upgrade.

The Claris FileMaker Server 21.1.4 update is now available and includes important fixes that address known issues from previous versions: Key Fixes 1. Field definitions incorrectly read from cache. A bug introduced in version 21.0 caused field definitions to be incorrectly cached, resulting in symptoms such as: Empty related fields Missing value lists and indexes “Insufficient privileges (error -9)” messages 2. Windows only: Server-side script sessions limited by CPU cores. Version 21.1.3 limited simultaneous server-side script sessions to the number of CPU cores on Windows. This impacted I/O-bound environments by unnecessarily queuing sessions. 21.1.4 resolves this by allowing up to 50 concurrent script sessions on Windows before queueing begins—regardless of CPU cores. These sessions may be triggered by schedules, OData, or Perform Script on Server (PSoS). Note: This behavior is not controlled by the AllowPSoS setting. Claris Recommends: To ensure system stability, it is advised to limit active clients to 40 - 45 simultaneous sessions. Exceeding 50 may result in delays, memory overload, or session hangs. Do you need assistance with upgrading? DataTherapy are pleased to announce that Claris FileMaker 2024 (version 21.1) managed private cloud hosting packages are immediately available. DataTherapy can provide scalable, managed FileMaker packages for businesses of all size. Full details of all of our packages can be found here . We can offer a range of a variety of enhanced options such as domain management, custom SSL certificates, VPN, VLAN, disaster recovery and integration with other technologies. If you need additional information on upgrading to the new release, advise on how to migrate your current on-premises FileMaker Server to the cloud, or would like to arrange a free trial of any of our packages then please don’t hesitate to contact our team .

What to do when your FileMaker App isn't running as well as it used to . . .

Ensuring Business Continuity: Augmenting or Replacing Your In-House FileMaker Team

FileMaker 2024 massively simplifies the complexity of leverage LLMs . . .

The Claris FileMaker 2023 is the ultimate platform for custom app creation. Given its advanced features and capabilities, it's the platform of choice for those seeking to start fresh building a new custom business app. However, if you're thinking about upgrading from an older Claris FileMaker version, preparation is key, and that's where we come in . . .

New Features in Claris FileMaker 2023 Release

New Features in Claris FileMaker 19.5 Release

We can confirm that our Platopus platform does not make use of Java and so is unaffected by the Log4j security vulnerability.

The Claris FileMaker 19.4 Platform release demonstrates Claris’ impressive commitment to more agile and frequent updates to the platform. Significiant features in this r elease:  Windows 11 and macOS Monterey 12 compatibility Updates to ensure the best performance, stability and security for Windows 11 in FileMaker Pro and macOS Monterey support for FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server. Ability to automate tasks in FileMaker Pro with Shortcuts in macOS Monterey Run automation scripts in FileMaker Pro and streamline your everyday tasks. Just use the Shortcuts app or Siri voice control to run shortcuts. Use your voice to automatically search for records, run reports for specific dates, send attachments via email, update inventory, modify files stored in container fields, and more. More flexible authentication with customizable OAuth identity providers. Set up user authentication the way your business requires. In addition to three predefined OAuth identity providers, this release provides a straightforward UI to customize one of four additional supported providers (Ping, OneLogin, Auth0, and Okta), or any other provider using OAuth2 or OpenID protocols. iOS 15 and OpenSSL 1.1.1l compatibility in FileMaker Go 19.4. FileMaker Go 19.4 suppor ts new iOS 15 and OpenSSL 1.1.1l to improve security. Key b ug fixes and security updates. Take advantage of the latest performance and security improvements. More than 50 bugs are addressed throughout the entire FileMaker 19.4 product li ne, including issues related to Apple silicon, web viewers and interactive containers in Windows, FileMaker WebDirect performance, security, and much more. Contact us to book in your FREE consulting session to provide an overview of how to go about upgrading to the Claris FileMaker 19.4 platform or alternatively take a look about our blog post outlining some of the considerations here.

The FileMaker 19.3 release demonstrates Claris’ impressive commitment to more agile and frequent updates to the platform. Noteable features in this release include: Native Apple silicon support. Claris FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server are now Universal macOS binaries, ensuring optimized performance on Apple silicon computers while still offering impressive speed on Intel-based Macs. Windows Microsoft Edge. Windows users will love this release. FileMaker now leverages the latest Microsoft Edge browser WebView2 control, eliminating potential security concerns and ensuring full FileMaker extensibility on Windows. And with Microsoft Edge you get enhanced displays of PDF files – without needing to install a separate web browser plug-in. FileMaker Server: Future-proof with Ubuntu Linux and return of the log viewer. Claris continues to innovate our deployment options introducing Ubuntu, the most preferred Linux distribution worldwide. Known for its responsive, enterprise-grade support, stability and security, Ubuntu is also one of the most affordable open source platforms available. Also, you asked and we heard you. This release includes the return of a new and improved log viewer, and many more server fixes and under-the-hood functionality to boost performance, flexibility, stability and security. FileMaker Cloud: More feature parity between on-premise FileMaker Server and FileMaker Cloud. FileMaker Cloud now offers more of the popular FileMaker Server features you've asked for. You can now schedule FileMaker Scripts directly from the Admin Console and take advantage of the log viewer to easily download and view log files from the Admin Console. Test drive updates to the quick start experience* with the next generation no-code app builder. Explore our next generation no-code app builder to create FileMaker apps with a simple drag and drop interface in minutes. And when you’re ready, a simple button click lets you continue building your app with the full FileMaker Pro feature set. New in this release it’s easy to create relationships between tables with quick drag-and-drop and absolutely no coding. In addition, you can now quickly create one bottom navigation bar that works across all your connected layouts - super handy for mobile apps.  *Available on macOS only in FileMaker Pro and in FileMaker Cloud. Contact us to book in your FREE consulting session to provide an overview of how to go about upgrading to the Claris FileMaker 19.3 platform or alternatively take a look about our blog post outlining some of the considerations here.

The FileMaker 19.2 release demonstrates Claris’ ongoing commitment to more agile and frequent updates to the platform. Noteable feature in this release: FileMaker Pro Controlling plugin-in access between files. Changes to the new macOS QuickStart experience. FileMaker Server Improved installer for simpler upgrades for FileMaker 16, 17 & 18. Support for HTTP/2 and improved cancel find ability to improve performance.  Contact us to book in your FREE consulting session to provide an overview of how to go about upgrading to the Claris FileMaker 19.2 platform or alternatively take a look about our blog post outlining some of the considerations here.

The FileMaker 19.1 release demonstrates Claris’ new commitment to more agile and frequent updates to the platform. Notably in this release: Use snap together add-ons t o take advantage of the new JavaScript widgets. A new quick-start experience for macOS. Visit the Claris blog to read about the latest product release, which includes add-ons and an exciting quick start experience preview . Take a look at the Claris Market place to see try out some of the new add-ons. Claris official add-ons include: Calendar Calendar Heat Map Activity Timeline Barcode Creator Kanban Board Photo Gallery Rich Text Editor Simple Chart Time DataTherapy will be running Zoom Webinars throughout Q4 2020 to demonstrate these features to our customers. Contact us to book in your Webinar or a consulting session to provide an overview of how to go about upgrading to the Claris FileMaker 19.1 platform or alternatively take a look about our blog post outlining some of the considerations here.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are ushering in the next era of computing and it is exciting to see that Claris are at the forefront of providing these serv ices in a way that can be economically used even by small businesses. Claris FileMaker 19 makes use of the MacOS’ built in machine learning tools. Core ML is Apple’s answer to integrating machine learning models into your app. Getting started with Core ML and FileMaker If you download Apple’s Xcode development suite, then you will find it is bundled with the Create ML App. The Create ML App allows you to create a machine learning model file (.mlmodel) which can be used by the new FileMaker 19 Configure Machine Learning Model script step. Create ML App includes machine learning templates for image classification, image object detection, sound classification, text classification and word tagging. For example, I created a test image classifier project and then pointed it at a folder containing 10 sample images (5 cats & 5 dogs). When you click on ‘Train’, it will generate a model file which can then be exported for use in FileMaker. Within FileMaker, I created a simple database table containing two container fields (one to upload the machine learning model file to and another to upload images) and then output fields for the results of the machine learning (Raw result, Classification and Confidence). I then added a quick script to load the model, pass it the image to process and then corresponding fields to insert the data back into: The net result is that I can now add new images to the container and then click on the classify button to run the processing script and it will tell me if it thinks the image is a dog or cat and the degree of confidence in the result. Based on spot testing with a few dozen random images I found online of cats & dogs it does seem impressively accurate given the trivial amount of test data that I used to generate the model. My example is a pretty silly demo, so how might this be used in the real world and why use Core ML rather than one of the online services? Firstly, in terms of applications, the most obvious use would be to use FileMaker for rapid automated classification of large-scale digital image libraries. You could very quickly build a custom classification model and then run the system to classify thousands of images with a high degree of accuracy. A more intriguing use would be in the field of biomedical research – if you have access to historical images of confirmed benign and malignant tissue samples then you could potentially create a system to automate the detection of malignant samples for new images.  The second question then is why use Core ML rather than an online service? There are likely to be many applications where there are concerns about data privacy – for example in the biomedical imaging example I gave above not only does there need to be informed consent from the subjects about making use of their data for research purposes, but there is normally specific additional approval required to share that data with 3rd parties and even if that has been agreed then the security measures which need to be put in place to use such data with a cloud service can be onerous. In the care of Core ML, the data used for creating the learning model is all kept and processed locally on the Mac OS or iOS device – neither the model nor the training data is accessible to Apple or any other 3rd party.

DataTherapy are pleased to announce that Claris FileMaker 19 managed private cloud hosting packages are immediately available on both Windows and Linux platforms. DataTherapy can provide scalable, managed FileMaker packages for businesses of all size. Full details of all of our packages can be found here: https://www.datatherapy.com/claris-platform/claris-filemaker-hosting We can offer a range of a variety of enhanced options such as domain management, custom SSL certificates, VPN, VLAN, disaster recovery and integration with other technologies. If you need additional information, or would like to arrange a free trial of any of our packages then please don’t hesitate to contact our team.

Claris FileMaker 19 is a significant upgrade to an already great platform custom app platform. While it is a given that one would immediately use the Claris FileMaker 19 platform for developing a new custom App if starting from scratch today, there may be some work to be done if you are planning on upgrading from an older version of the FileMaker platform. Here is our quick guide of technical considerations to watch out for when updating from previous versions. If you think any of the issues noted are a concern then you are welcome to contact our consulting team for assistance. Upgrading from FileMaker v12-v18 (.fmp12 format) Since FileMaker versions 12-18 share the same file format as version 19 there is no need to convert the file. This usually means the file should simply open in the newer version of the application and there are less likely to be significant conversion issues with upgrading. With FileMaker 16 onwards, in order to produce a more modern ‘app-like’ experience on the desktop, the footer bar which includes the ability to zoom in and out, change working view mode and show/hide the upper status bar has been removed. If your users are making use of these features then they will need to adapt to using the upper status and application menus (for changing mode/status bar) or you may find that you will need to program in zoom control into your interface layouts. Mixing client versions has always been possible to an extent (i.e. if you have legacy machines which are not able to be upgraded to the minimum hardware or OS requirements to run FileMaker 19, then you can still connect to FileMaker Server 19 using FileMaker 18) - this is more restrictive than in previous versions as there was general compatibility back two version and forward two version for FileMaker 18 and earlier. This tightening of support is in line with Claris’ commitment to releasing new updates more frequently and so it isn’t generally advisable to mix client versions and also it means that you cannot take full advantage of the full FileMaker 19 feature set. For optimal security and performance both server and all users should be on the most recent software version and patch. To prevent users from accidentally accessing an upgraded server/solution with an older version of the client software, you can set the minimum version allowed to access the file under File > File Options > Open tab. It is worth checking which features are now deprecated in Claris FileMaker 19 and reviewing if they impact your usage: https://support.claris.com/s/article/Deprecated-and-removed-features-in-FileMaker-19?language=en_US Upgrading from FileMaker v6 or earlier (.fp5 format) It is testament to the longevity of the platform that we still occasionally encounter clients which legacy systems which are running on very old versions of FileMaker. There are potentially lots of issues with converting files that are more than 11 years old, but here are some of the most common issues that need resolving: The most basic consideration if you have a database file of this vintage is that it isn’t possible to directly convert from v6 or earlier using FileMaker 19. You will need to use an intermediate FileMaker version (v7-11) to convert the file to the .fp7 format which 19 can then in turn convert to the .fmp12 format. FileMaker has a detailed guide on the issues and version compatibility here: http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10571/~/converting-older-filemaker-pro-files-to-the-.fmp12-file-format Back in the FileMaker v6 days, you could only specify a password and not a login name – in converting it sets the login name to be the same as the password which obviously isn’t very secure so this will need to be changed quickly post upgrade. FileMaker 18 login names are case insensitive, but the passwords are not so it can be easy to get caught out by this. In many cases it is simplest to remove all passwords under the original version, convert and set-up the security again from scratch. Typically, since having multiple tables in a single database file wasn’t possible back in v6 and earlier, you may find you have lots of files to convert and re-set-up the login/password security across multiple files. If this is the case and you have complex security group arrangements then it is often more appropriate to set-up FileMaker Server to use Active Directory, Open Directory or the newer OAuth external authentication. Finally, external file references between files could not be directly accessed in the application in FileMaker v6 and earlier, but are exposed from FileMaker v7 onwards (File > Manage > External Data Sources in FileMaker v18). On occasions when the linked files had been re-linked, or moved between multiple machines this could result in multiple ‘paths’ being recorded to the appropriate related file. These often need clean-up post conversion so that they are set to the correct relative server location. If there are lots of incorrect/’hanging’ references to old paths then this can cause FileMaker to ‘pause’ while it times out looking for the dead link. This can significantly increase the time to open the files and lead to the perception that the Application is being unresponsive. All considered there are so many interface, calculation, scripting, and integration features that have been added to FIleMaker over the last 11 years, that we would strongly recommend re-writing a solution from scratch to benefit from all of the new technology that is available. Conversion is only a really means to an end to get your data into a format which can be readily worked on with the modern FileMaker 19 platform. By analogy why would you replace your landline telephone or ‘dum’ mobile phone of a pre-2010 vintage with a like for like device in 2020 instead of getting a current generation smart phone? The same principle applies to FileMaker. General upgrade considerations In all of the above cases, we are assuming that you have a relatively ‘vanilla’ FileMaker solution without any complex dependencies such as integrations with 3rd party software using legacy integration technology or plugins. FileMaker plugins will generally need updating to ensure compatibility with FileMaker 19 and in many cases this will be a paid for update. The syntax and functionality of plugins can change between versions, or certain features are deprecated if the core application offers overlapping functionality or similar functionality – this may mean that you will need to re-write elements of your solution scripting to use the new native FileMaker 19 technology or may need to migrate to a different plugin if the old one is no longer being actively developed. We strongly recommend that clients think seriously about how fit for purpose a legacy solution is before deciding that a simple ‘technocratic’ upgrade is an appropriate approach. Most successful businesses change their processes and focus significantly over time as well as the ecosystem of technologies that they adopt to support their workflow. In many cases, if the client has a legacy FileMaker solution that has not been updated for several years then it is usually more efficient and cost effective to consider developing a new solution from scratch which exactly fits an organisation’s modern requirements if the older system is no longer a ‘good fit’. The most obvious example of ‘fit’ is that older FileMaker systems were generally not developed with a ‘cloud-first’ or mobile mindset. For the last 3 versions of FileMaker, Claris has put a great deal of effort and resources to ensuring how well the modern platform can be used on the cloud. Equally, with the advent of JSON/REST support within FileMaker 18 onwards and the release of Claris Connect this year there are completely new opportunities to automate repetitive work by integration with 3rd party cloud solutions.

The Claris FileMaker 19 platform is now available with a range of powerful new features that will benefit both new and existing users New in FileMaker Pro 19: JavaScri pt in a web viewer — Use readily-available JavaScript libraries or your own custom code to create modern apps. Directly embed things like maps, animated graphics, data visualization, and more. Core ML support — Run machine learning models for image classification, sentiment analysis, object detection, and more. Execute Data API script step — Requests data in JSON format from a FileMaker app hosted locally or on FileMaker Cloud or FileMaker Server. macOS Dark Mode support — FileMaker Pro displays in the appearance chosen in System Preferences. macOS Drag and drop installer — Install FileMaker Pro by dragging the application to your drive. Quick Open — Set a preference to open a specified file at start time. New in FileMaker Go 19 Core ML support — Run machine learning models on your device for image classification, sentiment analysis, object detection, and more. Support for Siri Shortcuts — Use your voice to run automations like searching for records, updating inventory, or starting a process. NFC (near field communication) tag reading — Quickly get information on tagged merchandise, navigate to a specific item in a database, or check in at a kiosk. New in Claris FileMaker Server 19 FileMaker Server for Linux — Host your apps on Linux, an industry-standard OS, for high availability and reliability. Available as a developer preview. Cards in FileMaker WebDirect — Create windows that are automatically sized and placed appropriately on the main screen. Open other windows or files without having to first close the card. Claris FileMaker Cloud 2.19 Create in cloud — Create apps directly in FileMaker Cloud from FileMaker Pro with zero configuration and deployment.  The Claris FileMaker Platform offers the ideal path to deliver modern custom apps that have been making businesses grow for decades. Using an older version of FileMaker or unsure of how to get started if you are new FileMaker? Call our team for a free initial consultation to find out more.

Claris have now released their new cloud automation platform, Claris Connect. This represents a major evolution of Claris as a company, since the last time they had a se cond product alongside their premier FileMaker platforms was back in 2011 when they offered the entry-level Bento database product. Claris Connect is a cloud services integration automation tool - it he lps you quickly build workflows between different cloud applications with the minimum of effort. Now that cloud services have become mainstream, nearly all organisations make use of some form of cloud-based application - from Dropbox for file storage, to Shopify for e-commerce, Microsoft’s Office365 and Google’s G-Suite for email/calendaring. Historically, Claris’ FileMaker database and app platform has included support for integrating with 3rd party cloud servers via JSON/REST APIs, but such integrations are complex requiring detailed technical knowledge and robust testing approaches. Furthermore, no two APIs are completely identical and they tend to evolve over time ensuring that there is a high barrier to initially implementing an integration and maintaining them over time. Claris Connect solves this problem by offering pre-built connectors for 50+ of these cloud services with more planned for release in the next year. Integrations which would have taken days or weeks can now potentially be built in minutes or hours using Claris Connect. Since Claris Connect is itself cloud-based it can be accessed from any device with a web browser and so requires no software to install or deploy. A unique selling point for Claris Connect over competing cloud-based automation solutions is that it also offers on-premises connectors for integrating with its own FileMaker platform.  DataTherapy can provide support and consultancy for both FileMaker and Claris Connect to solve your organisation’s data and automation challenges. If you need additional information, or would like to book a complimentary initial consultation then contact our team.

DataTherapy and FileMaker UK will be running a FREE mini business briefing focusing around FileMaker’s use within the NHS @ Apple's Hanover Street Office in London on 9t h March 2017 10:00-13:00. The schedule for this event is as follows: • 10:00 Coffee/attendee mixer to highlight areas of interest. • 10:10 Introduction: NHS Data Challenges • 10:40 Overview of FileMaker Platform and examples of current use in the NHS • 11:00 Real-world Case Study: Pathology Laboratory Information Management • 11:40 Real-world Case Study: Clinical Image Job Tracking • 12:20 Q&A • 12:50 Closing comments  Attendance is free, but places are strictly limited. If you woul d like to attend this event or future NHS FileMaker Events then contact Dr. Ben Fletcher @ DataTherapy to reserve your spot.

The rebranding of FileMaker, Inc. to Claris International, Inc. will bring a knowing smile to the face of many long standing FileMaker Developers and Mac users that have fond memories of MacWrite and MacDraw. In 1998, Claris divested itself of all other software products it had inherited from parent Apple in order to focus exclusively on the flagship FileMaker product line hence the change of the name to FileMaker, Inc. to reinforce the importance of the move. This saw the birth of the FileMaker Business Alliance which supported the growth of both the modern FileMaker platform as well as the commercial developer community which companies like DataTherapy have participated in ever since. Now in 2019, FileMaker Inc.’s return to the Claris brand represents a nod towards both its legacy, but also to its future. Rightly, the new branding helps to frame a new chapter in the company’s direction as it focuses on cloud first products like the up coming Claris Connect - a pivotal product which bridges the gap between on premises and cloud data services. The pending release of Claris Connect in (hopefully) early 2020 marks an exciting milestone for Claris International which will be both a hugely complementary offering to existing FileMaker customers as well as being attractive to new customers that have never used the FileMaker platform before.  If you need assistance with migrating your on premises FileMaker App to cloud based hosting or if you would like the integrate with other cloud services then why not call our team for a no obligation quote. The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

If you missed the live Webinar today with DataTherapy's Ben Fletcher (@drbenfletcher) and Kieran Saunders (FileMaker) talking about FileMaker custom app deployment then you can now view the online video in your own time by registering on FileMaker.com here: http://info2.filemaker.com/NE_ANDeployyourCustomApp050517_Registration.html In the Webinar, you will learn about the following topics: • What is Deployment? • How to access your App • Determine deployment strategy • Cloud hosting providers • FM Cloud • On premises • FileMaker Server demo • Determine back-up strategy • Plan for disaster recovery

DataTherapy are pleased to announce that FileMaker 18 managed private cloud hosting packages are immediately available. DataTherapy can provide scalable, managed FileMak er packages for businesses of all size. Full details of all of our packages can be found here: https://datatherapy.host/pricing/ Our data centre facility is based in London/UK and we can offer a range of a variety of enhanced options such as domain management, custom SSL certificates, VPN, VLAN, disaster recovery and integration with other technologies.  If you need additional information, or would like to arrange a free trial of any of our packages then please don’t hesitate to contact our tea

With the release of FileMaker 18, we’re sure that both newbies to the platform and FileMaker veterans alike will be only to pleased, to see that finally some much needed attention has been given to the file > Import dialog box which has existed without change since circa. 1986. The dialog box has been given a massive interface revamp with a much more user friendly interface and flexible options. With the new Import Field Mapping dialog box, you can: Choose target fields from a list that you can search - not more endless dragging match fields with large database tables. Choose any record in the source file to use as field names for certain import file types. For each target field, choose whether to perform auto-enter options while importing (previously this was an all or nothing option for the entire import). Import data that uses a custom character to separate field values. More conversion options – When converting certain supported file types, you can now specify a custom character that separates field values, choose any record to use as field names, choose which fields to include, and specify a target table name.  Need some assistance with writing a new FileMaker custom app or need some assistance with how to get the most out of FileMaker 18 platform? Call our team to find out more about the benefits from upgrading for a free, no obligation quotation.

FileMaker 18 Platform has launched with a range of new features that will undoubtedly make developing new custom apps both quicker and more powerful. One area of focus f or these new features is ‘Improved usability’ and includes new features as follows:- Ability to move objects with Shift-Arrow keys – Using the Shift-Arrow keys in Layout mode now moves objects in increments 10 times larger than when using the Arrow keys. Ability to Read and write external data files – Create scripts that read, write, and manage external data files—for example, to write log files or export data in a custom file format. This is covered by a range of new file related script steps. Open files with a version-specific URL – You can now use the fmp18 scheme in URLs to open files specifically with FileMaker Pro 18 Advanced or FileMaker Go 18. The FMP URL protocol has existed for many versions now, but Windows users will be familiar with their OS perhaps defaulting to an older installed version of FileMaker for opening apps - adding this new version specific FMP URL gets around this problem quite neatly. Open a custom app upon start – You can now use the personalisation file during a command-line installation to specify a custom app to open when FileMaker Pro Advanced starts. Save files as XML – You can now save a FileMaker Pro Advanced file in an XML format that represents the schema, layouts, scripts, and other parts of the file. You can use the XML file to document changes in your custom app between versions and use standard text-based tools to compare versions.  Need some assistance with how to take advantage of these new features of the FileMaker 18 Platform? Call our team to find out more about the benefits from upgrading for a free, no obligation quotation.

FileMaker 18 has launched with a range of new features that will undoubtedly make developing new custom apps both quicker and more powerful. As we would expect, given th e modern focus on security and data privacy this has been significiantly . With the new Manage Security dialog box, you can: Work with an account access list filtered by account type, assign privilege sets to users and groups directly in the list, and perform other common tasks in the details pane without leaving the list. Manage privilege sets, extended privileges, and file access in the Advanced Security Settings dialog box. See whether the selected authentication type is supported on the file's current host. Privilege to manage accounts that don't have full access – You can now grant users the limited ability to create and delete access to a file and assign existing privilege sets without allowing them to modify groups or users that have the Full Access privilege set or create or edit privilege sets. See Editing other privileges. New to File Maker 18 Platform: Unsigned plug-in notification – FileMaker Pro Advanced notifies you when a plug-in has not been digitally signed by its developer. Full access required by default to reference a file – The option to require the Full Access privilege set to use  references to a file is now enabled by default in newly created files. The option is unchanged in existing files. New functions for digitally signing data have been added to allow you to digitally sign data and verify signatures of signed data with cryptographic keys. Need some assistance to take advantage of these new security features of the FileMaker 18 Platform or review the current security arrangements in your existing app? Call our team to find out more about the benefits from upgrading for a free, no obligation quotation.

One of the most significant enhancements in the FileMaker 18 Platform is the array of new script steps related to external data files. These include ‘Create Data File’, ‘Open Data File’, ‘Write to Data File’, ‘Read from Data File’ and ‘Close Data File’. This ability to read and write to external data files is great new addition to an already strong FileMaker platform, and one for which we envisage a number of useful applications: in FileMaker 17 and earlier has always been possible to export database data to files in tab separated values, comma separated values, DBF, Merge, HTML table, XML and Excel formats. ‘Live’ database data can be queried via Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) and also https/JSON with the new FileMaker Data API.  So how is this different from the existing features and why is it needed? Firstly, all of the above methods, only allow for the export and transfer of data which is already within a database table structure. If you wanted to capture debugging information or create a new export then the first step would be to have to create the database structure necessary to store the information and then script to export it. If the information is transient then you may also then need to write maintenance routines to ‘prune’t or delete this information. With the new script steps, data can be captured directly to a variable and this variable is then written to the external data file - no new structure needed, making the code potentially simpler and more portable. This is really helpful when for example, you are writing debugging routines or persistent error logs to be saved on your server at timed intervals.. Secondly, there are many cases where you might want to transform data structure and then export it into another format. I can think on many occasions where I wanted create a simple XML export without having to write XSLT to achieve this quickly. Similarly, it could be used for local dumps of data to JSON or SQL formats for example. This feature is not without its limitations. FileMaker is limited to writing 64MB of data at a time with the Write to File script step and so for large scale exports it will be necessary to parcel out the writes into 64MB chunks.

FileMaker 18 has launched with a range of new features that will undoubtedly make developing new custom apps both quicker and more powerful, but what are the benefits of upgrading if you are currently using an older version of the FileMaker platform? Using a version of FileMaker older than v15? In that case there are even more good reasons to upgrade - contact our team to find out more about the benefits from upgrading that you have been missing out on!  Highlighted below are some of the key differences in features were introduced between FileMaker v15, v16, v17 and now v18 releases

As we have noted in our previous articles, FileMaker 18 is a formidable upgrade to an already great platform. While it is a given that one would immediately use the File Maker 18 platform for developing a new custom App if starting from scratch today, there may be some work to be done if you are planning on upgrading from an older version of FileMaker. Here is our quick guide of technical considerations to watch out for when updating from previous versions. If you think any of the issues noted are a concern then you are welcome to contact our consulting team for assistance. Upgrading from FileMaker v12-v17 (.fmp12 format) Since FileMaker versions 12-17 share the same file format as version 18 there is no need to convert the file. This usually means the file should simply open in the newer version of the application and there are less likely to be significant conversion issues with upgrading. With FileMaker 16/17/18, in order to produce a more modern ‘app-like’ experience on the desktop, the footer bar which includes the ability to zoom in and out, change working view mode and show/hide the upper status bar has been removed in FileMaker 16/17/18. If your users are making use of these features then they will need to adapt to using the upper status and application menus (for changing mode/status bar) or you may find that you will need to program in zoom control into your interface layouts. While you can mix these client versions to an extent (i.e. if you have legacy machines which are not able to be upgraded to the minimum hardware or OS requirements to run FileMaker 18, then you can still connect to FileMaker Server 18 using FileMaker 16 or 17), this isn’t generally advisable as it means that you cannot make use of FileMaker 18 specific features to users with older client versions. For optimal security and performance both server and all users should be on the most recent software version and patch. To prevent users from accidentally accessing an upgraded server/solution with an older version of the client software, you can set the minimum version allowed to access the file under File > File Options > Open tab. It is worth checking which features are now deprecated in FileMaker 18: https://support.filemaker.com/s/answerview?language=en_US&anum=000026098 If you are making significant use of any of these features then you may need t o develop your app around these limitations. Upgrading from FileMaker v7-v11 (.fp7 format) You need to convert from the .fp7 to .fmp12 file format before you can open them in FileMaker 17. While converting does create a copy in the new .fmp12 format it is worth remembering there is no way to convert a file back to the older .fp7 format - upgrading is a one way trip! If users still have the old version of the client software then they will be completely locked out of accessing the converted files until they have upgraded to a compatible version If you were making use of FileMaker Instant Web Publishing under FileMaker v7-11 then it is important to remember this was abandoned in favour of WebDirect for FileMaker v12 and onwards as it makes use of a newer CSS based layout engine. While WebDirect is significantly more feature rich (and scalable now with FileMaker 18), you may find that you will need to re-implement and optimise layouts for WebDirect access which may not be a trivial amount of effort if you have a complex solution! Upgrading from FileMaker v6 or earlier (.fp5 format) There are potentially lots of issues with converting files that are more than 10 years old, but here are some of the most common issues that need resolving: The most basic consideration if you have a database file of this vintage is that it isn’t possible to directly convert from v6 or earlier using FileMaker 18. You will need to use an intermediate FileMaker version (v7-11) to convert the file to the .fp7 format which 18 can then in turn convert to the .fmp12 format. FileMaker has a detailed guide on the issues and version compatibility here: http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10571/~/converting-older-filemaker-pro-files-to-the-.fmp12-file-format Back in the FileMaker v6 days, you could only specify a password and not a login name – in converting it sets the login name to be the same as the password which obviously isn’t very secure so this will need to be changed quickly post upgrade. FileMaker 18 login names are case insensitive, but the passwords are not so it can be easy to get caught out by this. In many cases it is simplest to remove all passwords under the original version, convert and set-up the security again from scratch. Typically, since having multiple tables in a single database file wasn’t possible back in v6 and earlier, you may find you have lots of files to convert and re-set-up the login/password security across multiple files. If this is the case and you have complex security group arrangements then it is often more appropriate to set-up FileMaker Server to use Active Directory, Open Directory or the newer OAuth external authentication. Finally, external file references between files could not be directly accessed in the application in FileMaker v6 and earlier, but are exposed from FileMaker v7 onwards (File > Manage > External Data Sources in FileMaker v18). On occasions when the linked files had been re-linked, or moved between multiple machines this could result in multiple ‘paths’ being recorded to the appropriate related file. These often need clean-up post conversion so that they are set to the correct relative server location. If there are lots of incorrect/’hanging’ references to old paths then this can cause FileMaker to ‘pause’ while it times out looking for the dead link. This can significantly increase the time to open the files and lead to the perception that the Application is being unresponsive.  General upgrade considerations In all of the above cases, we are assuming that you have a relatively ‘vanilla’ FileMaker solution without any complex dependencies such as integrations with 3rd party software or plugins. FileMaker plugins will generally need updating to ensure compatibility with FileMaker 18 and in many cases this will be a paid for update. The syntax and functionality of plugins can change between versions, or certain features are deprecated if the core application offers overlapping functionality or similar functionality – this may mean that you will need to re-write elements of your solution scripting to use the new native FileMaker 18 technology or may need to migrate to a different plugin. We strongly recommend that clients think seriously about how fit for purpose a legacy solution is before deciding that a simple ‘technocratic’ upgrade is an appropriate approach. Most successful businesses change their processes and focus significantly over time as well as the ecosystem of technologies that they adopt to support their workflow. In many cases, if the client has a legacy FileMaker solution that has not been updated for several years then it is usually more efficient and cost effective to consider developing a new solution from scratch which exactly fits an organisation’s modern requirements if the older system is no longer a ‘good fit’.

FileMaker 18 platform is now available with a range of powerful new features that will benefit new users and professional developers: FileMaker Pro Advanced: New user interface for importing data. Open specific app at launch. File version comparison. File-based script steps. Script Error Logging. SetRecursion calculation function. New managed security access. Plug-in security enhancements. Default file access protection. FileMaker Go: Open specific app at launch. Append to existing PDF. OAuth 2.0 support for accounts in iOS App SDK. Enhanced barcode support. FileMaker Server: Startup restoration. FileMaker Data API enhancements. FileMaker Admin API standardization. FileMaker Server Admin Console enhancements. Server monitoring enhancements.  Using an older version of FileMaker? Call our team to find out more about the benefits from upgrading that you have been missing out on!

Looking for the right platform to escape the work rut? Drawing on independent reviews from real users, the G2 Crowd Workplace Innovation Platform Report compares vendors and shows that the FileMaker Platform is the standout leader for Workplace Innovation Platforms. FileMaker, Inc., was named the leader based on receiving the highest customer satisfaction score and having a large market presence. Here is a quick backgrounder as to what a Workplace Innovation Platform is ( https://www.datatherapy.com/news/workplaceinnovationplatform). Feel like you are stuck in a work rut with inefficient processed and technology then why don’t you contact our FileMaker consulting team for a free initial consultation?

FileMaker, Inc. certainly has been firing on all cylinders recently to define the relevance of its offering to new users with its Workplace Innovation Platform category. There is a great introductory video ( https://www.filemaker.com/workplace-innovation/) and there have been some quirky and tongue in cheek 'innovation without the hype' adverts . It is worth digging in a little deeper to establish what this means and why it is an important move for FileMaker. Why now and who is the audience? This is very much a campaign targeted at building brand awareness for new potential customers. Existing customers know how powerful and flexible a tool FileMaker is and how it can be used for a broad range of industries. However, it can be really hard to communicate the specific benefits until you have had quite a detailed delve into what a potential customer might use it for and given the breadth of uses, this is a significant challenge. FileMaker, Inc. has therefore taken a leaf from its parent Apple to solve this challenge by defining its market place category in new terms. A solid overview of what category design means is dissected in the book Play B igger (link https://www.amazon.co.uk/Play-Bigger-Dreamers-Innovators-Dominate/dp/0062407619 ), which is a great read regardless of your business sector and size if you are looking to grow your business. Key Market Drivers 1) The workplace has become increasingly dynamic in the modern world People are no longer necessarily tethered to working from a single physical location with a fixed desktop computer. In the UK, consumer and business landline broadband had only just started to roll out in the early 2000s. iPhones started a mobile revolution when they were released in 2007. Mobile 4G went live in the UK to 98% of the population in 2015. 5G mobile services in the UK are already being trialled 2019. 2) The Mobility Wave Over the last 10 years, smart mobile devices have reached a population in excess of half of the adult humans in the world - twice the number of desktop workstations/PCs that exist. 3) The IT skills gap challenge Computer Science in the UK was the fastest growing subject for undergraduates in the UK according to 2017 statistics ( https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/11-01-2018/sfr247-higher-education-student-statistics/subjects) - with a 4% increase in enrolment numbers. Relative to the massive growth in the number of mobile devices, there is a huge shortage of skilled developers for the number of potential solutions that need to be built for mobile. Category Confusion There is a huge amou nt of noise in the IT development market place about how development tools are defined. In the past, FileMaker has been positioned and labelled as being a 'Low-code' or 'No-code' development platform. Equally, labels have been used such as 'High Productivity', 'Rapid Application Development' and the horribly indigestible 'High Productivity Application Platform as a Service' (hpaPaas). 'Low-code' and 'No-code' imply that code is a bad thing to new customers. Conversely, young developers frequently identify with wanting to learn more about coding to improve their skills. This neatly illustrates how confusing and unhelpful these categories can be.  The Workplace Innovation Platform This category accurately describes and defines what modern FileMaker is used for today and the future. It sees new potential customers as problem solvers that are trying to innovate new ways of working in their organisations. It can be expressed as the following point of view: Technology has huge promise for helping organisations to be smarter, dynamic and innovative in terms of getting things done, but the reality is quite different. Most businesses using IT are surrounded by appliance apps which do key tasks like accounting, messaging and file sharing, but they are not tooled to be adaptable to help drive business change. Typically, the lack of synergy and integration of appliance apps leads you down a work rut. Problem solvers find that they have outgrown what appliance apps are capable of doing and so they aren't efficient to use. There are plenty of signals for this, but some common patterns are: · Information is scattered between different systems. · Current processes are ver y ad-hoc and a lot of energy is wasted on mundane, repetitive tasks. · The rigidity of the technology locks you into specific apps only being accessible on specific devices. Clearly, the problem here is that appliance apps are simply not made for addressing the unique needs of your business. If you have researched custom enterprise level ERP or CRM from larger global integrators, then you will be aware that the typically five or six-figure implementation costs of these solutions place these options well out of reach of the majority of small businesses. Problem solvers are the people with a mix of creativity to be able to envision how their problems might be addressed and the ability to develop their own ideas to meet these problems. Businesses are set-up for success when problem solvers have the right tools to aid innovation. Problem solvers need a Workplace Innovation Platform that fills the gap between appliance apps and enterprise systems - a tool which provides everything that a problem solver needs to address their own unique challenges themselves. FileMaker provides that toolkit to design and build custom apps for business, which can then be shared with teams regardless of where they work and on any device. It can potentially integrate with both appliance and enterprise applications and it makes breakthrough technology widely accessible. Most importantly, FileMaker has a well-established ecosystem of learning paths for new problem solvers and an established community of experts for more complex problems.

The FileMaker Data API trial in FileMaker Cloud 1.16 and FileMaker Server 16 expires on 27th September 2018. Once the trial expires, the API will cease to operate.  FileM aker Cloud 1.17 and FileMaker server 17 fully support FileMaker Data API for production use. If you are still running on the FileMaker 16 Platform and need assisting with planning your upgrade to FileMaker 17 or if you wish to move to private FileMaker cloud hosting then why not contact our team for a free initial consultation.

Laboratory information managemen t systems (LIMS) are software-based solutions for tracking lab workflow, data and regulatory requirements. LIMS are a very specialist and niche software technology and their pricing reflects this. Commercial Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) LIMS solutions are typically in the £40-200/user/month price-point and perpetual licensing solutions are typically in the region of £1,500-8,000/user. By comparison, commercial Customer Relationship Management (CRM) SaaS solution usually available from around £5/user/month. LIMS need to be dynamic and flexible because laboratory requirements tend to evolve rapidly for meeting new requirements as new diagnostic techniques, equipment or regulatory requirements are introduced. Above all, this means that a LIMS solution needs to be adaptable to future changes. The FileMaker platform is appealing as a LIMS solution for a number of reasons: · While FileMaker doesn’t provide any out of the box LIMS functionality, it is very quick to customise and adapt and the reality is that nearly all LIMS solutions will need some form of tailoring and customisation - an additional cost that is above and beyond the licensing of the software. · The barebones FileMaker user licensing starts from £12/user/month (which is around a 1/3 of the cost of ‘out of the box’ LIMS solutions. · Using FileMaker means that you aren’t tied into one particular developer – there is a wide and well-established community of software developers as part of the FileMaker Business Alliance network. · Labs tend to be much more heterogenous technology environments than a typical corporate office. It is not uncommon to see a mix of desktop Macs, Windows, Linux PCs running alongside iOS/Android tablets and other proprietary diagnostics hardware. FileMaker thrives in this kind of environment as it is runs natively on iOS, Mac OS and Windows, but also via WebDirect it supports browser access for Android and Linux. FileMaker supports data exchange via CSV, Excel, ODBC, XML and REST/JSON – allowing it to be integrated with a broad range of other devices. · Clinical laboratory environments have understandably strict regulatory requirements about storing client patient information securely. For example, in the NHS, existing data governance requirements often favour on-premises solutions which can be integrated directly with existing trust systems and so making use of cloud hosted solutions problematic. FileMaker has an advantage here as it can be deployed via on-premises on physical or virtual servers, as well as public Cloud (Amazon/AWS) or private Cloud hosting (such as DataTherapy’s managed FileMaker Cloud hosting). Furthermore, it is relatively trivial to move between these different environments as requirements change. · Laboratory data exchange typically not only requires a common format/standard for transmission, but also significant processing and transformation of the text data to a different data structure i.e., to convert an Electronic Patient Request (EPR) into a format which can be presented in a tabular aggregate as a lab diagnostic workflow list (such as a sample pic list) and finally as results are collated then output to instruments using a communication protocol such as HL7 message. FileMaker has a powerful and flexible text parsing engine which can be quickly used to transform text data between different structures. · FileMaker is exceptionally good at importing, handling and storing image files, which are increasingly an adjunct to lab data. FileMaker can effectively be a one-stop shop for all the data needed for the analysis of results and reporting on them. · The popularity of FileMaker within the academic environment means that systems can often be customised by the scientists and medical staff after being built by specialist developers- minor tweaks can be done by laboratory staff themselves if desired. · Most of all, FileMaker is a genuinely rapid application development platform. Changes to laboratory practice- new reporting requirements, new tests to accommodate, new equipment to interface with- can be accomplished in a fraction of the time that it would take with commercial SaaS installations, if indeed those changes can be made at all.  Still trying to decide if FileMaker platform is a good fit for your LIMS requirements? Why not call our consulting team to find out more about the potential benefits and for a free, no obligation quotation.

Next week, Yousaf Shah and James Nelson will be attending FileMaker DevCon 2018 @ Gaylord Texan Resort - Dallas, Texas. It can be a substantial investment in terms of ti me and money to attend – especially if you are flying in from Europe. So why is it that DataTherapy commit to sending team members every year? In short, we think as Platinum Partners and active members of the FileMaker Business Alliance that it is an essential learning experience for anyone who works with the FileMaker platform day to day. It can be especially useful to fill in any gaps in your knowledge of new releases of the platform which is critical to gaining FileMaker Certification. Here are some of the other reasons why we commit to attending every year: 1) A peek into the future of the FileMaker Platform direction You get the opportunity for direct face to face contact with FileMaker’s technical team. There are usually in-depth discussions on the planned roadmap and technology previews of future versions of the platform. This gives you a glimpse of what new opportunities your business might have a year from now when newer FileMaker releases finally drop. It is important to get a heads up on where FileMaker is taking the platform with new features like JSON support and the REST API so that you are in a position to fully take advantage of these features in your development projects and to communicate the advantages of this technology to your clients. 2) Great technical talks regardless of your level and area of expertise Regardless of your current level of expertise from Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, there will be sessions pitched to that level. Whether your role is focused on database backend, front-end/UX, web, mobile, integrations, or server deployments there will be a relevant conference session for you. Still haven’t got around to doing your FileMaker Certification or need some new techniques to scale the management of your development team? There are sessions for that too! 3) It isn’t just for techies – there are great business discussions too! For us, some of the most interesting sessions at DevCon focus on business principles and practices rather than purely technical discussions. Never underestimate the value in getting new perspectives on all of the non-technical challenges of building a business around consultancy and custom Apps – getting new ideas about how to communicate with your clients, design, plan and execute within your team can often have a greater and more lasting impact on your business than purely technical training.  4) It is fun too! There are plenty of fun opportunities to socialise and forge links with the rest of the FileMaker community! Hopefully Yousaf & James will see you in the bar . . .

For FileMaker 15, 16 and 17, FileMaker Inc. has made available the FileMaker iOS App SDK. With the iOS SDK you can: · Brand your custom iOS App with a custom icon for ea sy identification. · Control when you apply FileMaker Go updates to your custom iOS Apps. · Automate the deployment of your custom iOS Apps via mobile device management (MDM) solutions. · Your users won’t need to install FileMaker Go and worry about configuring it to access your cloud or private in-house server – this configuration information can be embedded or made configurable within your App. Making use of the FileMaker iOS App SDK requires a significant appreciation of the wider technology landscape outside of the core FileMaker platform skills that would normally be expected from experienced (or even a Certified FileMaker Developer) and so here is a quick overview of the prerequisites and process: Prerequisites 1) You must have a valid FileMaker Developer Subscription. If you don’t already have one, then you can purchase one directly from FileMaker – this is £79+VAT/year if you are based in the UK ( https://store.filemaker.com/product/FDS). All FileMaker Developers worth their salt should already have this in place as FDS also provides access to testing only FileMaker platform licensing, access to pre-release software, the new FileMaker 17 data migration tool, as well as the iOS SDK. Once you have an active subscription then you can download the appropriate version of the SDK (see https://community.filemaker.com/docs/DOC-6727). 2) If you want to distribute iOS Apps, then you must have a valid Apple Developer Program subscription (see https://developer.apple.com/programs/). A key consideration is that FileMaker, Inc. does not recommend or support the use of the iOS App SDK to distribute custom iOS apps using the public App Store. Therefore, for distribution outside of the public App Store, you will also need to be enrolled in the Apple Developer Enterprise Program in order to be able to deploy apps in-house (see https://developer.apple.com/programs/enterprise/). There is an annual subscription cost associated with this and you have to be able to meet the following requirements to enrol: · Your organisation needs legal entity status. · A D-U-N-S® Number. · The person carrying out the enrolment must have Legal Binding Authority · You will need to have a registered Apple ID (see https://appleid.apple.com/account#!&page=create) which has Two-Factor Authentication enabled. · A website which is publicly available & with a domain registered to your organisation. 3) Access to modern macOS compatible hardware – Xcode does not run on any other platform after all! Building your sol  ution There are iOS SDKs covering FileMaker 15-17 so you need to have built and tested your solution within the corresponding version – even though the .fmp12 file format is shared dating back to FileMaker 12. Unless you have a good reason (legacy iOS/iPhone/iPad support needed) you should probably be sticking with the latest FileMaker 17 SDK which has the most developed feature set. Some quick considerations would be: · Are you targeting a single form factor or multiple device resolutions? Make sure you have layouts that are designed to resize and scale and are relatively screen resolution agnostic, or you will need to script to detect the screen/device real estate required and build optimised layouts for each device screen size. · You need to decide when new versions of your App are issued, should the corresponding embedded FileMaker database file be kept or replaced with each new release? You will need to plan, detect & script for the database to be imported across from the old data file to the new data file if that needs to be preserved or make your users aware that they may potentially lose data. · Depending on your use case, it may be that little actual data resides on the device and it may simply act as a launcher to a cloud hosted or LAN available FileMaker Server. · FileMaker Inc. seems to be fully committed to a subscription licensing model and an annual release cycle going by the last few releases in line with Apple’s annual iOS release updates so you should factor in the effort to issue at least an annual release cycle to test and update your App in light of these cycles. Likewise, normally the provisioning profiles generated and issued for the Apple Enterprise Developer scheme are time limited. Deployment - building & releasing your first .ipa file The 11 step guide to building using the FileMaker 17 SDK can be found here: https://fmhelp.filemaker.com/docs/17/en/appsdk/ Once you have a working App running in your simulator then within your Xcode project you should select Product > Archive to generate a build. You can then view a list of your builds from Window > Organiser. This will show you a list of the Apps and builds you have generated. Select the App and Build version and then under the right-hand ‘Archive Information’ panel select the ‘Export..’ button. Select ‘Enterprise’ as the method of distribution: If you know that you only need to support a very specific model of hardware then you can potentially reduce the size of the binary but limit support to that specific type, otherwise you should leave App Thinning to ‘All compatible device variants’. If you will be distributing the App via a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution then you do not need to tick the option to include the manifest for over-the-air-installation. If you are planning to redistribute via web then you need to provide the information for the manifest file to be generated: The first ‘gotcha’ here is that even if you are planning on distributing via a web server, then even if it is an internal server, that server will still need to use https:// and so therefore must have a valid SSL certificate. The second, is that the above example doesn’t highlight that you will need to build a basic webpage which includes a link to the manifest and the mobile profile for the App which has been generated using the Apple Enterprise Developer account and specified within the App’s Xcode project when the build was generated. For example, the .html page which is used to install the app will need to include these links along these lines: Install the Your App and Install the Distribution Profile The third snag if you aren’t using a MDM solution to push out both the App and the Mobile Provisioning profile in conjunction is that you need to download the app, install provisioning profile and then go to General > Settings> Profile > Enterprise App/[Your authorising organisation] and then click on the option to ‘Trust’ the organisation. If your device already has MDM enabled for another 3rd party then this will appear under a slightly different location - General > Settings> Device Management > Profile > Enterprise App/[Your authorising organisation] Until this is completed then if you attempt to open the App then you will be warned that it is an ‘Untrusted Enterprise App’. The final consideration if you don’t have MDM is that you don’t get the benefits of issuing updates via ‘push’ like you do with the public App Store – when new updates are released, users will have to delete the App file and then re-install. Need some assistance with deploying your FileMaker App using the iOS SDK or need some assistance with how to get the most out of FileMaker 17 platform? Call our team to find out more about the benefits from upgrading for a free, no obligation quotation.

DataTherapy are pleased to announce that FileMaker 17 private cloud hosting packages are immediately available. DataTherapy can provide scalable, managed FileMaker packa ges for businesses of all size. Full details of all of our packages can be found here: https://datatherapy.host/pricing/ Our data centre facility is based in London/UK and we can offer a range of a variety of enhanced options such as domain management, custom SSL certificates, VPN, VLAN, disaster recovery and integration with other technologies.  If you need additional information, or would like to arrange a free trial of any of our packages then please don’t hesitate to contact our team.

FileMaker 17 marks some interesting and welcome shift by FileMaker Inc's approach to focus on licensing as a platform rather than a per product basis - here is a quick s ummary of so me of the key changes. For the full details, see: www.filemaker.com/purchase/store/faq-teams.html In short, the old VLA and AVLA agreements are being retired in favour of new FileMaker User, Connections and Site licensing schemes. This actually has a lot of positive conse quences: FileMaker Pro is dead, long live FileMaker Advanced! FileMaker Pro is no more, instead it has been replaced with its more fully functional cousin FileMaker Advanced - consequently, all users as standard now get the full power of FileMaker Advanced features, such as: · Live Data Viewer. · Script Debugger. · Enable Database Encryption. · Custom Menus. · Custom Functions. · Database Design Reports (DDRs). · Kiosk Mode Support. FileMaker for Teams is dead, long live FileMaker Advanced! In line with FileMaker Pro being discontinued, there is no longer a FileMaker Pro for User Connections – again, all users now get the full FileMaker Advanced feature set. Simplified license key handling One license key per contract included in all programs; one key is used for all product installations in FileMaker 17. No need to worry about there being different license keys for Pro, Advanced and Server as you did with FileMaker 16 and earlier. Multiple server instances as standard FileMaker User licensing assumes as standard that you will get three server instances. Previously if you needed multiple servers for development, testing and live production purposes then you can specifically buy additional server licenses, or consider a site license. The new FileMaker User licensing scheme assumes that you will want to potentially run up to 3 server instances as standard and one of these can be used for an AWS FM Cloud instance whereas previously this would have required additional separate licensing.  FileMaker Data API Licensing model This is no longer a trial feature as it was in FileMaker 16 and is now fully supported in FileMaker 17 as standard. Up to 2GB of outbound data transfer per user per month is now included as standard (tracked in aggregate, annually - i.e. 10 users x 2GB/month = 20GB/month; 240GB/year total allowance). For systems that make heavy use of the FileMaker Data API then additional allowance can be purchased separately. Not sure how the changes to FileMaker licensing will effect you or need some assistance with how to get the most out of FileMaker 17 platform? Call our team for a free, no obligation quotation.

One of the major benefits of the iOS platform is the huge number of built-in sensors for things such as motion tracking and GPS, etc. FileMaker Go 17 now supports the pu lling data from these sensors with the new GetSensor() function. Simply use GetSensor(parameter). Helpfully calling GetSensor (“available”), will pull back a list of all of the types of sensor available on the device. Here is a quick summary of the core ones: Air Pressure (“airPressure”) Step Counts (“stepCount”, “stepFloorsUp”, “stepDistance”) Magnetic (“magneticField”,”compassMagneticHeading”,”compassTrueHeading”) Altitude/Speed/Acceleration (“attitude”,”rotationRate”, “accelerationByUser”, “accelerationByGravity”,”speed”, “heading”) Location (“location”, “locationValues”) and Battery (“batteryLevel”,”batteryStatus”) How is this useful? There are likely to be lots of niche cases where this function is critical, to illustrate some simple examples: If you had a custom FM Go App for measuring patient health then you could ask patients to use the App to submit their Step Count data alongside other qualitative questionnaires about their exercise regime. It you had a custom FM Go App which had an especially performance intensive script which could take some time to run and might adversely effect battery life then you might want to warn the user if they are running low on battery and recommend that they wait until they are plugged in.  It you had a custom FM Go App used in the field by scientists then you could measure and record magnetic and air pressure without requiring additional information. Need some assistance with writing a new FileMaker Go custom app or need some assistance with how to get the most out of FileMaker 17 platform? Call our team to find out more about the benefits from upgrading for a free, no obligation quotation.

As we have noted in our previous articles, FileMaker 17 is a formidable upgrade to an already great platform. While it is a given that one would immediately use the File Maker 17 platform for developing a new custom App if starting from scratch today, there may be some work to be done if you are planning on upgrading from an older version of FileMaker. Here is our quick guide of technical considerations to watch out for when updating from previous versions. If you think any of the issues noted are a concern then you are welcome to contact our consulting team for assistance. Upgrading from FileMaker v12-v16 (.fmp12 format) Since FileMaker versions 12-16 share the same file format as version 17 there is no need to convert the file. This usually means the file should simply open in the newer version of the application and there are less likely to be significant conversion issues with upgrading. With FileMaker 16/17 in order to produce a more modern ‘app-like’ experience on the desktop, the footer bar which includes the ability to zoom in & out, change working view mode and show/hide the upper status bar has been removed in FileMaker 16/17. If your users are making use of these features then they will need to adapt to using the upper status and application menus (for changing mode/status bar) or you may find that you will need to program in zoom control into your interface layouts. While you can mix these client versions to an extent (i.e. if you have legacy machines which are not able to be upgraded to the minimum hardware or OS requirements to run FileMaker 17, then you can still connect to FileMaker Server 17 using FileMaker 15 or 16), this isn’t generally advisable as it means that you cannot make use of FileMaker 17 specific features to users with older client versions. For optimal security & performance both server and all users should be on the most recent version and patch. To prevent users from accidentally accessing an upgraded server/solution with an older version of the client software you can set the minimum version allowed to access the file under File > File Options > Open tab. It is worth checking which features are now deprecated in FileMaker 17: https://support.filemaker.com/s/answerview?language=en_US&anum=000026028 If you are making significant use of any of these features then you may need to develop around these limitations Upgrading from FileMaker v7-v11 (.fp7 format) You need to convert from the .fp7 to .fmp12 file format before you can open them in FileMaker 17. While converting does create a copy in the new .fmp12 format it is worth remembering there is no way to convert a file back to the older .fp7 format - upgrading is a one way trip! If users still have the old version of the client software then they will be completely locked out of accessing the converted files until they have upgraded to a compatible version If you were making use of FileMaker Instant Web Publishing under FileMaker v7-11 then it is important to remember this was abandoned in favour of WebDirect for FileMaker v12 and onwards as it makes use of a newer CSS based layout engine. While WebDirect is significantly more feature rich (and scalable now with FileMaker 17), you may find that you will need to re-implement and optimise layouts for WebDirect access which may not be a trivial amount of effort if you have a complex solution! Upgrading from FileMaker v6 or earlier (.fp5 format) There are potentially lots of issues with converting files which are more than 10 years old, but here are some of the most common issues that need resolving: The most basic consideration if you have a database file of this vintage is that it isn’t possible to directly convert from v6 or earlier using FileMaker 17. You will need to use an intermediate FileMaker version (v7-11) to convert the file to the .fp7 format which 17 can then in turn convert to the .fmp12 format. FileMaker has a detailed guide on the is sues and version compatibility here:  http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10571/~/converting-older-filemaker-pro-files-to-the-.fmp12-file-format Back in the FileMaker v6 days you could only specify a password and not a login name – in converting it sets the login name to be the same as the password which obviously isn’t very secure so this will need to be changed quickly post upgrade. FileMaker 17 login names are case insensitive, but the passwords are not so it can be easy to get caught out by this. In many cases it is simplest to remove all passwords under the original version, convert and set-up the security again from scratch. Typically, since having multiple tables in a single database file wasn’t possible back in v6 and earlier, you may find you have lots of files to convert and re-set-up the login/password security across multiple files. If this is the case and you have complex security group arrangements then it is often more appropriate to set-up FileMaker Server to use Active Directory, Open Directory or the newer OAuth external authentication. Finally, external file references between files could not be directly accessed in the application in FileMaker v6 and earlier, but are exposed from FileMaker v7 onwards (File > Manage > External Data Sources in FileMaker v16). On occasions when the linked files had been re-linked or moved between multiple machines this could result in multiple ‘paths’ being recorded to the appropriate related file – these often need clean-up post conversion so that they are set to the correct relative server location. If there are lots of incorrect/’hanging’ references to old paths then this can cause FileMaker to ‘pause’ while it times out looking for the dead link – this can significantly increase the time to open the files and lead to the perception that the Application is being unresponsive. General upgrade considerations In all of the above cases, we are assuming that you have a relatively ‘vanilla’ FileMaker solution without any complex dependencies such as integrations with 3rd party software or plugins. FileMaker plugins will generally need updating to ensure compatibility with FileMaker 17 and in many cases this will be a paid for update. The syntax and functionality of plugins can change between versions or certain features are deprecated if the core application offers overlapping functionality or similar functionality – this may mean that you will need to re-write elements of your solution scripting to use the new native FileMaker 17 technology or may need to migrate to a different plugin. We strongly recommend that clients think seriously about how fit for purpose a legacy solution is before deciding that a simple ‘technocratic’ upgrade is an appropriate approach. Most successful businesses change their processes and focus significantly over time as well as the ecosystem of technologies that they adopt to support their workflow. In many cases if the client has a legacy FileMaker solution that has not been updated for several years then it is usually more efficient and cost effective to consider developing a new solution from scratch which exactly fits an organisation’s modern requirements if the older system is no longer a ‘good fit’.

FileMaker 17 has launched with a range of new features that will undoubtedly make developing new custom apps both quicker and more powerful, but what are the benefits of upgrading if you are currently using an older version of the FileMaker platform? Below we highlight when some of the key differences in features were introduced between FileMaker v14, v15, v16 and now v17 releases.  Using a version of FileMaker older than v14? In that case there are even more good reasons to upgrade - contact our team to find out more about the benefits from upgrading that you have been missing out on!

Public awareness of data protection has significantly hit the headlines this month with revelations around the alleged misuse of Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica. Ac cording to this analysis by Goldman Sachs, Facebook could lose $2.8 billion of its revenues under GDPR. Ironically, failure to comply with these regulations can result in a fine of up to 4% of global revenue, but Goldman Sachs estimate that a proper implementation of strict GDPR controls by Facebook could hit revenues by around 7%. Closer to home, the Royal Mail Group has been fined £12,000 this month by the Information Commissioner's Office after sending more than 300,000 nuisance emails. On two dates in July 2017, the company sent emails to 327,014 people who had already opted out of receiving direct marketing. When GDPR comes into effect this May, fines of up to 4% of Royal Mail Group could be potentially up to £391M (assuming financial performance comparable to 2016-2017). Given the prevalence of either using the FileMaker platform for CRM and generating bulk e-mails directly or integrating with a 3rd party mail platform such as MailChimp, this highlights how essential it is to review any automated processes that your organisation might have in place and ensure that they are properly handling flagged opt-outs.  If you are interested in finding out more about how the FileMaker platform can be used to secure data privacy or need assistance with modifying your system to meet GDPR requirements then contact our consulting team for assistance.

As we count down to the 25th May 2018 when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into full effect, it is useful to keep an eye on real world examples of is sues that are likely to crop up and tie that back to a scenario which could realistically be seen within a typical FileMaker solution. If you haven't read our first post on GDPR preparation for FileMaker users then click here. A common use of the FileMaker platform is customer relationship management, tracking enquiries and the conversion into actual customer, managing the logistics and billing of that work. It would be unsurprising for many FileMaker solutions to have customer names, record IDs/account codes and an e-mail address. It is very common, when talking about data breaches for people to usually think of the dangers of 'rogue hackers'/external threats, when in reality it is more often the internal threats posed by negligent or disgruntled employees. See https://inform.tmforum.org/features-and-analysis/2016/03/defending-your-data-securing-against-internal-and-external-threats/ for more discussion on this. With this in mind, when I was reviewing examples of recent fines and enforcement rulings on the Information Commissioner's Office, one recent ruling immediately jumped out as it struck me as being so relevant to many typical FileMaker based CRMs:  18th January 2018 - SSE Energy Supply Ltd See https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/enforcement/sse-energy-supply-ltd/ Essentially, SSE Energy Supply Ltd made a very simple mistake: one of their customer service team e-mailed the wrong account number and surname to a SINGLE customer. While this was recognised as a data breach and internally logged, it wasn't reported to the ICO within the required 24hrs of being logged and so subsequently SSE Energy Supply Ltd was issued with a fixed penalty fine of £1,000 - ouch! FileMaker scripting can be used to fully or semi-automate email responses using standard templates for common queries, meaning that there is much less potential for these kinds of data transcriptions errors which can lead to an accidental internal data breach. If you are interested in finding out more about how the FileMaker platform can be used to secure data privacy or need assistance with modifying your system to meet GDPR then contact our consulting team for assistance.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect 25 May 2018: the intention is to strengthen and unify data protection for residents and citizens within t he European Union. A primary goal of the act is to give people back control over their personal data and simplify the regulatory environment for international business with the European Union. If you haven’t read up on the regulations then you should start with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website and look at their 12 steps to take now: https://ico.org.uk/media/1624219/preparing-for-the-gdpr-12-steps.pdf and then look at the full guide to the regulations: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-1-0.pdf It is important to note that in 2016 the ICO issued £880,500 of fines against companies last year, but that this would have been likely to be £69 Million under the new GDPR regulations according to an analysis by the NCC Group ( see https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/28/ico_fines_post_gdpr_analysis/). If you have been thinking that Brexit is likely to save you from having to implement GDPR compliant procedures then think again as it is likely that the UK regulatory framework will have to stay as close to the EU framework as possible in order to ensure that trade is not impacted (see http://www.blplaw.com/expert-legal-insights/articles/gdpr-and-brexit-uk-government-unveils-data-protection-plans/). For many organisations using the FileMaker platform, there will be an element of their custom App or database which will have an individual’s contact information (Name, email, telephone numbers, job role and address) which falls under the definition of ‘personal data’ in GDPR. Consequently, if you are using FileMaker, you will have to examine the implications of GDPR and modify your system and business processes to ensure that they are compliant. The good news is that since FileMaker is optimised for custom development, it is usually quick to adjust to meet new regulatory requirements like GDPR (which is not always the case with off the shelf software). Here are a couple of highlights of issues that you might need to address and what that would mean in the context of a FileMaker database or app: Information Sharing The GDPR requires that you keep records of your processing activities in a networked world: if you have inaccurate information and it is shared with another organisation, you will need to inform the other organisation about the inaccuracy so that their records can be updated. Therefore, it is necessary to map out all of the inputs and exports that you feed and are generated by your database. For example, it is common with FileMaker to use open database connectivity (ODBC) drivers to synchronise data with 3rd party SQL systems (such as Oracle, MySQL or MS SQL) or to integrate with a web service using cURL and REST API – so an important first step would be to document all of these integration points and highlight any cases where personal information is being exchanged and confirm there is a mechanism in place to issue corrections. Subject access requests Individuals have the right to request to be informed of what data you have recorded about them and in a tightening of the legislation compared with the Data Protection Act, you have only 1 month to comply with a request rather than 40 days. If your organisation handles a large number of requests then you may need to look at improving the efficiency of processing these requests more quickly. If you have your data within FileMaker then you may find it useful to build new interfaces to log the tracking of these requests and script the generation of suitable exports (Excel/CSV) or PDF reports to provide an overview of the information being held. Consent GDPR sets a higher standard for consent than the Data Protection Act – see: https://ico.org.uk/media/about-the-ico/consultations/2013551/draft-gdpr-consent-guidance-for-consultation-201703.pdf Notably GDPR specifically bans pre-ticked opt-in boxes. If you use your FileMaker system for CRM and are historically used to defaulting a flag field for adding a new prospect to a mail/email mailing list then this would need to be turned off. Along a similar line if you are synchronising email lists with 3rd party online services like MailChimp then you need to be conscious of ensuring that if people opt out of communications that this is respected across all the systems you are using. C  hildren GDPR brings in special protections for children’s personal data and sets 16 as the age of consent for data processing. If your organisation offers online services to children then you need to obtain consent from a parent or guardian and so you may need to put processing in place to verify an individual’s age. For example, if you used FileMaker Go on an iPad to present a consent form and obtain a digital signature, it would be prudent to include fields to capture and check age based on their date of birth. Data Protection by Design and Data Protection Impact Assessments GDPR makes privacy by design a legal requirement and data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) mandatory where new technology is deployed, a profiling operation is likely to affect individuals or where there is processing on a large scale. FileMaker 16 includes a plethora of features which can be used to secure solutions, protect privacy and minimise the chance of data breaches so it is worth reviewing your security arrangements and determining if it is appropriate to make adjustments: Limit Full Access accounts and turn off auto-login – by default, a new FileMaker file will have a single full access account with the login ‘Admin’ and no password. This password should be changed as soon as a solution goes into production use with real data. Auto-login can be turned off under File > File Options. FileMaker 16 server by default will not allow you to host and open a file which contains a full access login with no password set. Use Custom privilege sets – it is prudent to always create custom security privilege sets, rather than relying on the default ‘Data Entry Only’ settings for standard users. As a minimum, you may want to turn off the ability of regular users to routinely print or export data. FileMaker offers full granularity to specify in its security model, which fields and layouts can be accessed by a user and whether new records can be created, modified or deleted in a table. You can also choose a minimum password length and enforce having to change it every X days. Check Extended privileges – The X in the ‘fmreauthenticateX’ extended privilege controls how many minutes that FileMaker can be left in sleep/background before it requires a user to re-authenticate. By default this is set to 10mins, so if you handle sensitive personal data then it may be prudent to reduce his timing to force re-authentication after a shorter period. Make use of Active Directory/OAuth for managing security. Delegating authentication to Active Directory or OAuth provides two obvious benefits: the password can be used across multiple files and centrally managed with strict rules on password length and complexity. As AD is normally managed centrally, there should be a standardised process for leavers to be removed and so it is less likely that accounts will be left active for longer than they should be available. Limit File Access. By default, one FileMaker file can be linked and referenced within another regardless of the privilege set access level that the user has to the file. This can be restricted to only allow users with full access privileges for explicitly authorised files (see File > Manage > Security > File Access tab). SSL Encryption in flight. FileMaker Server 16 is now much more explicit when there isn’t a properly configured and valid SSL certificate from a supported provider in place. This is essential if you are accessing via a WAN connection. AES 256 Encryption at rest. It is possible to encrypt FileMaker database files using FileMaker Advanced 16 – this ensures that even if your network and server are compromised, it will be practically impossible to access the data without also having a copy of the encryption key to decrypt the file. We now recommend doing this as standard for any system which includes personal data. Use secure storage to encrypt container fields. Documents that you have uploaded to container fields can be stored in an encrypted format in an external folder alongside your database files. This is especially prudent if these documents contain personal or sensitive information (i.e. scans of passports for proof of identity, etc). Encrypt data within fields. In the past, 3rd party plugins were required to encrypt and decrypt field level data within FileMaker. Now with FileMaker 16 there are native functions such as CryptEncrypt/CryptDecrypt. For highly sensitive personal data such as medical information or credit card data there is a good argument for doing this as standard. For more information on the security features of the FileMaker platform - see FileMaker's official guide: https://fmhelp.filemaker.com/docs/16/en/security If you are interested in finding out more about how the FileMaker platform can be used to secure data privacy or need assistance with modifying your system to meet GDPR then contact our consulting team for assistance.