Meeting Room Change for October's meeting

Please note that the meeting for October 27, 2008 will be held in the Jupiter Room (6th floor) for the Washington Mutual Center.

Hope to see you all there Monday!

Laura Bowyer
Seattle FMPug Chapter Coordinator

Seattle FMPug Meeting - October 27, 2008

Cris Ippolite will be presenting on:

Extended Uses for Web Viewer
Web Viewer offers developers the ability to integrate web viewing functionality as a Layout Object. Web viewer comes with default functionality to integrate maps, searching and tracking. However there are many other exciting uses of the Web Viewer that can easily be integrated. This presentation will cover using the Web Viewer to : Display Images and video as an alternate to containers, Display documents as a Help System, run java using plug ins, "Scrape" HTML content, and Displaying Flash or Flex to provide extended layout functionality.

Cris Ippolite is president and founder of iSolutions, Inc. He has been working with databases since 1991, is an FSA Partner member, specializing in FileMaker Development and Training in addition to being a pioneer in Flash and FileMaker integration. For more information visit: http://www.crisippolite.com and http://www.isolutionstraining.com.

Cris will be providing 2 FileMaker 9 Training DVDs and 2 Bento Training DVDs for raffle as well as 24 hour lynda.com passes for each attendee.

UPDATE: Bob Majors form 7th Wave Productions has graciously volunteered to make and bring Lasagna! (Thanks Bob!)

NOTE: Meeting will be at the WaMu Center, 1301 2nd Ave, (Jupiter Room - 6th Floor), Seattle, WA 98101. This is the last formal meeting of 2008 so don't miss out!!! (Don't forget to RSVP so that you will be admitted by security!)

RSVP

Vincenzo Menanno to speak at September Seattle Chapter FMPUG meeting

We are proud to announce that Vincenzo Menanno, Chief Database Architect at FM::Nexus, will be our speaker for the September 2008 Seattle Chapter FileMaker Professional User Group (FMPUG) meeting. This meeting will be held at the Washington Mutual Center, 1301 2nd Ave, 42nd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101. Please RSVP to be included in the security list.

Menanno will answer the questions, “What are Web Services, what the heck is a WSDL, and how can FileMaker developers take advantage of them?” Menanno will demonstrate powerful Web Services available on demand across the Internet. He will show how easy it is to plug Web Services into a solution, starting with an example database talking to FedEx Shipping. Menanno will also configure the ability to send SMS messages from inside FileMaker, implementing this in less than 5 minutes, with most of the heavy lifting done by a plug-in, a WSDL, and minimal coding. He will also go over the enhancements and changes made in the 2.0 version of the plug-in and how those changes greatly improve the usability and deployment.

Next on Menanno’s agenda, he will share the development framework that he and others use to start projects - the FOCUS framework. Menanno will talk about the merits and drawbacks of what he calls FOCUS, and the benefits of this approach with code re-usability, UI objects, functional groupings, etc. He plans to make this framework freely available early next year and is looking for developers interested in contributing suggestions and advice. So far the framework has adopted some gems from the FileMaker community, and he will dive under the hood to present those to the audience.

Menanno will be raffling off a free copy of Web Services 2.0 to an FMPug member, as well as a secret surprise only available to those who show up! In addition, other raffle prizes include a copy of FileMaker 9 donated by Phil Smith of FileMaker and the book “FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual” courtesy of Peachpit Press.

The meeting will be held on Monday, September 22, 2008 from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM and is open to all current FMPUG members. Not yet a member? Want to see what FMPUG is all about? Feel free to attend your first meeting at no charge. Event organizers, SolutionMakers, Inc., will provide PIZZA and beverages and Washington Mutual has once again donated the beautiful meeting space, the White Oak Room on the 42nd floor of the Washington Mutual Center in downtown Seattle. The address is 1301 2nd Avenue, 42nd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101. Attendees will need to register online at http://www.fmpug.com to obtain access to the building.

Help us Choose a New Meeting Place!

Hello Puggers!

Thank you for participating in our survey about the physical location and times of our Seattle FMPug meetings!

To date, we have had an overwhelming response to keep the meetings in Seattle and keep them on the 4th Monday night of each month.

So, we have some options:

1) The Seattle dBug Resource Center (thanks to Bruce Robertson for offering this option!) is available every 4th Monday of the month. Location is 9620 Stone Avenue North, Suite 202, Seattle, WA 98103-3378. We can bring in food (pizza) and beverages (beer was a common request) and parking is free. HOWEVER, it's possible that the room may not be avialable as early as January 2009.

2) Revolution's office (one of our members - thank you DeForest Shotwell!). Location is 421 Fairview Ave North,Seattle, WA 98109. We can bring in food and beverages and keep the schedule of every 4th Monday of each month. The only challenge may be parking with limited areas.

3) Adobe (thanks to Angelo Luchi for getting a sponsor for this site). Location is 801 N 34th St, Seattle, WA 98103. We're verifying now if we can bring in food and beverages and what the parking accommodations are.

Please weigh in and let us know what you prefer. The survey is listed to the right of this post. Thanks for your participation!

Laura Bowyer, Chapter Coordinator

My apologies for last night's Seattle FMPug meeting

My Dearest Seattle Puggers:

I want to extend my humblest apologies to those of you who attended last night's Seattle FMPug meeting!

Due to cut backs in staff and our current WaMu contact being out ill, the list of registered attendees did not make it to the security desk in order for us to get admission to the room. The room was scheduled and available for our meeting, as was graciously set up for us by Dan Wilton (formerly at WaMu, now at Entellic) a few months back.


I would like to thank our presenter, Richard Carlton (Richard Carlton Consulting), and William for their patience and understanding in our search for a new meeting space! And for their presentation and open Q & A discussion around all things FileMaker and ESS. A terrific bunch of folks at Richard Carlton Consulting.

I'd also like to thank those that came to the rescue with positive, problem solving suggestions: Ruth Johnson (Teague), for pointing us in the direction of the Benyroya Hall for some ad-hoc meeting space; The man at Benyroya (sorry, name unknown) for letting us stay past their closing, Dan Wilton for trying to locate someone at WaMu that could arrange entry to their meeting room for us; Mike Ross (Digital Designs) for trying to get us a room at the Apple Store (currently being remodeled...), and Angelo Luchi (SolutionMakers) for making a last minute accessory run for a power strip. And, of course, to the other attendees for putting up with the chaos of the room change. This group is awesome!

We have made some checkpoints and guidelines to assure that this does not happen again.

I invite your feedback and input on how we can make the Seattle FMPug a more rewarding and enriching group! Do we need to look at changing venues, dates, days of the week, geographic locations, topic format or anything else? This is your group - let's make it GREAT!

Please email or call me with your ideas or suggestions. And I look forward to seeing more of you at our September meeting when Vincenzo Menanno (FMNexus) presents!

Best regards,

Laura Bowyer

Richard Carlton to speak on ESS at August meeting

We are proud to announce that Richard Carlton, President of Richard Carlton Consulting, Inc., will be our speaker for the August 2008 Seattle Chapter FileMaker Professional User Group (FMPUG) meeting. Carlton’s topic, “Essential Setup Skills Using FileMaker ESS”, discusses how FileMaker ESS has opened a new door into the world of integrating with external data sources. Beyond the basics, he will provide some important information to help users make the most of this new technology. The meeting will cover tools needed to leverage ESS. He’ll also examine how users can use SASE in conjunction with ESS to manage, manipulate, and move data around without user intervention. He’ll also discuss best practices for ESS to ensure maximum integration.

Highlights of the session include how to integrate external SQL data into FileMaker Pro solutions, how to use SASE to automate SQL data management, how to deal with synchronization and refresh issues, and ESS best practices and performance optimization.

The meeting will be held on Monday, August 25, 2008 from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM and is open to all current FMPUG members. Not yet a member? Want to see what FMPUG is all about? Feel free to attend your first meeting at no charge. The meeting will take place at the Washington Mutual Center, 1301 2nd Avenue, 42nd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101. Attendees will need to register online at http://www.fmpug.com to obtain access to the building.

For the monthly Seattle Chapter FMPUG raffle give-away, Peachpit Press has kindly donated a copy of “Web Publishing with PHP and FileMaker 9” and FileMaker's Phil Smith has graciously donated a copy of FileMaker 9. Event organizers, SolutionMakers, Inc., will provide some light snacks and beverages and Washington Mutual has once again donated the beautiful meeting space, the White Oak Room on the 42nd floor of the Washington Mutual Center in downtown Seattle.

Additional information: Jody Bossert - Marketing and Project Coordinator, 1-800-237-3975 x103, jodybossert@solutionmakers.com, or visit our web site at http://www.SolutionMakers.com. For information specific to FMPUG, visit their web site at http://www.fmpug.com.

Developers Conference Roundtable Re-Cap

Come and join us as we discuss the neat tricks and tips we learned at DevCon during the various training sessions. We will quickly discuss the highlights and tricks learned from each session. Those that attend DevCon will have the opportunity to catch up on details from classes they were unable to fit into their schedule, while those who are unable to make DevCon will definitely benefit from all the exciting new information being shared as well. Visit www.fmpug.com to register.

We will have snacks and goodies there for all attendees and as always a beautiful view of the Seattle waterfront from the 42nd level of the Washington Mutual Center! (1301 2nd Avenue, 42nd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101). Phil Smith from FileMaker has donated a copy of FileMaker Pro 9 to be raffled off.

Door Prize for this meeting
Phil Smith of FileMaker has donated a copy of FileMaker Pro 9 to be raffled off.

Washington Mutual Center
1301 2nd Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
Monday, July 28, 2008
6:30 to 8:30 PM

SolutionMakers, Inc. Announces the Launch of 123sync™

One of the most daunting tasks of any business is managing the exchange of critical information between business management tools and accounting software. Solution development is typically a lengthy, expensive process. However for users who couple Intuit’s industry leading QuickBooks accounting software with FileMaker productivity tools, Seattle-based SolutionMakers, Inc. intends to change all that. On June 23rd, SolutionMakers® will launch 123sync, a solution that utilizes the FileMaker database environment to manage data integration with QuickBooks.

The SolutionMakers team develops QuickBooks integration solutions on a regular basis. Each project requires the execution of many comparable tasks, such as troubleshooting XML, formatting data, adding QuickBooks specific fields, and parsing QuickBooks errors. Eventually, tools developed to perform these tasks evolved and merged, leading to the decision to make this functionality available to the FileMaker ickBooks company file. There is no per user fee. Through July 18th, SolutionMakers will offer 123sync at a discounted rate leading up to their official 123sync rollout at the FileMaker Developer Conference July 13th though 17th in Phoenix, Arizona. During the rollout period, purchasers will receive $30 off the retail price. FileMaker Professional Users Group (FMPug) members and FileMaker TechNet members will save an additional $20 bringing the full discount to $50 off the retail price.

Headquartered in Seattle, WA, SolutionMakers, Inc. offers integrated business management solutions and FileMaker Authorized Training. Since 1995, their goal remains to transform technology into tools that their clients can use to grow and manage their business. These tools include solutions for project management, financial reporting, cost administration, scheduling, marketing program and promotions management, and other critical business management tools. SolutionMakers’ easily accessible customer service sets them apart in the industry. Best of all, whether you run your business on Windows, Macintosh or mixed platform networks their solutions are 100% cross platform compatible.

Additional information: Jody Bossert - Marketing and Project Coordinator, 1-800-237-3975 x103, jodybossert@solutionmakers.com, or visit our web site at http://www.SolutionMakers.com.

Web Viewer Reporting Techniques

This month Bruce Robertson will discuss web viewer reporting techniques, focusing principally on adapting open source web tools such as MIT Simile-Exhibit. See “http://simile.mit.edu/exhibit/” for further information on the exhibit. Once set up, these tools give the user a broad range of features for viewing, sorting, filtering and exporting a dataset.

Bruce Robertson is the president of Concise Design, located in Redmond, Washington. Concise Design provides consulting services and general business productivity development using FileMaker and other productivity tools including AppleScript.

He has over 20 years of experience with FileMaker and has spent eight years as a full time FileMaker developer. Bruce is FileMaker 9 certified. In previous lives, Bruce was a mechanical engineer working in Manufacturing Research and Development at Boeing. He also worked as a submarine vibration analyst. Much earlier, he was "professor of motorcycles" at Highline Community College, where he trained motorcycle and outboard mechanics.

Jason Young to Speak at May 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting

Seattle, WA - Jason Young, FileMaker Authorized Trainer and FileMaker 8 & 9 Certified Developer will be speaking at the Seattle Chapter FMPug. Check out below what this month’s meeting will be about!

Pivot Tables and Cross Tab Reports:

Pivot tables or Cross Tab Reports are reporting tools used to display the joint distribution of two or more fields in a table. Typically this is done in a matrix, called a Contingency table, where one set of field values will be represented by rows, and another will be represented by columns. Most people are familiar with these reports from their experience with Excel Pivot Tables, so we’ll start by looking at the Excel functionality. We’ll then look at a traditional FileMaker approach of replicating this by using multiple relationships. We’ll conclude the presentation by looking at a new approach using some of the newer features available in FileMaker like variables, arrays, and the List Function, which open up some new ideas for gathering and displaying data.

123Sync™

We will also review a powerful new tool called 123Sync™ that synchronizes QuickBooks and FileMaker® Pro. In as little as an hour developers and FileMaker novices can integrate a database, stopping the redundant re-entry of data from FileMaker files into QuickBooks Accounting.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM. The meeting will be at the Washington Mutual Center, 1301 2nd Avenue, 42nd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101. Be sure to visit http://www.fmpug.com to register for the meeting (that way you can get past the security desk.) For the monthly Seattle Chapter FMPug raffle give-away, Phil Smith of FileMaker is giving away a copy of FileMaker® Pro 9. Laura Bowyer of SolutionMakers will provide snacks & coffee for the evening. Washington Mutual has once again donated the beautiful meeting space, the White Oak Room on the 42nd floor at the Washington Mutual Center in Seattle, Washington.

Not a Member Yet? Join Us for Free! For those interested in becoming a member of the Seattle Chapter Pug or who just want to find out what the fuss is all about, you are invited to attend a meeting for free. Simply register for the meeting at http://www.fmpug.com and you are all set to experience the Seattle Chapter FMPug.

John Sindelar to Speak at April 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting

John Sindelar to Speak at April 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting

Seattle, Washington, 3/29/2008 – We are proud to announce that John Sindelar, President of SeedCode LLC, will be our speaker for the April 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting. The session, Building with Modification in Mind, discusses the importance of keeping solutions flexible in order to make changes with ease. It seems that once solutions mature, the "cost" of making major changes goes up, and the pace of change, naturally, slows down. John will be demonstrating some techniques he uses to keep solutions nimble, making future major changes less expensive. The session will also look at case studies from several recent projects where he needed to undertake major changes to the way a solution was structured, such as introducing new tables and switching from one-to-many into many-to-many relationships. John will also be trying some development practices which can make these changes easier and less disruptive.
The session will be digging into these solutions to see the scripts and relationships that help, or hinder, our ability to be truly responsive to our clients' requests for changes.

The meeting will be held on Monday, April 28, 2008 from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM. The meeting will be at the Washington Mutual Center, 1301 2nd Avenue, 42nd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101. Be sure to visit www.fmpug.com to register for the meeting (that way you can get past the security desk.)

For the monthly Seattle Chapter FMPug raffle give-away, John is offering a site license to SeedCode Calendar Pro, their new, simpler resource scheduling template. http://www.seedcode.com/cp-app/ste_cat/sccalpro. Laura Bowyer of SolutionMakers will provide snacks & coffee for the evening. Washington Mutual has once again donated the beautiful meeting space, the White Oak Room on the 42nd floor at the Washington Mutual Center in Seattle, Washington.

Not a Member Yet? Join Us for Free! For those interested in becoming a member of the Seattle Chapter Pug or just want to find out what the fuss is all about, you are invited to attend a meeting for free. Simply register for the meeting at www.fmpug.com and you are all set to experience the Seattle Chapter FMPug.

katiestrock@solutionmakers.com
www.solutionmakers.com

SolutionMakers' Training Sets Sail on the Columbia River

3/19/2008 - Seattle, Washington - SolutionMakers, Inc. invites you to get your FileMaker skills in ship-shape with this one-of-a-kind FileMaker Training Series cruise! This four day spring event pushes off April 29 to May 2, 2008 the ship, MV Island Spirit will cruise leisurely up and down the Columbia River, bordering Washington and Oregon. Scheduled stops on this Pacific Northwest cruise include; Washougal, WA, St. Helens, OR, Astoria, OR and Portland, OR. This cruise offers students a truly unique opportunity and experience, not found in any other FileMaker Training Series course.

“This cruise provides students not only opportunity learn in an effective, fun and relaxing environment, they also have the ample time for discussion, questions and networking about FileMaker development in multiple settings. Peers and instructors will interact over superb cuisine and evening cocktails, all the while taking in the sights and sounds of the majestic Columbia River.”, said Laura Bowyer, SolutionMakers, Inc. President.

The FileMaker Training Series is the official training curriculum from FileMaker, Inc. It offers a series of 12 training modules that cover a comprehensive set of topics designed to help you master the essentials of FileMaker solution development. This new series incorporates the many new features of the FileMaker 9 product line throughout the modules. Below is a list of the modules that will be covered:

2. Working with Fields
3. Data Modeling
4. Working with Layouts
5. Calculation Functions
6. Scripts
7. Reporting
8. Security
9. Intermediate & Advanced Techniques

Consider this Course if You Are:

· Familiar with the basics, but want a solid grounding in key FileMaker development principles.

· Comfortable with FileMaker Pro and want to advance your development skills.

· An expert developer and want to fill in any gaps in your knowledge.

· Planning to become a FileMaker Certified Developer.

The FileMaker Training Series Columbia River Cruise features two of the nations leading FileMaker instructors for this event. Jason Young and Alexei Folger. Jason is a FileMaker Authorized Trainer, Developer and Project Manager for SolutionMakers, Inc. Alexei is a Senior Systems Engineer for FileMaker, Inc., a very experienced FileMaker trainer and has presented many sessions at DevCon and FMPug groups.

The MV Island Spirit

The MV Island Spirit is a 130-foot vessel featuring two double staterooms on the Upper Deck, and 14 double staterooms on the Main Deck. Onboard, you can expect to be thoroughly pampered by the Captain, the chef, and the crew, while enjoying both scenic vistas and the comforts of home. “It’s as close to having your own yacht as you can, except the food and the maintenance is provided for you,” says Captain Jeff Behrens.

While on this cruise attendees will have the opportunity to take off-shore excursions to places like Mount St. Helens Visitor Center, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and much, much more!

If you are interested in finding out more about this and other training opportunities that SolutionMakers offers, please visit http://www.solutionmakers.com. There you will find a cruise itinerary, registration information and other detailed information.

Headquartered in Seattle, WA, SolutionMakers, Inc. SolutionMakers IS integrated business management solutions. Our outstanding team of certified developers and authorized trainers are ready to assist with you!

Jeff Hough to Speak at March 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting

Woodinville, Washington, 3/12/2008 – We are proud to announce that Jeff Hough, Director of Development for Pre1 Software LLC will be our speaker for the March 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting. The session is called Build Better Solutions by Tracking User Activity. This session will discuss methods of collecting and reporting user activity information. Tracking user-entered data is limited to record counts and UserIDs, (used for technical support and training) and no user-specific data is collected. This data is retrieved and analyzed by the development staff, which uses this data to plan future enhancements and identify areas not yet utilized.


Jeff is the Director of Development for Pre1 Software LLC makers of SmartPublisher. Jeff has more than 16 years' experience in managing software projects and programming teams. Jeff is a Certified FileMaker 7/8/9 developer and has been an Associated Member of the FileMaker Solution Alliance for more than nine years.


The meeting will be held on Monday, March 24, 2008 from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM. The meeting will be at the Washington Mutual Center, 1301 2nd Avenue, 42nd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101. Be sure to visit www.fmpug.com to register for the meeting (that way you can get past the security desk.)


For the monthly Seattle Chapter FMPug raffle give-away, Phil Smith from FileMaker has donated a copy of FileMaker Pro 9. Chapter Coordinator, Laura Bowyer of SolutionMakers will provide snacks & coffee for the evening. Washington Mutual has once again donated the beautiful meeting space, the White Oak Room on the 42nd floor at the Washington Mutual Center in Seattle, Washington.


Not a Member Yet? Join Us for Free! For those interested in becoming a member of the Seattle Chapter Pug or just want to find out what the fuss is all about, you are invited to attend a meeting for free. Simply register for the meeting at www.fmpug.com and you are all set to experience the Seattle Chapter FMPug.

Alexei Folger to Speak at February 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Alexei Folger to Speak at February 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting

Woodinville, Washington, 2/12/2008 – We are proud to announce that Alexei Folger, Senior Systems Engineer of FileMaker will be our speaker for the February 2008 Seattle Chapter FMPug Meeting. This session will be an in-depth discussion of the best practices in FileMaker file maintenance and recovery. It will cover the differences between file recovery, the various "Save As" options, compressing and optimizing files; and when to use them. Learn to prepare for the worst and what to do if the unfortunate happens.

The meeting will be held on Monday, February 25, 2008 from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM. The meeting will be at the Washington Mutual Center, 1301 2nd Avenue, 42nd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101. Be sure to visit www.fmpug.com to register for the meeting (that way you can get past the security desk.)

For the monthly Seattle Chapter FMPug raffle give-away, Alexei Folger & Phil Smith from FileMaker has donated a copy of FileMaker Pro 9 to give-away. Chapter Coordinator, Laura Bowyer of SolutionMakers will provide snacks & coffee for the evening. Washington Mutual has once again donated the beautiful meeting space, the White Oak Room on the 42nd floor at the Washington Mutual Center in Seattle, Washington.

Not a Member Yet? Join Us for Free! For those interested in becoming a member of the Seattle Chapter Pug or just want to find out what the fuss is all about, you are invited to attend a meeting for free. Simply register for the meeting at www.fmpug.com and you are all set to experience the Seattle Chapter FMPug.

Dealing with Disasters By Molly Connolly

Our last FMPug meeting was with Molly Connolly, owner of Thorsen Consulting, a Chicago-based technology consultant. Her background is in management consulting and over the last 10 years she has focused on delivering customized FileMaker Pro database solutions. As a former partner at Soliant Consulting, she managed a team of developers working in a variety of industries including advertising, education, and manufacturing. Molly is currently providing advisory and training services to consulting companies on a variety of issues including client management, training, recruiting and sales.

Being an expert problem solver is important for all businesses and with Molly’s interactive presentation, the group really learned a lot about how we instinctively respond and how we should respond to business disasters! Whether it was dealing with trouble shooting a bug, resolving a change order conflict, or dealing head on with crashing files and deleted data, in addition to your technical skills, the lesson of the day was that you need great communication skills to get the information you need.

You also need to be able to effectively communicate with your users so you can help them to understand the downtime and/or find workarounds while you solve the problem. This interactive session has armed the attendees with problem-solving and communication techniques to address a variety of difficult situations.

Here are a few of the highlights!

1. Learn initial response techniques to determine what issues really are “urgent” and address them effectively.

2. Practice how to ask the right questions in order to pinpoint the problem.

3. Learn communication techniques for high-stress conversations regarding change orders and bugs.

4. Expand your support network and have a team of problem-solvers at your disposal.

We look forward to Seeing all of you on February 25, 2008 when Alexei Folger, Systems Engineer from FileMaker will be speaking along with Phil Smith, Business Account Manager from FileMaker.

To sign up for the meeting visit www.fmpug.com.