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.