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onefish last won the day on March 9

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  1. ---Edit--- oops, didn't realise this was in a forum devoted to the plugin One thing that looked wrong after a cursory look at the reference material is your use of PCQB_RqCloseRelatedRecord at step 29. Shouldn't this be used to close a related record after one has been opened using something like PCQB_RqAddRelatedRecord? Doesn't appear to have anything to do with the error you posted though.
  2. Rsputnik, my offer was serious 10 months ago. I got it all working back then but have had to move onto different projects now. As there didn't seam to be any interest I didn't bother documenting the solution to the point where anyone could pick it up and run with it. Sorry.
  3. Just a really quick question, is there any way to use some level of encryption for username/password contained in an FMP URL? I suspect not but it could present a security risk sending the the data unencrypted.
  4. As the title suggests, just wondering if it's possible to resume a paused script directly using FMP URL? What I mean by directly is not having to call a new script in the URL which will resume the original script.
  5. Thanks Lape. That approach works if your application doesn't require very good image quality. 2MP max for standard HD stream and up to about 5MP with 4k, but without any ISO control, white balance, image stabilization, post processing, etc. It's certainly easier and good enough for some applications (especially where the hardware is on a permanent mount for stability). Unfortunately I needed full portability and reliably better quality images to be able to zoom into photos later on with reasonable detail. The camera hardware and software together on the Lenovo tablets is sort of just good enough to get by. It's no DSLR but certainly better than image capture from streaming video. Still, its good to have both approaches in your tool kit!
  6. Comment removed, just realised this thread was Dec 2014 not 2015, my bad.......
  7. It's been a very long time since I've developed in Filemaker (remember FM7?). Anyway, I am currently putting together a solution for field collection of data and images using Filemaker on Windows 10 tablets. I ended up purchasing Lenovo Yoga 2 10.1" tablets and upgrading the OS's straight away. I couldn't find "the perfect hardware" for all day field work including photo capture, often in low light. The Lenovo's won because they were the only Windows tablets that would give me a full 10hrs use in the field without having to carry some belt mounted extra battery pack, and the camera is acceptable at 8MP. Now to get Filemaker playing nicely with the Windows camera app. This turned out to be a bit more complicated than I originally thought it would be. The camera app is a modern app and can't be called up with a simple start/run command to the exe. What I wanted was to select a container field, have the windows camera app open up, when I take a picture bring Filemaker to the front and insert the picture into the container field, all without additional dialogue or data entry required. I looked into the plugin solutions available but they all used a snapshot/screenshot of the video feed which is very poor quality (too poor for my application). I also wanted to stay far far away from FM Go. Anyway, I have it just about complete now using 1x global field and 2x scripts in Filemaker and 1x external AutoIT script. Well, actually I use a couple more global fields just to store some AutoIT script parameters but they can be hard coded to. In a nutshell the workflow is: User selects container field with script trigger set to "on entry" run Filemaker script 1 Filemaker script 1 sets the global field with the active tablename & "::" & active fieldmane and then sends an event to the AutoIT script to run. The event contains a few script parameters for the AutoIT script and as mentioned I store these in global fields in Filemaker but they could be hard coded into the send event script step too. The parameters tell the AutoIT script 1)whether to automatically search for the camera save directory or to use the location provided in the script parameter (auto should work in most cases), 2)how long to wait for a photo to be taken before it times out, 3)the FMP URL to send when a photo has been taken, and 4)optional flag that will show a popup message box at the end of the script with the full FMP URL returned (for debugging only). The AutoIT script opens the Windows camera and brings it to the front. The script is compiled to an exe so it can run without AutoIT. Testing indicates that the camera window is restored to it's last size and position which is good because it means that if you prefer the camera to be in only 1/4 of the screen, for instance, it will return there every time the camera is run. The AutoIT script then monitors the camera save directory for changes in the qty of files. As soon as a photo is taken it fetches the newest file name and minimizes the camera app. This could be changed to close the camera easily enough but minimizing is better for my use. I suppose I could just add another parameter and let Filemaker tell AutoIT whether to close or minimize the camera when done. The photo file path is appended to the FMP URL sent to the AutoIT script as a parameter in step 2 above and sent to Filemaker. This URL needs to include instructions for Filemaker to run FM script 2 and use the photo file path as a parameter. Filemaker script 2 sets the container table::field based on the address saved in the global field at step 2, with the photo file path returned as a parameter in the FMP URL. I am using set field into the container with the photo full path and not storing images in Filemaker but you can do whatever you want really once you have the photo full path in the Filemaker script. All the components work and I'm just adding some extra error checking and plenty of comments to the AutoIT script so that if anyone else wants to use it they can do some debugging themselves (if needed). I haven't, and won't, be able to do much in the way of testing on other hardware/software combinations as I only have 2 identical tablets. But the AutoIT script uses methods that should pretty much work on any Windows 8.1 or 10 tablet with a camera, including the Surface Pros. It's not as handy as "insert from device" for FM Go but it's my best attempt to get the same functionality on Windows tablet platform. I thought I would post this here now and see if there is any interest in the solution. If so then I'll put a bit more effort into documenting everything and post it all here for other people's benefit. (caveat: might take a couple days) Cheers!
  8. Ahh, thanks for the reply. I have never used fmp url before and had to do some reading up on what it does. Sounds like it might be a pretty good solution if I read correctly. use something like this:? FMP://~/databasename?script=scriptnamed&param=........... This would open up another way to pass image file names/paths to import back to FM too, using the parameters in the url. Am I understanding fmp url's correctly? Cheers
  9. It's been many years since I developed in Filemaker. Still have my FM7 Dev sitting in the original box on the shelf. Anyway I have just purchased 2 Windows 10 tablets for the purpose of running a FM solution (which I still need to develop), collecting field data and photos. I will purchase FM14 momentarily to start development. The slightly tricky part of the equation is automating the camera and image importing into container. I know FM Go does this, and I know the lack of this functionality in Windows has been discussed many times over the years. I also know that there's video screenshot grabber plugins available but they are not good enough as image quality is very poor without using the built in app image stabilisation or post processing. I know there are many ways to achieve several of the steps involved and I will probably use either an external batch file or autoit script for managing the external camera side of things. Initiating the external batch file or script from FM is simple enough via several options so that's not a problem. I like the idea of using 360Works ScriptMaster to parse image files and select by timestamp, etc. I haven't played around with the plugin yet but if it works as I think it will then it won't be necessary to write to a txt file or anything like that. Of course it may also be just as simple to do the file maths and return names to FM via the batch file itself. OK, so here's the one thing that I cannot seem to find an answer to. The FM script to "take photos and insert pics in container fields" needs to: execute the external script (outside FM), (again easy to do) wait while the external script runs (either paused or could be 2 separate scripts) resume (if paused) or start (if split into 2 scripts) script which will insert the pic/s into container/s Step 3 is the one that is causing me a bit of concern, how to trigger the script to resume (or start) from the external batch file or autoit script? I don't want to add another button that the user has to hit to finish off the process. I have read about the OnExternalCommandReceived script trigger in FM14. Would simulating the command in the batch file or autoit script do the trick to achieve step 3? Or is there a better way? Cheers!
  10. Hey just read your post again and it sounds like you simply want to create a report for printing which contains all salespeople but in seperate pdf's? Well I never upgraded to a version of FM that produces PDFs natively (have been doing it with external free programs for years though triggered by FM). I'm assuming it just uses a post script to PDF generator like ghostscript so would work just like printing a report? If my assumptions are true then you would probably need to generate a script that loops through each of your salesperson records, going to related records, print to PDF then go back to the salesperson table, go to next, etc.
  11. The easiest and most robust way to do this is to use the relationship between sales person ID in each table. If you want only one sales person's sales records at a time then start in the Sales Person table then goto related records, show only related records. Print, export, etc. I often use multi-key relationships and a portal for a really handy way to view such info. This way you have a dynamic list of data in the portal based on what you put into the multi-key relationship fields, including from and to dates, sales person, department, etc. really any fields you have in your portal records. You can then goto related records and print, etc with only your constrained list of data. Cheers
  12. The xp keyboard works OK in normal mode but it's so small it's even hard to hit the correct key with a stylus. I've tried adjusting screen resolution but everything gets very blurry. I'm running in kiosk mode because there's very limited screen real estate and I need all I can get with the application designed to be used with a finger, i.e. big font and buttons. I may upgrade one day but can't justify the cost at the moment as I usually just knock up the odd database for my own use to manipulate or track certain bits of data and FM7 still does this fine. Anyway, without any better solution I have just begun writing all the script. A couple hundred in total but eight hours later I'm nearly finished. It all works superbly! Pass data from a field to the keyboard for editing then pass back to the field on enter. Caps lock, shift, backspace (and clear), space, all the things you'd expect to have on a keyboard all work perfect and it works with all 16 tables and hundreds of fields of course. Would have been nice to save all that scripting but hey, it works and that's the main thing! Cheers
  13. G'day, I haven't checked in here for a very long time. Looks like I'm now in the dark ages with 7.3 but it still works for my limited use. I'm knocking up a quick database that will run in kiosk mode on a tablet PC to gather field data. Problem is that there will be some manual entry fields and kiosk mode doesn't like the tablet's on screen qwerty keyboard. Besides that the qwerty is tiny and not able to be used without a stylus (stupid). I've got no problems developing a qwerty in FM to pop up in a new window. What I am trying to figure out is if there is an easy way (read, not a script for every manual entry field) to capture the active field name and active field contents. I have formatted the field as a button and attached a script using the get functions named above but when the button is selected apparently FM doesn't recognise it as an active field. I will set the info into global fields as well as setting the record ID to a field in the keyboard table to create a relationship but I need to tell the keyboard table which field to set with the information entered and pass the current field contents to the keyboard for editing. I can easily do this by creating a separate script for every manual entry field which simply goes to the field and select/perform (this activates the field) then runs the script which uses the set field function (with active .......) and opens the keyboard but this is allot of scripts. Is there a way to get this data about different fields without having to write a seperate script for each field? I've tried several things but can't seem to find one. Thanks in advance, if anyone has a solution. Cheers! P.S. A solution would also make scripting for the keyboard much simpler as I intend to format calculation fields as buttons in order to have shift and caps lock functions. Then set the global field with gField & active field contents, etc............
  14. Thanks Lee, guess I posted in the wrong spot. I did a search before posting. All I have come up with is seed code and some reference to merge fields. I don't believe either will easily show task dependencies or project phases, etc. I have also looked at, Chartmaker pro and xmChart. None really seem to fit the bill. As mentioned I'm pretty sure I could force FM to do it internally but it would be labour intensive. Is there a better way? Cheers, TJ
  15. G'day all, I haven't been developing for a few years now (and haven't checked in here either) but I'm considering taking up the art again to produce a contract and project management system for the organisation I'm currently working for. I'll have to upgrade my FM Advanced to the latest version. I'd just buy an off the shelf project management package but trouble is none really meet our complex reporting requirements: i.e. dynamic reporting of projects by directorates, locations, funding sources, strategic goals, etc. I know I can put the basics together in FM in pretty short order but where I'm envisaging getting a bit stuck for time is being able to display professional looking gantt charts of the data. I need to display task dependencies on the chart which I'm sure I can do in FM but not without a huge amount of programming and graphic work. The gantt charts in Fusion Widgets are good but I don't believe the program is directly compatible with FM without an intermediate program. My question is, is there a quick and easy way to accomplish professional gantt charts with task dependencies with FM data (automated of course)? Thanks, TJ
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