Okay, everybody looks at the new FileMaker Pro 11 and sees the new features: charts, portal filter, quick find, inspector, snapshot links, cf import, …
But you actual have to work with the new version to discover hidden gems.
I am not talking about unexpected features – these you would find in the FileMaker Help section “New features in FileMaker Pro 11″. I rather talk about these little changes, that get rid of annoying things. Or little things that could make your life easier.
Previous versions had flaws and annoyances, requiring you to create workarounds or avoid certain situations at all – again and again. Finally we got used to it and would not talk about it anymore. “Do not think about it and it might vanish!”
But now I work with FileMaker Pro 11 and I find little gems:
Keep Window Size
One very annoying problem in FileMaker Pro 10 was what happened to the window size when you hid the status toolbar. the window height would decrease. If the window was full-size, it changed to significant less than that: it actual decreased its height by the height of the toolbar.
Testing this behavior in FileMaker Pro 11 will make you smile. The window will keep its size, no matter if you show or hide the status toolbar. Finally, one less problem to deal with!
Luc Thomaere brought to my attention, my testing for Windows Size was – to say at least – incomplete. Investigating it deeper, I find FileMaker Pro 11 will keep the Window Size, when the window is full size (in height). If it is less than full height it will or will not change the window height.
I examined the following rules:
- If the window is full height, hiding or showing the toolbar will keep the window height.
- If the window is not full height and the toolbar is visible, hiding the toolbar will decrease the window height.
- If the window is not full height and the toolbar is hidden, showing the toolbar will increase the window height only, when the current window height plus the height of the toolbar will not exceed the canvas height.
- If the last toggle of the status toolbar did not change the window height and the window dimension was not changed in any way, then the window height will not change, even if it would following rule 1 – 3.
Perhaps I was a little bit fast when I smiled about the window size behavior. More thorough testing resulted in an even more complex Window Size rule set. It works only to my advantage, when the window is full-size. But even when I set the window to full height with a script step, the user could change the window dimension manually. Toggling the status toolbar with a script step might result in an unexpected window height. I still have to set the window height after toggling the status toolbar to keep a certain window height.
Clearly, internally FileMaker knows different ways to react when toggling the status toolbar. Here I like to see an option I can control, either setting it to Keep Window Height or Keep Content Height.
Expression Editor
New Font
Open the Expression Editor and you will see a larger font used for the expression and result. This makes it easier to read the expression you are typing. The former font is a monospaced font (and is still used for the field and function lists), the latter a proportional font.
Indent Lines
The font change made me try something, that would not work in previous versions. I tried to insert a tab into the expression. Of course, pressing the Tab key moves the focus to the result section. But Option+Tab (Mac OS) or Ctrl+Tab (Windows) will add a tab character. This will allow to indent lines and write easy-to-read expressions.
Moving Lines in Lists
In all the different lists in FileMaker Pro, from the Script Manager to the new Layout Manager, from the Data Viewer to the Security Manager, there is a small double arrow at the beginning of the line. In previous versions, moving the mouse over these double arrows would change the mouse cursor and you could click and drag the line to a different position.
This behavior changed in FileMaker Pro 11. You do not need to grab the double arrow. Now grab the line anywhere and move it to a different position. It is not a big chance, but will make grabbing the line a little bit easier.
Work longer with FileMaker Pro 11 and you might see more of these kind of gems. I will report more of them when I find them.
LucThomaere
Keep Window Size? I don’t see any difference with v10: the windows itself gets smaller and larger by hiding/showing the status bar (Mac OS X 10.6)
Moving lines in list : is indeed easier but putting a line at the first place is much more difficult. If you move too far, even a few mm, the line doesn’t move at all.
Also a step backwards is the layout of the import window, the one you use to match fields. You can hardly see the difference between the arrow and the … This will be a cause of many mistakes, i guess.
For screens smaller than 30inch and an AZRTY (or alike) keyboard without numeric pad, showing and hiding a specific inspector doesn’t work with the shortcut’s. It takes longer than before to change the most common things, like borders, pop-up menu’s, …
But generally, I love v11!
Arnold Kegebein
I was a little bit fast with my conclusion about the new Window Size behavior. I tested it with full-size windows only.
Now I did further testing, recreating your results with less than full-height windows. See my new finding in the addendum in my post.
I do not the problems with the Inspector. I have only one Inspector window open, switching with Cmd+1/Cmd+2/Cmd+3 with my left hand between the three tab pages. That works fine on my 15″ MacBook Pro.
For the other remarks, FileMaker Pro 11 is out less than a week. I try to emphasize positive things, waiting a couple of days before I post a bad feature list. But, hey – perhaps I can work on a new April Fool’s joke.
LucThomaere
That April Fool’s Joke was SUPER! So many good idea’s I wish Filemaker had adopted it as their todo-list.
chivalry
Honestly, I hate the font change in the calculation dialog boxes. I can cerntainly understand why having a larger font would be preferable for some people, but I prefer a smaller font and I prefer a monospaced font. Although generally I’m not a fan of additional preferences, this times it seems justified. I actually hate the font so much I’ve actually moved to using TextMate to edit calculations rather than the built-in editor in FileMaker. With the bundle I helped to write (http://code.google.com/p/filemaker-textmate-bundle/updates/list) I get code completion, syntax coloring and other features.
Regarding the moving of lines in lists, although it’s nice to be able to click and drag anywhere to move, I’ve found the removal of the ability to do so with the keyboard (unless I’ve not yet discovered how they’ve changed it) to be quite annoying. I used to be able to hold down the Command key and press the up and down arrows to move an item. That’s no longer the case.