Please join us for an in-depth discussion about how to get the most out of the FileMaker product line.

In this meeting, we’ll get an update on FileMaker, discuss some of our current issues, and have some of our most pressing FileMaker questions answered.

Whether you are new to FileMaker or an experienced developer, you will find this meeting useful and informative. You’ll get a thorough understanding of key features to help you build better FileMaker databases. You’ll also learn what resources are available to help keep you up-to-date.

Don’t miss this special opportunity to talk with Miss Alexei and Mr. Glen face-to-face and meet other like-minded FileMaker users and developers.

Food and drinks will be provided, too!

He covered many of the usual suspects, including:
• Local hosted server
• Remote hosted server (like his Drooling Dog hosting, Portland’s own ODI Technology)
• Peer to peer (sheer evil - supports up to 10 users, but never ever a good idea IMHO)
• Web hosting, including PHP, Lasso, IWP, and others
• Mobile device, such as iPhone, iPad, Crackberry
• Citrix / Terminal Services

There are may things to think about in all this. Latency is an important factor, not just the raw bandwidth.

Backups are critically important. If you’re not doing an offsite backup, you should. Use Amazon S3 for your data ($.10 per GB per month, which is crazy cheap) 360Works SafetyNet, SugarSync, DropBox, or other solutions like this that move data to the cloud.

Hosted databases should be optimized for speed. Don’t store large files in container fields. Use solutions like SeedCode calendar or fmSearchResults that have very simple TOs, and rely of local processing of data in variables or global fields, and simple portals. The perfect example of what works poorly in a hosted environment is a portal that shows 20,000 rows of data. I think this is bad design no matter how you slice it, again IMHO.

Terminal Services is the Microsoft solution.
Not as well optimized as Citrix in any method, but less expensive. Printing support is poor - really only for populate HP laser printers. Very bad for multi-function inkjet type devices. Mac support is very poor. Graphics look bad - no support for transparencies or gradations. You’ll want to reduce them. Pretty good control of the environment. Terminal services drops connections frequently, so it’s a really good idea to test.

GoGlobal (http://www.graphon.com/) is a similar service. It started life in the Unix world, and now runs on a machine as small as Windows XP running on a Mac mini, supporting 10 sessions. It’s less expensive than TS or Citrix for small sites.

Citrix is great. The engine has been updated much more than Microsoft, so it’s quite a bit more optimized. The licensing, while expensive, is based on concurrent users, and not total users like FileMaker is licensed. To deploy it, you need to know it pretty well. Amazon EC2 has a single user CitrixXenApp tool that you can play with, which is amazing. Angelo said he’d post a link to that. Maybe This?

Citrix supports a wide array of devices and platforms. It supports all major browsers, and now runs basically as a browser plug-in. There are clients for Linux, old and new versions of Mac and Windows, iPhone, Palm. There is even a citrix client for TRS-80. (kidding) Plug-ins run really well, and update beautifully. You can publish an entire Windows desktop or just an app.

The new product that Angelo showed is the ability to run a full Citrix connection that includes a FileMaker client starting at $65 a month per user. This is not licensed for concurrent use, but for each user. It might be perfect for a few users who are on the road to access a complex application, where other users connect to the server directly. This might also be perfect for a developer who travels the country in an RV and wants to do work on client systems, even though the local WiFi is really bad. I wonder who we know like that. Hmm.

RSVP for this meeting today!

FileMaker will be sponsoring Pizza and beverages so bring your appetite, for knowledge as well as pizza, and come see what’s now possible with FileMaker Pro.

Alexei Folger Senior Systems Engineer FileMaker, Inc.

Phil Smith Business Account Manager FileMaker, Inc.

Questions?

Have a question for Alexei or Phil? Leave a comment below and we’ll ask it during the meeting…

Byron Songer dishes out delicious FileMaker-ness for all wanting to learn more about their favorite data muncher.

Byron certainly showed off his extensive experience with FileMaker in the latest installment (FMP 102) of his series on the nuts and bolts of basic data and interface design as it applies to everyone’s favorite database development environment. Presentation and demo files here.

Jonathan progressed from object script triggers (last month) to what can be done with layout script triggers (all seven of them) and why. Presentation and demo files here.

A little refreshment and meeting some new comrades in the FileMaker Revolutionary Cause rounded out a perfect FileMaker-er outing.

Next month you get to listen to some special people who haven’t presented to the group before, so mark your calendar for March 18 (and watch this space) and tell your boss you’re not coming back after lunch that day. If you’re self-employed and your boss doesn’t let you off, they’re a slave-driver and don’t deserve such a great employee as you. See you then!

Deployment

Deployment is a critical step in the success of your solution. In this session Angelo will explore the various methodologies for FileMaker Application deployment and help you determine which one(s) are appropriate for a given situation. He’ll be covering Citrix, Hosting, In-House Server, IWP,PHP. He will explore some benefits and issues with each process.

He’ll also be talking a bit about a new service that he’s offering through his hosting business that can help you or your client deploy through Citrix quickly, easily and economically.

Angelo Luchi is a 10+ year veteran developer of FileMaker software. In that time he has been building enterprise FileMaker applications, innovative web applications, integrating FileMaker with Web Services, and building a reliable FileMaker hosting infrastructure. Angelo is the owner of The Drooling Dog, LLC, a Seattle based company providing FileMaker and Web development as well as a multitude of hosting options, to the community. He offers coast to coast server availability and now Citrix XenApp hosting.

RSVP for this meeting today!

Angelo Luchi The Drooling Dog

Questions?

Leave a comment below and we’ll get it to Angelo to make sure he gets to it…

Let’s talk about what it takes to develop and market commercial FileMaker solutions. We have quite a few members who have launched vertical-market solutions and a lot of members who would like to learn more about how it’s done. If you’ve got a successful vertical-market solution, please join us and share your product(s) and your expertise. If you don’t have a shrink-wrap solution, please join us and learn why you might want to.

What Do You Want From Your User Group?

Are you getting what you want from your FileMaker Pro User Group? Your suggestions, ideas and opinions are needed! Let’s talk about making changes to enhance the value of membership/participation and to grow our group!

See you there!

Audrey

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