The first and most important new feature is that FileMaker Go 12 is now free. It is truly a game changer. Anyone with an iOS device can now give it a test drive. FileMaker Go 11 is still available as a paid app, so there is more incentive to move to FileMaker 12.
New Features in FileMaker Go 12
- Starter Solutions – Several features in FileMaker 12 make it easier to design screens for the iOS. There are sixteen starter solutions, each with layouts for iPhone and iPad. Four solutions are installed by default with FileMaker Go 12: Assets, Contacts, Content Managements and Tasks. FileMaker Pro 12 has screen stencils with the specific dimensions of the iPhone and iPad in portrait and landscape mode.
- Layout Themes – There are 40 new layout themes, five specifically designed for iOS: Cool Gray Touch, Onyx Touch, Ocean Touch, River Touch and Wave Touch. They have larger fonts and objects ideal for touch screen devices.
- iOS Multitasking – Multitasking has significantly improved in FileMaker Go 12. In earlier versions, FileMaker Go had to terminate when it went to the background. Now it goes into a suspended state, which means it will resume much faster when it comes back to the foreground. The fmreauthenticate extended privilege gives you more control over when a user has to re-login after the app goes into the background.
- Exporting – FileMaker Go 12 includes support for exporting records directly in the iOS. You can create tab-delimited, CSV, DBF, HTML and Excel (XLSX) files to email or open directly on the device. It can also read and write Snapshot Link files. Snapshots allow you to save a state of the database (current layout, found set, record, sort order) and share with another user who also has access.
- Charting – Charting functionality is much better in FileMaker 12. It is great for creating management dashboards for mobile solutions. In addition to bar, line and pie charts, FileMaker 12 now has Scatter, Stacked Bar, Positive/Negative, and Bubble charts.
- Container Fields – Container fields offer more functionality across the entire FileMaker 12 product line. FileMaker Go 12 can access remote container data managed by FileMaker Server. It can view streaming and interactive content like video and PDF files. Interaction with the content on the iPhone/iPad includes access to the camera and photo library, recording audio, capturing a signature and viewing multiple file types (PDF, Excel, etc.).
- Location Functions – FileMaker Go 12 includes two new calculation functions to work with location information oniOS devices. Note, these functions only work withiOS devices.
- Location ( accuracy { ; timeout } ) will return the latitude and longitude for the device.
- LocationValues ( accuracy { ; timeout } ) will return latitude, longitude, altitude, accuracy and age of the data.
- Get Functions – Other calculations (some old, some new) for working withiOS solutions include:
- Get ( SystemPlatform ) – Returns the operating system for the device
- Get ( ApplicationVersion ) – Returns the version of FileMaker Go (iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch)
- Get ( PersistentID ) – Returns a unique identifier for the computer or device
- Get ( ConnectionState ) – Returns whether FileMaker Server is using a secure connection (SSL)
- Get ( UUID ) – Returns a universally unique identifier useful for primary keys
FileMaker Go Training
These are just some of the features I covered in this session from the 12 Days of FileMaker 12.
