Integrating DuckDB

08. Juni 2024

Integrating DuckDB with Node.js as a REST API for FileMaker

…with Node.js as a REST API for FileMaker

Please find attached Slides and Demo-Files from my presentation at dot.fmp conference in Berlin.

DuckDB is a rising newcomer on the block. It has a small footprint, is blazingly fast and runs on all platforms. With its extended SQL commands, it goes beyond other database engines and offers an interesting feature set. Optimized for storage in columns, it offers a comprehensive toolset for fast data analysis. With its ability to read data from multiple sources – even directly from cloud storage – it can be used as an ETL tool.

We have a quick look at DuckDB and examine how to integrate it’s power into FileMaker solutions. As an additional benefit you learn how to use node.js to create a simple REST API that is instantly accessible with just a few lines of FileMaker script.

The presentation slides are available for download here:
dotfmp Presentation – Integrating DuckDB (PDF 2,1 MB)

Demo files (FileMaker and node.js) are available for download here:
DuckDB_Demofiles_v2.zip (ZIP 197 KB)

Further reading:

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Claris Platform Update – The Bottom Line

14. Oktober 2023

FMDiSC Claris Platform Update

The latest news update from Claris has made some noise. Now that the dust has settled a little, it is time to look at the various aspects of a major transition that has now been going on for more than 4 years.

Let’s take a look back at the major adjustments in the Claris strategy and why they were necessary. We provide answers to the latest developments and put them in a broader perspective.

How Claris has managed to clarify its strategy for the entire platform. We examine which issues have been resolved and where action is still needed.

At the invitation of the colleagues from FMDiSC, I was able to give another presentation, picking up where last year’s presentation ended.

Claris Platform Update – The Bottom Line
FMDiSC October Meeting 2023
https://youtu.be/tc2f2MNylcQ?t=5466

The Future of FileMaker – Position determination
FMDiSC October Meeting 2022
https://youtu.be/2FQ1iE1aDAI?t=137

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Claris Product Strategy Update 2023

30. August 2023

Claris platfrom update

There has been some speculation about the future of FileMaker over the past 2 years. In the meantime, after numerous announcements on the part of Claris, there were more and more concrete results that gradually became visible. Some things looked promising, in other places there was still a lack of clarity, and some things were less than optimal in implementation and especially in communication.

What was positive, however, was that Claris, after initial hesitation, actively went into dialogue with partners and developers. Gradually, results were presented and feedback was obtained again and again. In the meantime, one can definitely say that Claris has listened and taken the suggestions and concerns of its long-term partners seriously!
Of course, it is not always easy, especially with such a reorientation, to get all the right goals under one hat at the first attempt. It is all the more important that during a major transformation there is room for corrections and a re-sharpening of the strategy.

Now Claris has made some changes: Many suggestions for improvement have been taken into account and the bottom line is that the waiting time and the intensive exchange with the community have been worth it. Although not all goals have been achieved in the implementation yet, it is now clearer than before that the direction is right! Moreover, Claris has already delivered results in some places. The most recently released versions make a solid impression.

And most important: while the new products „Studio“ and „Connect“ are given a meaningful place in the platform strategy, existing solutions can benefit from the innovations without the need for an elaborate technical migration. The best of the new and old worlds simply grow together seamlessly.

In addition, Claris now gives all existing customers and developers free access to the new tools so that they can prove themselves in practical tests. We can „kick the tires“ without any additional licensing hurdles or technical barriers. So things can finally move forward!

Refer to Claris latest announcements from August 2023:
Blog: Claris Product Roadmap
YouTube: Claris Product Strategy Update 2023

Let’s look back at the most important points from last year’s presentation „The Future of FileMaker“. There, we had summarised some issues and wishes from the customers‘ and developers‘ point of view. We now look at where Claris provides us with answers with the current announcements.

To put it briefly: a lot has been taken into account. Thank you Claris!

Refer to PDF for download (12.6 MB):
The Future of FileMaker – Review and Update 2023.

Blog: The Future of FileMaker – FMDiSC Meeting Oct 2022
Recording of the presentation on YouTube: The Future of FileMaker

FileMaker Magazin: Eine Einordnung – Was sich bei der Claris Produkt-Strategie ändert (in German language)

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FM JSON Path

21. August 2023

FM JSON Path

Sometimes it would be useful to have a flexible way to access the elements within a JSON object. Something like XPATH for XML objects.

FileMaker itself offers only very limited JSON functions. With JSONGetElement it is possible to query a known path within the JSON object, but no wildcards or even search filters are possible.

This is exactly what the library „JSONPath“ offers. It enables an XPATH-like query syntax for JSON objects. A detailed description with examples can be found on Stefan Gössner’s website:
https://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/

This can be used to realise the following queries, for example:

  • $.store.book[*].author -> the authors of all books in the store
  • $..book[-1:] -> the last book in order
  • $..book[?(@.isbn)] -> filter all books with isbn number
  • $..book[?(@.price<10)] -> filter all books cheaper than 10

See more examples and full sample JSON on the project website.

There is a JavaScript implementation of this library which can be downloaded from the Google Code Archive:
https://code.google.com/archive/p/jsonpath/downloads

With the help of the JavaScript functions of the MBS plugin, the JSON Path library can be easily integrated into FileMaker and then called via script command:
https://www.mbsplugins.eu/component_JavaScript.shtml

Note the difference in the functions „JS.CallFunction“ and „JS.CallFunctionValues“. While the first function expects the input of parameters in JSON format, the second function works with parameters in text form. If this difference is not observed, the values arrive incorrectly in the JavaScript function and cannot be processed. Instead, one receives an error of the type „invalid json (at offset 1)“.

Once these hurdles have been overcome, the content of a JSON object from FileMaker can be queried with a simple script via MBS using a JSON path expression. You get the result in text form or you can simply convert it back into JSON.

Attached is a FileMaker file with the examples from the JSON Path website.
The JavaScript library is already included in the FileMaker demo file.
The MBS Plugin version 11.3 or newer is required.

Download: FM JSON Path.fmp12 (319 KB)

Update 2023-10-02:
JSON Path has been implemented in the latest version (13.5) of MBS plugin. Please refer to MBS documentation and corresponding blog post:
MBS JSON.Query
JSON Query in FileMaker

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Claris in dialogue

22. Dezember 2022

Claris Dialogue

There is something going on in the communication of Claris. In the meantime, new version updates for FileMaker have been shown and further innovations have been announced. While the past months were characterized by hopes and fears, confidence is now returning with regard to the future of the Claris platform.

Highlights of the past weeks were:

  • The Claris Product Team Webinar at the beginning of November
  • The Claris sessions at the engageU conference in Malmö
  • The Claris Partner exclusive webinar in early December
  • The release of FileMaker version 19.6
  • New announcements about Claris Connect (Custom Connectors!)
  • The announcement of the freemium version for the new Claris platform
  • The technical tutorials in the „Claris Engineering Blog“ (refer link)
  • The blog post by Robert Holsey in the Claris Forum (refer link)
  • Q&A with Andrew LeCates at FMDiSC December Meeting (refer link)
  • New in 2023: Claris Update Webinar – Jan 25 (refer link)

The message from Claris is now clear: „We’re on it! We are building the future! Be patient!“. It was also reiterated once again that FileMaker will continue to evolve as a product and nothing will be broken. On the contrary, all improvements should benefit the entire platform. And wherever there are still gaps in „Claris Pro“ in terms of functionality or technical features compared to FileMaker, which stand in the way of a migration, these should be fixed as soon as possible.

OK, Claris – we heard you!
Thank you for your efforts!
So we can be curious about the novelties in the upcoming year…

Links:

Images: Claris, @JorisAarts, @dotfmp

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FMDiSC Claris Platform Survey

18. Oktober 2022

FMDiSC Claris Platform Survey
The FileMaker Developers in Southern California (FMDiSC) are bringing us a brilliant occasion to take place in a global Survey about the Claris Platform.

This could be Our response to Claris to give feedback about their latest announcements and precise our perception about the new platform strategy and express what we as developers would expect from them to grow the platform further.

The survey is very well thought out and designed to cover all critical aspects.
Thanks to FMDiSC and especially David Knight from Angel City Data for putting in a lot of work during the preparation.

You can get some background about the idea of the survey in his presentation during the latest FMDiSC Meetup on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/284ZEhjM7GQ?t=4262

So please take some minutes to fill in your answers to the survey.
Don’t miss this chance to raise our voice as a global FileMaker community.

Just follow this link to start:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FS2MN6N

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The Future of FileMaker – FMDiSC Meeting Oct 2022

18. Oktober 2022

FMDiSC The Future of FileMaker

On invitation of the American developer colleagues of FMDiSC (FileMaker Developers in Southern California) the opportunity arose to present the lecture „The Future of FileMaker“ once again.

The presentation covers the development of the FileMaker platform over the past 30 years, classifies the respective stages with regard to the general requirements in the IT world and breaks down how the new Claris platform currently presents itself technically in detail. It also provides answers to open questions regarding the many new marketing buzzwords and the basic concept behind the new platform strategy.

It also looks at our situation as FileMaker developers with an assessment of what challenges we are facing in the coming years.

The presentation was already part of the German-speaking FileMaker conference in Hamburg in June this year. After Claris officially announced the new products in September and also further technical details of the new Claris platform are available in the meantime, the talk could be updated in some points. In addition, I have added a section to evaluate Claris‘ announcements from a developer’s point of view and explain my assessment in this regard.

Last but not least, there is a preview of a wishful future with a few ideas with which the potential of the Claris platform could be further exploited.

Thanks to the colleagues from FMDiSC for the opportunity to shed some more light on the topic!

The new version of the talk is in English, the recording is available on Youtube at the following link:
https://youtu.be/2FQ1iE1aDAI

+++

Following the talk, there was an FMDiSC discussion panel on the new Claris platform, with further assessments of the current situation and an outlook on what we can expect in the coming years.

Chris Moyer, Richard Carlton, Todd Geist, Beverly Voth and Vince Menanno shared their views and brought further momentum to the discussion.

The second part of the meeting is also available as a recording on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/284ZEhjM7GQ

+++

The meeting was completed by the presentation of a survey by David Knight. This is aimed at us developers and is basically structured in such a way that all essential and also critical points regarding the future of the platform are queried in order to get an overall picture of our assessment as developers. All in all, this makes a very well thought-out and positive impression! So to speak, a constructively built feedback from us developers to Claris.

The explanations of the survey can also be seen in the second part of the Youtube video, starting at minute 71 – just follow this link:
https://youtu.be/284ZEhjM7GQ?t=4262

The link to the survey will be published soon and an active participation of all FileMaker developers is explicitly desired!

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Rückblick FMK 2022

26. Juni 2022

FMK 2022 FileMaker Konferenz in Hamburg

Nach zwei Jahren Pandemie-bedingter Pause konnte endlich wieder das alljährliche Treffen der deutschsprachigen FileMaker Community als „echte“ Konferenz statt finden.

135 Teilnehmer aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz nutzten die Möglichkeit, um sich nach den zahlreichen Online-Events nun wieder einmal in größerer Runde in Präsenz zu treffen.

Die FileMaker Konferenz FMK2022, welche diesmal erneut in der Hamburger Hafencity ausgerichtet wurde, bot ein buntes Programm an Vorträgen, Diskussionen, Workshops und vor allem reichlich Möglichkeiten für den persönlichen Austausch.

Eine neue Struktur mit kürzeren Sessions, etwas mehr Pausen und gemeinsamen Auftakt- und Abschluss-Veranstaltungen an jedem einzelnen Tag lockerte die 4 Konferenztage deutlich auf und bot damit auch ausreichend Möglichkeiten, um außerhalb der Tagungsräume etwas sommerliche Atmosphäre in der nahen Umgebung zu schnuppern.

Zum Abschluss des offiziellen Teils schalteten sich am Freitag Nachmittag die leitenden Claris-Entwickler und Community-Manager per Video-Konferenz dazu, um technische Details der neuen FileMaker-Version zu erläutern und Fragen zu beantworten.

Danke für die vielen Vorträge und Gespräche. Und vor allem großen Dank an das Konferenz-Team, welches uns dieses Event möglich gemacht hat!

Das vollständige Konferenzprogramm sowie Vortragsfolien zum Download sind auf der Veranstaltungs-Website zu finden:
https://filemaker-konferenz.com

#Claris #FileMaker #FMK2022

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Presentation: The future of FileMaker

24. Juni 2022

FileMaker Conference Presentation - The future of FileMaker

FileMaker has grown a special niche among database development systems for three decades. There is hardly a comparable product that has continued to develop over such a long period of time and is still relevant for current application scenarios.

A dedicated community of developers has remained loyal to the product for what feels like an eternity and has matured along with the system and its possibilities.

In the meantime, the manufacturer Claris has set a new course and is trying to readjust in order to catch up with new technical possibilities and in addition to bring new users and developers on board also.

New tools and new target groups are to pave the way for the future in the global change of rapidly developing technology platforms and new competitors.

Will Claris succeed in this balancing act? What are the specific challenges?
What consequences will the new strategy possibly have for us as developers?

We will start with a short overview and then switch to an open dialog about the opportunities and risks of the upcoming changes. Join the discussion and let’s capture the current mood on the future of FileMaker together.

FMK FileMaker Conference 2022
Wednesday, June, 22nd at 4:00 P.M.

https://filemaker-konferenz.com/konferenzplan/
#FMK2022 #Claris #FileMaker

The presentation slides are available for download here:
FMK2022 Presentation – The future of FileMaker (PDF 5,6 MB)

A german version is available here:
FMK2022 Vortrag – Die Zukunft von FileMaker

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Vortrag: Die Zukunft von FileMaker

20. Juni 2022

FileMaker Konferenz Vortrag - Die Zukunft von FileMaker

FileMaker besetzt seit drei Jahrzehnten eine besondere Nische unter den Datenbank-Entwicklungssystemen. Es gibt kaum ein vergleichbares Produkt, das sich über einen so langen Zeitraum beständig weiter entwickelt hat und immer noch für aktuelle Anwendungs-Szenarien relevant ist.

Eine eingeschworene Entwickler-Gemeinschaft hält dem Produkt seit einer gefühlten Ewigkeit die Treue und ist zusammen mit dem System und seinen Möglichkeiten gereift.

Inzwischen wurden beim Hersteller Claris die Weichen neu gestellt und man versucht dort nachzujustieren, um einerseits neuen technischen Herausforderungen gerecht zu werden und andererseits neue Anwender und Entwickler mit ins Boot zu holen.

Neue Tools und neue Zielgruppen sollen im globalen Wandel sich rasant weiter entwickelnder Technologie-Plattformen und neuer Wettbewerber den Weg in die Zukunft ebnen.

Wird Claris dieser Spagat gelingen? Welche Herausforderungen stellen sich konkret?
Welche Konsequenzen bringt der Wandel möglicherweise für uns als Entwickler mit sich?

Wir starten mit einem kurzen Themen-Überblick und wechseln dann zu einem offenen Dialog über die Chancen und Risiken der anstehenden Veränderungen. Diskutieren Sie mit und lassen Sie uns gemeinsam ein aktuelles Stimmungsbild zur Zukunft von FileMaker einfangen.

FMK FileMaker Konferenz 2022
Mittwoch, 22. Juni um 16.00 Uhr

https://filemaker-konferenz.com/konferenzplan/
#FMK2022 #Claris #FileMaker

Die Vortrags-Folien gibt es hier zum Download:
FMK2022 Vortrag – Die Zukunft von FileMaker (PDF 5,6 MB)

An english version is available here:
FMK2022 Presentation – The future of FileMaker

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