Fundamental FileMaker Extensions (Plug-ins)
FileMaker is a very powerful development platform, but with any production application comes the need to link your database to the rest of the world. Whether you need to read and write regular (non-database) files, create a repository of electronic documents, fully integrate the sending and receiving of email into your database, or accept credit card payments within your FileMaker application, you'll need additional software to add these capabilities.
There are many high-quality plug-ins (extensions) available from third-party software developers that let you perform these and others functions directly from a FileMaker application. Some plug-ins perform such fundamental operations that we consider them essential to a cost-effective development effort. The license fees for these plug-ins are modest – typically a tiny fraction of what it would cost you to develop these routines on your own – assumming you have the unique expertise required.
In short, we wouldn't start a FileMaker development project without these essential plug-ins:
Accessing Disk Files: Troi File from Troi Automatisering
With this jam-packed toolbox of functions, you can create a list of all the files or folders in a disk directory (folder), open an existing file and retrieve some or all of the contents, create a new file, write new or updated data to a file, check creation and modification dates and times, and much, much more. Troi File makes it simple and quick to perform any file-access operation on any disk file from within a FileMaker application.
Document Storage, Retrieval & Publishing: SuperContainer from 360Works
It's pretty neat that FileMaker has the built-in capability to import and store entire files in container fields within a database record; including photos, audio and video clips, Word documents, PDFs ... whatever. But importing and accessing such documents can really bog down your application as the numbers increase. For an industrial-strength solution, we always use SuperContainer. By storing documents as ordinary files that can be easily indexed and retrieved from within a FileMaker application, displayed full size or as auto-scaled thumbnails on any screen, printed on reports, and uploaded and downloaded for web-based users, SuperContainer amps up performance while removing all the subtle limitations of container fields. And backups become much faster, too!
Email: POP3it Pro and SMTPit Pro from Comm-Unity Networking Systems
The ability to send email is built into FileMaker. But if you need to create a full-fledged email client so that messages are automatically linked within your database to your contacts, employees, and suppliers, we recommend these two plug-ins. With POP3it Pro and SMTPit Pro you can utilize all the power of email for prospecting, communicating with clients, and instantly pushing updated information from your database out to anyone who needs it.
Web Services: Web Services Plug-in from FM::Nexus and Beezwax
This way this brilliant software works seems like magic: You write a one- linescript that passes this plug-in any URL pointing to a Web Services Decription on the net, and instantly any and all services the site provides are converted into new, easy-to-use FileMaker functions. Then add a single line of code to invoke one of your new functions, and you've connected your database application to any of thousands of enterprises that speak Web Services. You can use this plug-in to ship and track pakages, integrate Google and Amazon services, validate e-mail and street addresses, convert currencies, retrieve stock prices, get weather updates ... The list is staggering in length and growing every day. (We integrated our first, real time Web Service in about 10 minutes ... without even reading the documentation.)
Here are some other plug-ins we rely on (and recommend) when needed to meet specific client requirements:
If you have a complex calculation or formula you need to evaluate in several different FileMaker scripts ... or even in multiple places in the same script ... you can make your life easier by creating a custom function. A custom function is a series of calculations bundled into a neat little package you can reference by name from your script to automatically invoke all the steps you coded into the function.
For us there's nothing more challenging than a blank canvas ... or, in our world, a brand new, empty FileMaker database with no tables, no fields, no layouts, no buttons, and no scripts. It's so easy to stare at a blank screen for hours, imagining an infinity of possibilitites. But where to start?
