FileMaker Pro 2024 Now Supports Local Notifications

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I’ve written previously about generating local notifications from FileMaker Pro (for example when a new incoming SMS has been received) which use AppleScript to create the notifications. The use of AppleScript had a number of limitations: this was limited to macOS users and didn’t support performing a FileMaker script when the user clicked the notification, and also required the fmextscriptaccess extended privilege to be enabled.

In FileMaker 17 Claris introduced the Configure Local Notification script step which allowed you to display a local notification alert on a device when FileMaker Go is either in the background or is not running. The notifications would appear like other iOS notifications on your iPhone or iPad:

The release last month of FileMaker 2024 included a couple of important updates to the Configure Local Notification script step:

  • it now supports creating local notifications in FileMaker Pro (as well as FileMaker Go)
  • it can now display a notification when FileMaker Go is in the foreground (FileMaker Go only) by using the new Show when app in foreground option

This means FileMaker developers can now generate local notifications on both macOS and Windows without needing to use any third party technology such as AppleScript or a FileMaker plug-in. These notifications are great for letting users know when certain processes have finished.

I’ve been using the Perform Script On Server with Callback script step that was first introduced with FileMaker 2023 (v20) a lot recently – it’s a great way to offload long processes to the server and continue to work in FileMaker Pro but also be notified when the server script has finished. Previously I would set my Callback script to use a Custom Dialog box to let the user know when the server script had finished and if there were any errors. With FileMaker Pro 21 I can now change these to use local notifications which are cleaner and don’t require any interaction from the user and allow me to run a script when users click the notification.

On Windows these appear in the bottom right where other Windows notifications appear:

and on macOS these appear in the top right hadn’t corner where other macOS notifications appear:

Here’s a short video showing this in action (you can also watch this on YouTube here):