fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) Update September 2017

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Shopify, the leading multi-channel commerce platform, recently announced that it now powers more than 500,000 businesses in 175 countries around the world. The number of merchants of the Shopify platform is growing annually at an average rate of 74% and in the last 12 months 131 million people have bought from Shopify stores.

If you’re using Shopify for your online presence and FileMaker in your business check out fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition):

http://www.databuzz.com.au/fmecommerce-link-shopify-edition/

It has many examples for integrating FileMaker with Shopify, including the ability to upload Products from FileMaker and download Orders from Shopify at the click of a button – no more double data entry!

We’ve just released an update with a few minor changes, including an update to the downloading of filtered Orders by date range to now use your Shop’s timezone setting. We’ve also added a new example that allows you to delete a Product in Shopify from FileMaker. Contact us to if you have any questions or to request a free 14 day trial.

fmSMS and FileMaker Cloud

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FileMaker Cloud, FileMaker Inc’s cloud-based platform for managing and running custom apps, was officially launched one year ago this month. FileMaker Cloud gives you the simplicity and performance of the FileMaker Platform without spending time and resources deploying and maintaining a server

FileMaker Cloud runs on the Amazon Web Services Cloud (AWS) and was originally only available for customers in the United States and Canada (AWS Regions of Oregon and N. Virginia). This was extended to Europe, the Middle East and Africa in March 2017 (AWS regions of Ireland and Frankfurt) and Japan, Canada and Australia in July 2017 (AWS regions of Sydney, Canada and Tokyo).

There are a number of important differences between FileMaker Cloud and the traditional version of FileMaker Server for Mac/Windows – it’s worth remembering that FileMaker Cloud is not FileMaker Server as not all FileMaker Server features are available in FileMaker Cloud. FileMaker have a comparison between FileMaker Server and FileMaker Cloud that outlines the differences in various categories – some of the features of FileMaker Server not currently available in FileMaker Cloud that have implications for fmSMS include:

  • Custom Web Publishing with PHP and XML
  • Scheduled Scripts in the FileMaker Server Admin Console

There are no issues using a FileMaker Cloud hosted version of fmSMS and the FileMaker Pro client application to send messages as all communication with the SMS Gateway when sending messages is handled by FileMaker Pro. We’re currently working on support for using Perform Script on Server – this requires a new Linux version of the plug-in to run under FileMaker Cloud which runs on CentOS Linux.

We’re currently testing this and hope to have an update shortly. Please note that server side schedule scripts are not currently supported on FileMaker Cloud – you will have to use Perform Script on Server for any server side script operations. Perform Script on Server is used by FileMaker Go and FileMaker WebDirect clients when accessing a hosted version of FileMaker Server to send messages. Now that FileMaker Pro v16 includes native support for JSON and cURL we will be able to use native functions to communicate with the SMS Gateways without requiring a FileMaker plug-in, so FileMaker Go and FileMaker WebDirect clients will be able to send messages directly without having to perform server side scripts that required a plug-in to be installed on FileMaker Server.

For receiving incoming messages/replies most of the SMS Gateways push incoming messages to a PHP file running on your FileMaker Server/Web Server. This uses the Custom Web Publishing with PHP feature of FileMaker Server – FileMaker Cloud does not support Custom Web Publishing so you will not be able to use the FileMaker Cloud to receive incoming messages using the supplied PHP pages. Some SMS Gateways do allow you to ‘poll’ periodically for new messages and download these from the SMS Gateway – see our Getting Started guide for further details.

We’re also investigating using the new FileMaker Data API to receive incoming messages – this is currently offered as a trial version with FileMaker Server v16 and is not currently available with FileMaker Cloud, so we will most likely wait until FileMaker Inc. release the shipping version and have finalised the licensing model and included this with FileMaker Cloud.

fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) Update August 2017

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We’ve just updated fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) – our solution for integrating FileMaker with WooCommerce – with a number of new features and bug fixes. We love getting requests from our existing customer base in many different countries and have included a few feature requests in the latest update, including:

  • Products: we added support for Grouped Products so you can now create and update these from FileMaker
  • Products: we added the ability to Delete a Product in WooCommerce from FileMaker
  • Products:  you can now view Product Images using a Webviewer (you no longer need to download Images into Container field to View them)

We’ve had a number of requests for the ability to create an Order in FileMaker and upload that to WooCommerce so it is available for customers to view when they login. We had been planning to add this in already so this will now be included in the next release – there’s quite a bit of work involved in ensuring the Order data is valid and gathering the correct line items, shipping lines, taxes etc, but we’re hoping to have this released in the next 4-6 weeks.

We’re also working on an update for FileMaker Pro v16 users to take advantage of the new JSON functions and cURL options in the FileMaker v16 platform – this will allow you to no longer need a plugin to communicate with the WooCommerce API, making it easier if you’re using FileMaker Go and FileMaker WebDirect and not having to use server side scripts.

This is a free update to all our existing customers – you can get the full details of the changes in the release notes for fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition). If you have any additional feature requests please get in touch.

FileMaker Cloud Now Available in Australia and Japan

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FileMaker Inc. today announced that FileMaker Cloud, their cloud-based platform for managing and running custom apps, now supports the Japan and Australia Amazon Web Services (AWS) regions. With FileMaker Cloud you don’t have to spend time and resources deploying and maintaining a server – there are no up-front costs and you can be up and running in around 20 minutes.

FileMaker Cloud now supports 7 AWS regions including:

  • Sydney
  • Tokyo
  • Canada
  • US West
  • US East
  • Ireland
  • Frankfurt

Today’s update also includes the ability to renew the 90-day trial Comodo SSL certificates through the FileMaker Store for 1, 2 and 3-year terms, using the initial host name and the filemaker-cloud.com domain. We recently wrote about our experiences with FileMaker Cloud and some differences between FileMaker Cloud and the traditional FileMaker Server product that you should be aware of.

 

Reduce No-Shows with SMS Appointment Reminders

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If you’re running an appointment based business you’re probably painfully aware of the cost of no-shows and missed appointments. Whether you’re taking bookings for an office based business (doctor, dentist, hairdresser etc) or for onsite appointments (building inspections, electricians, plumbers etc) it’s important to have a system in place to remind your customers about the upcoming appointment in advance.

Integrating reminders into the daily workflow of your appointment based business has a number of important benefits:

  • decreases appointment no-shows. We’re all human and sometimes we just forget to enter the appointment into our diary, but being reminded helps prevent no-shows or gives customers a chance to cancel or reschedule. It also allows you to fill your calendar if someone cancels with other waitlisted customers
  • maximises the convenience to the customer by allowing them to receive reminders on their mobile phone which they generally have with them at most times. They can also choose to respond if necessary from their phone at a time of their choosing
  • reduce the number of outbound and inbound calls and staff playing telephone tag

SMS messaging has emerged to be a preferred channel for customer communication including appointment reminders. I personally receive SMS reminders for the majority of my appointments (everything from car repairs/servicing to dental appointments). There are a number of advantages of SMS appointment reminders including:

  • SMS/TXT messaging is available on every mobile phone – there’s no need to download an app. It will work just as well on a Nokia from the 1990s as it will on the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy and doesn’t require an Internet/data connection
  • sending txt messages is immediate and asynchoronous – it doesn’t require you and your customer to be talking to each other at the same time. You can send an appointment reminder to a customer and they can read the message and reply if needed at a time that is convenient to them
  • 90% of SMS messages are read within 3 minutes of being received and have a a 5X higher open rate than email
  • Cost effective – compared to a physical mail out or phone calls SMS appointment reminders are very cost effective

We’ve helped many small businesses implement an SMS based appointment reminder system into their daily workflows, including:

  • a removal business sends appointment reminders to both customers and truck drivers 2 days in advance confirming the upcoming appointment
  • a hairdresser automatically sends out appointment reminders 3 days before each appointment using a FileMaker Server scheduled script
  • a physiotherapist sends out birthday congratulations to all their customers automatically on their birthday with special offers using a FileMaker Server scheduled script

Appointment reminders can be sent by a staff member each day (for example to remind everyone about appointments tomorrow) or scheduled to be sent automatically by FileMaker Server. You can also take advantage of 2 way messaging to allow your customers to send a reply via SMS which is routed directly back into your FileMaker solution. One customer was able to replace a process that took 2 staff members over 90 minutes to contact all customers to confirm their appointments for the next day with an automated SMS reminder system that sends out hundreds of appointment reminders in under 5 minutes.

If you would like to discuss integrating SMS appointment reminders into your FileMaker solution please contact us for a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements. Our fmSMS solution is also available if you would like to have your existing in-house/external FileMaker developer perform an integration using our ready made solution.

 

The Benefits of eCommerce Integration with your FileMaker CRM

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In Australia and other parts of the world this week marks the start of a new financial year, which is a great time to review your business processes and eliminate any inefficiencies that is costing your business time and money.

One of the most common businesses processes we see in many small- medium sized businesses is the double data entry of orders from online eCommerce systems into the FileMaker custom business application (and sometimes once more into the Accounting software). We work with many small businesses that have an online presence, selling products and services using online platforms such as WooCommerce and Shopify. Many of them are unaware they it is possible to automate the exchange of data between eCommerce systems and FileMaker using APIs (an API is an Application Programming Interface that a company makes available to other software developers to allow you to get your software – FileMaker in this case – talking to their software).

If you’re using FileMaker as your CRM (Customer relationship management) application to track your customers, sales, invoices and payments there are a number of advantages of integrating it with your eCommerce software, including:

  • no more double data entry in FileMaker. The order and customer details have already been entered by the customer in the eCommerce system – with the click of a button the order details can be downloaded to your FileMaker custom application in a few seconds
  • no more double data entry of Product details in your eCommerce system. If you’re using your FileMaker application as the central repository of product data you can push/upload data from FileMaker to your eCommerce system (including images) at the click of a button
  • less errors between your eCommerce system and your FileMaker custom application. Being able to download and upload data between your eCommerce system and your FileMaker application means there is less likelihood of data entry errors between the 2 systems
  • free up staff time for more productive work. Rather than having staff spend countless hours each week doing double data entry they can be freed up for more productive (and enjoyable) work, such as following up on sales leads, customer service, marketing etc.
  • it also allows staff to upload and download data to the eCommerce software without giving them direct access to the eCommerce software

We’ve helped customers save between 1-2 hours of time each day for staff that were previously manually entering online orders into their FileMaker application. Now they download all the orders in the morning for the previous day and the whole process takes under a minute. We’ve even helped some customers use the power of Webhooks to have new orders pushed directly to their FileMaker Server so they don’t have to download any new orders – they instantly appear seconds after being placed online.

If you would like to discuss integrating your FileMaker solution with your eCommerce system please contact us for a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements. We also have a number of products which allow you or your in-house/external FileMaker developer to do the integration yourself with the WooCommerce and Shopify eCommerce platforms:

FileMaker Cloud Notes

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FileMaker Cloud, FileMaker Inc’s cloud-based platform for managing and running custom apps, was officially launched in September, 2016. FileMaker Cloud gives you the the simplicity and performance of the FileMaker Platform without spending time and resources deploying and maintaining a server

FileMaker Cloud runs on the Amazon Web Services Cloud (AWS) and was originally only available for customers in the United States and Canada (AWS Regions of Oregon and N. Virginia). This was extended to Europe, the Middle East and Africa in March 2017 (AWS regions of Ireland and Frankfurt). According to FileMaker Inc’s product roadmap the next AWS Regions to be supported will be Japan, Australia, and Montreal.

There are a number of important differences between FileMaker Cloud and the traditional version of FileMaker Server for Mac/Windows – it’s worth remembering that FileMaker Cloud is not FileMaker Server as not all FileMaker Server features are available in FileMaker Cloud. FileMaker have a comparison between FileMaker Server and FileMaker Cloud that outlines the differences in various categories – some of the features of FileMaker Server not currently available in FileMaker Cloud include:

  • Custom Web Publishing with PHP and XML
  • Scheduled Scripts in the FileMaker Server Admin Console
  • External authentication via Active Directory/Open Directory

It’s also worth noting that FileMaker Cloud’s support for certain features may lag behind what is offered by FileMaker Server. For example the ESS Adapter that was introduced with the FileMaker 15 platform providing External SQL Data Source support for PostgreSQL, IBM DB2 and IBM iSeries is not currently supported in FileMaker Cloud, and some of the recent features of FileMaker Server v16 such as PDF support and the Data API are not currently supported in FileMaker Cloud. The FileMaker Server v16 features are currently “in development” according to the product roadmap so we can expect to see this released at some stage in the future.

If you use plug-ins with FileMaker Server (e.g. when called via the Perform Script on Server script step) you will need to check with the plug-in developer as they will need to compile a Linux version of the plug-in. You will also need to use the Install Plug-In File script step to install the plug-in from a container field in a file hosted on your FileMaker Cloud server.

Setting up a FileMaker Cloud instance is very quick – around 20 minutes or less in our tests so far. The FileMaker Cloud Getting Started Guide has all the steps required, including the AWS requirements, to get you up and running. As you don’t need to setup a physical server or operating system (FileMaker Cloud runs on CentOS Linux 7.2) everything is managed through the AWS and FileMaker Cloud consoles. You upload files to FileMaker Cloud the same way you do for FileMaker Server – using the FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced client. There are some important differences with FileMaker Cloud, including the requirement for all files to be encrypted and that files that have the default account name of “Admin” with no password will be blocked from being uploaded until a valid password is configured for that account – this FileMaker Knowledge Base article has more details.

For FileMaker Developers there are some important differences in the results of certain FileMaker functions:

Get (HostApplicationVersion) returns Cloud Server 1.15.2.23 (the number corresponds to the FileMaker Cloud Version number from the FileMaker Cloud Admin Console)

Get (SystemPlatform) returns 5

Get (SystemVersion) returns 7.2.1511 (this is the version of CentOS)

Get (TemporaryPath) returns /FileMakerData/tmp/S177/

Get (DesktopPath) returns /home/fmserver/Desktop/

Get (DocumentsPath) /opt/FileMaker/FileMaker Server/Data/Documents/

Get (CurrentHostTimestamp) always returns timestamps in the UTC time zone. If you want to use the local time zone, you must include the calculation (the difference between UTC and your time zone) in your FileMaker Pro scripts/calculations. There’s a number of ways to do this such as this custom function.

FileMaker Inc have a number of online resources to help you with your FileMaker Cloud installation:

If you have any questions please leave a comment below or get in touch.

Databuzz releases fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) – Integrate FileMaker Pro and Shopify

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Sydney, Australia – June 13, 2017 – Databuzz today announced fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition), a FileMaker solution that integrates with the Shopify eCommerce platform.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) allows you to upload and download data between your FileMaker solution and Shopify, the leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Shopify currently powers hundreds of thousands of businesses in approximately 175 countries and is trusted by brands such as Tesla, Nestle, GE, Red Bull, Kylie Cosmetics, and many more.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) removes double data entry and human errors saving your company significant time, money and hassle by automating the exchange of data between FileMaker and Shopify. fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) is completely unlocked allowing you to integrate it into your FileMaker solution. You can copy and paste examples showing you how to authenticate with the Shopify API and download Customers, Orders, Products, Collections and more at the click of a button.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) features include:

  • works with FileMaker Pro v12, v13, v14, v15 and v16
  • works with Macintosh and Windows
  • completely unlocked for you to integrate into your own FileMaker solution
  • can be hosted by FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Server

“Many of our customers use FileMaker Pro to run their business and Shopify for their eCommerce platform,” said Andrew Duncan, CEO of Databuzz. “They don’t want to have to manually re-enter Customers and Orders in FileMaker, so we built fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) to streamline their business processes. With fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) you can push and pull data between FileMaker and Shopify at the click of a button.”

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) includes examples for the following Shopify API endpoints:

  • Customers: download and upload Customers
  • Customers: download and upload Customers
  • Products: download and upload Products (including Options, Variants, Images and Metafields)
  • Orders: download Orders from Shopify (including Order line items)
  • Price Rules: download and upload Price Rules (Discounts)
  • Custom Collections: download and upload Custom Collections
  • Smart Collections: download and upload Smart Collections
  • Shipping Countries: download Shipping Countries from Shopify
  • Locations: download Locations from Shopify

Availability, Pricing, and Compatibility

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) is available in a number of licenses: Company, Vertical Solution and Developer. It is available now from the Databuzz website at http://www.databuzz.com.au/fmecommerce-link-shopify-edition/. Company Licenses start at AUD $495.00. fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) requires FileMaker Pro v12, v13, v14, v15 or v16.

Media/Customer Contact:

Andrew Duncan

Phone: +61 418 468 103

sales@databuzz.com.au

About Databuzz: Databuzz is a long-standing member of the FileMaker Business Alliance. We have been developing and deploying FileMaker solutions for clients in Australia and internationally since 1999. Our clients are individuals, small-medium businesses, government agencies and multi-national corporations. Databuzz was founded by Andrew Duncan, a Certified FileMaker 15 Developer. For more information please visit our website at http://www.databuzz.com.au.

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FileMaker is a trademark of FileMaker, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) Now Supports WooCommerce 3.0

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Earlier this year we wrote about the upcoming release of WooCommerce 2.7 and how it would be introducing a new version of the REST API (v2) with a number of new API endpoints, particularly for Product Variations. Shortly after our post WooCommerce decided to re-version 2.7 to 3.0 to better reflect the significance of this update and push the release date to the 4th of April, 2017.

Since the release of WooCommerce 3.0 we’ve been busy working on an update to fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) to support the new v2 of the REST API and associated changes. We’re pleased to announce that v1.3 of fmEcommerce Link is now available as a free update for all existing customers (details have been sent via email about how to download this update). As v1 of the REST API has now been deprecated by WooCommerce we’ve decided to create 2 versions of the fmEcommerce Link file, one for each version of the REST API:

  • fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) REST API v1.fmp12
  • fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) REST API v2.fmp12

WooCommerce 3.0 is a major update and WooCommerce recommend that you ensure your store extensions and themes are compatible before upgrading, test on a staging site if you can, and make a backup for peace of mind. Since the 3.0 release on April 4th there have been 7 updates already fixing bugs with both WooCommerce and the REST API.

The major changes in fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) 1.3 include:

  • now supports the WooCommerce REST API v2 only
  • Product Variations are now stored in their own table to match the new Variations endpoint (you can now update Variations independently of their parent Product)
  • added support for additional fields exposed by the v2 API for existing endpoints
  • added new Meta Data tables which are included with most of the API endpoints (Customers, Orders, Products etc)
  • added support for new Payment Gateways endpoint
  • added support for new Shipping Methods endpoint
  • added support for new Shipping Zone Locations endpoint
  • added support for new Shipping Zone Methods endpoint
  • fixed issue when uploading a Product with no Images when Product previously contained images

WooCommerce 3.0 supports both v1 and v2 of the REST API so you can upgrade to WooCommerce 3.0 and continue to use your existing version or integration of fmEcommerce Link and everything will continue to work as it did with WooCommerce 2.6. If you wish to take advantage of the new API endpoints (e.g. the ability to upload Product Variations separately to the parent Product) you will need to switch to the new v2 API and make some changes to your existing scripts etc using the examples from the fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) REST API v2 file. If you are not planning to upgrade to WooCommerce 3.0 in the near future you do not need to make any changes.

All future development we now be focussed on the v2 REST API as that is the version that WooCommerce will continue to develop – we’ll certainly fix any bugs that arise with the v1 REST API. You can get the full details of all the change on the version history page.

FileMaker Inc. releases FileMaker 16 Platform

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FileMaker Inc. today released the FileMaker 16 Platform with new versions of FileMaker Pro, Pro Advanced, Server, FileMaker Go and FileMaker WebDirect. FileMaker 16 is a big release for both customers and developers alike, especially compared to the 15 release last year. This releases marks the third annual release that started with v14 with all new versions shipping in May each year.

The FileMaker platform is all about giving developers the tools to create custom apps that work for your team on iPad, iPhone, Windows, Mac, and the web. The FileMaker 16 Platform has many new features to improve the mobility, development, integration, security, and scalability of your custom apps.

Our favourite new feature by a long way is the PDF support in FileMaker Server and FileMaker WebDirect – you can now generate PDF files (reports, agreements, contracts etc) under FileMaker Server and FileMaker WebDirect, opening up a whole new world of server side reporting options. This is something we have been requesting for many years and we’re very excited to see this ship – we can’t wait to start taking advantage of this with our existing customers (no more robots!).

As developers we’re also looking forward to taking advantage of the new Layout Objects window, Cards, native cURL and JSON functions and the enhanced Data Viewer.

Some of the other new features of the FileMaker 16 Platform include:

  • Mobility: The addition of animations and transitions with scripts provide visual cues to help orient users as they navigate through their custom apps on the FileMaker Go app. Enhanced signature capture for the FileMaker Go app allows users to sign documents on iPad and iPhone just as they would on a paper form.
  • Integration: Easily exchange data with other web services and applications using enhanced cURL options and predefined JSON functions in FileMaker Pro.
  • Development: The new Layout Objects window provides a hierarchical list of all objects in a layout. This makes it easy to make changes to an object without having to ungroup the entire set of objects.
  • Scalability: Custom apps accessed via FileMaker WebDirect now can be used by up to 500 users simultaneously, making it easier to share data with an entire team.
  • Security: Simplified credential management with OAuth 2.0 using third-party authentication providers improves security and safety of custom apps. Existing Amazon, Google or Microsoft Azure account credentials now can be used to log into FileMaker-based custom apps.

FileMaker Server 16 also includes a number of “trial features” including:

  • FileMaker Data API
  • Tableau Web Data Connector for FileMaker

that open a number of interesting integration opportunities.

We’re please to report that all Databuzz products are compatible with the FileMaker 16 Platform:

We’ll be publishing more articles over the coming months looking at some of the new features in the FileMaker 16 Platform in more depth – you can subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when they are released or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.