fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) Now Runs Natively on FileMaker 16/17 Platform and supports Order Creation Webhooks

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We’re pleased to announce that v1.3 of fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) is now available and includes a number of new features, including native support for FileMaker Pro v16 and later. This is a free update to all existing customers (simply download using the same link that was on your original order email).

With the release of the FileMaker 16 platform we got a number of new functions and script steps, including support for working with JSON data and being able to specify supported cURL options with the Insert From URL script step. These new features meant that we were no longer dependent on plug-in functions and we could replace these with native FileMaker features.

We’ve updated all the requests for downloading and uploading to the Shopify API to use native FileMaker functions and script steps so you no longer need to use a FileMaker plug-in if you’re using FileMaker Pro v16 or higher. This means you can also use fmEcommerce Link on FileMaker Go natively (requires FileMaker Go 16 or higher).

Like our previous updates for native FileMaker functionality for our other products we’ve simply updated the scripts to check which version of FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go or FileMaker Server is being used and if you’re using v15 or earlier we simply use the previous plug-in functionality, and if you’re using v16 or later we now use native functionality. Everything works exactly the same regardless of which version of FileMaker Pro you’re using, but we can now include support for FileMaker Go as well as having one less dependency to worry about.

This release also includes support for Shopify Webhooks – see our earlier post for a short video demonstrating how the Order Creation Webhook works. Instructions for setting up the Order Creation Webhook can be found here.

You can get all the details on our version history page – we’re continuing to work on adding native FileMaker 16 support to our other products, as well as some further updates to fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) including support for processing Fulfilments in FileMaker and uploading to Shopify.

Databuzz 2018 End of Year Xmas Sale – 20% Off All Licenses

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The Databuzz End of Year Xmas Sale is now on – all Product Licenses are now 20% off, including:

Use the coupon XMAS2018 at checkout on any purchase and the 20% discount will be applied to your order. The sale runs until the end of the day on January 04, 2019 (Australian Eastern Daylight Time). Click here to start shopping.

Free trial versions are available for all of our products – please contact us to request a trial version. We’ve updated all of our products in the past few weeks with new features, including:

All our prices are in Australian dollars – if you’re purchasing from outside of Australia you’ll also get to take advantage of the low Australian dollar (1 Australian Dollar equals approximately 0.72 US Dollars).

We also have a similar sale on fmSMS Licenses (20% off) – click here to visit the fmSMS website for further details.

Xero surpasses one million subscribers across Australia and New Zealand

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The announcement this week by Xero, the global small business platform (it no longer positions itself as just an accounting platform) that it had surpassed one million subscribers across Australia and New Zealand made me check where our fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) customers are located.

We now have hundreds of customers around the world using our fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) solution every day to automate the exchange of data between Xero and the FileMaker platform. Typical integrations involve automating the uploading of Contacts, Invoices, Bills, and Purchase Orders and the downloading of Payments, all at the click of a button or automated via FileMaker Server schedules.

Last time we mapped our fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) customers in February 2017 Xero had a total of 862,000 subscribers spread across their four main market regions of:

  • Australia
  • New Zealand
  • UK
  • North America

with Australian and New Zealand being the two largest markets and our customer map reflected this spread.

Xero now has 1.6 million subscribers in over 180 countries, including 355,000 in the UK. We’ve just updated our map again:

and we now have many more pins in the same four markets, with a few in South Asia as well as South Africa. We’re noticing an increase in interest from Canada, the United States and South Asia where Xero is just getting started in the market. According to Xero the penetration of cloud accounting sits at around 40 percent in Australia and New Zealand, more than double what it is worldwide.

We expect as other regions adopt cloud accounting at the rate we have here in Australia and New Zealand that Xero will continue to grow it’s subscriber base worldwide. We look forward to revisiting the Xero subscriber numbers in 12 months time and updating our customer map again.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) and Webhooks

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We will be releasing a new version of fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) in the next few days – this is our long awaited update that includes native functionality for the FileMaker v16 platform and later so you don’t need to use a plug-in anymore. This means you can use the fmEcommerce Link solution on any FileMaker client application: FileMaker Go, FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced, FileMaker Server and FileMaker WebDirect.

As part of this update we’re also including a number of features that have been requested by our users, including support for Shopify Webhooks. Webhooks allow you to trigger an action when a specified event happens on your Shopify store. Our first webhook will be an ‘Order Creation’ webhook which will send the Order details automatically to your fmEcommerce Link file and create the Order automatically without you having to manually download the Order.

You could setup a FileMaker Server schedule that ran every x minutes that checked for new orders since a specified timestamp, but it’s much more efficient to leverage Webhooks if they are available and receive notifications when new orders are created on your store.

We’ll be releasing a free update to fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) later this week which will include support for Webhooks when a new Order is created. You will need to setup a Webhook and install the supplied PHP file on your FileMaker Server (you will need to enable Custom Web Publishing/PHP in your FileMaker Server Admin Console), and once this in place anytime a new Order is received in Shopify it will automatically be pushed to the fmEcommerce Link file, typically within a few seconds. N.B. your webhook address must use HTTPS – HTTP addresses are not supported by Shopify.

You can get more information about Shopify Webhooks at the following links:

https://help.shopify.com/en/api/getting-started/webhooks

https://help.shopify.com/en/api/getting-started/webhooks#through-store-admin

Here’s a short video demonstrating this in action (you can also watch this on YouTube here). If you have any other Webhooks you would like us to support please let us know.

WordCamp Brisbane 2018 Recap

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Last month I attended WordCamp Brisbane 2018, my second WordCamp for 2018 after attending WordCamp Sydney earlier this year. WordCamps are informal, community-organised events which are heavily subsidised (think $50 tickets for 2 days of sessions and meals, including the after party!) thanks to the conference sponsors, making them very accessible for attendees.

I was fortunate to be selected to speak at WordCamp Brisbane 2018 and gave a presentation on WooCommerce REST API Integration, which included some details on version 3 of the WooCommerce REST API that was released the week of the conference. You can get a copy of my slides here and the videos from the conference are already available on YouTube and will shortly be available on WordPress.tv.

Once my presentation was over I was able to relax a bit more and enjoy attending the sessions. I tried to cover a wide range of WordPress related topics including podcasting, security and copywriting, as well as the sessions covering the upcoming WordPress v5.0 and the new Gutenberg editor.

Like WordCamp Sydney I learnt a lot and made lots of new friends in the WordPress community – a big thanks to all the organisers, sponsors, volunteers and speakers for making it happen and producing such a well run conference.

WooCommerce 3.5 and the new REST API v3

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Last week WooCommerce released WooCommerce v3.5 which included a new version of the REST API – v3. As with previous releases of the REST API this new version includes a number of new endpoints as well as updates to some existing endpoints. Here’s a summary of the new features in the REST API v3:

  • A reviews endpoint to list, get, create, and update product reviews.
  • Date fields are now editable on the products endpoint, and the endpoint has been updated to work with the “on backorder” stock status.
  • A series of new reports endpoints to get total counts of orders, products, customers, coupons and reviews.
  • New orderby options for the products endpoint to allow listing products by price, popularity, or rating.
  • Automatic total calculations when applying/removing coupons in the orders endpoint.
  • New data endpoints to fetch Continents, Countries and Currencies.
  • Refund line items through the API.
  • Ability to batch update settings

To use the new v3 API you will need to be running WooCommerce v3.5 or later – we plan to start adding support for some of the new endpoints and updates in a future release of fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition). It’s important to note that v1 and v2 of the REST API still work and are still included in WooCommerce 3.5 so updating won’t break any integration that uses the fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) solution. Let us know what features from the v3 API you would like to see included first by contacting us or leave a comment below.

We’ll be taking our time with the next update to give you more time to update your site to WooCommerce 3.5. You should always follow the WooCommerce guidelines for updating your version of WooCommerce, including making backups and testing the new version for compatibility with your other plugins etc in a test environment.

We’re already working on some updates for our next release around uploading Orders from FileMaker to WooCommerce and uploading locally stored images that won’t require WooCommerce 3.5

You can get all the details for the new v3 API at the API documentation page.

Integrate FileMaker with Neto – Coming Soon

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We’re excited to share some news today about an upcoming product: fmEcommerce Link (Neto Edition). Like our existing solutions for integrating the FileMaker platform with the WooCommerce and Shopify ecommerce platforms, our latest addition to the fmEcommerce Link range is about eliminating double data entry between Neto and FileMaker and streamlining your workflows, saving your business time and money.

Neto is an all-in-one ecommerce, point of sale, inventory and fulfilment solution based in Australia. Over 3,000 Australian Retailers & Wholesalers run their businesses on Neto and in 2015 Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company, acquired a stake in Neto. They have recently opened an office in the US with plans to hire more than 30 people in the first 12 months of US operations.

We’ve been hard at work over the past few months and will have a demonstration video shortly, but we can share that the initial release of fmEcommerce Link (Neto Edition) solution will allow you to:

  • download Orders, Products, Customers and Suppliers from Neto to FileMaker
  • upload Customers, Suppliers and Products from FileMaker to Neto

fmEcommerce Link (Neto Edition) will require v16 or later of the FileMaker platform and uses all native functions and script steps – no plug-ins are required! For companies using both FileMaker and Neto our solution will save you the hassle of double data entry – no more manually entering Neto orders into FileMaker. You can also combine fmEcommerce Link (Neto Edition) with our integration solutions for Xero and MYOB AccountRight to automate the uploading of Neto orders into your accounting software.

Please contact us if you have any questions about fmEcommerce Link (Neto Edition) – if you would like to be notified when we release fmEcommerce Link (Neto Edition) please join our mailing list here.

FileMaker – the problem solver’s problem solver

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At the FileMaker Developer Conference earlier this year there was a special session on the morning of day two that was live streamed via the Internet – the first time this has happened in DevCon history. The session featured speakers from the FileMaker Product Management and Product Development teams who introduced us to their new strategy around defining a new category for the FileMaker Platform as the world’s leading Workplace Innovation Platform.

Defining where FileMaker fits in the marketplace and how to position the FileMaker Platform has always been somewhat of a challenge given the unique position of the FileMaker Platform (custom business application vs appliance applications, low code vs no code etc) and that it is used in small businesses, government, and enterprise teams as well as having deployment options that cover Mac, Windows, iOS and the Web. The Workplace Innovation Platform is about solving business challenges (for example streamlining workflows and automating manual processes), whether that is for a small business or a team within a larger business.

FileMaker have a short Workplace Innovation Platform Overview animated video which you can view here:

https://www.filemaker.com/workplace-innovation

Richard Cox Braden, a lecturer at Stanford University also spoke about the Invention Cycle and the roles that Imagination, Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship play in this process. The full session video can be found here:

https://www.filemaker.com/workplace-innovation/#fm-video-visionary-keynote

After the special session DevCon attendees could collect their conference shirt which had this on the front:

I like the concept of “the problem solver’s problem solver”, and FileMaker have recently followed up the launch of the Workplace Innovation Platform with a new film series “Innovation Without the Hype” focusing on helping everyday problem solvers escape the work rut. The first four films in the series have been released and the remaining two will be released over the coming weeks – we encourage you to check them out here (each film is only around 40 seconds):

https://www.filemaker.com/workplace-innovation/films/

Andrew Duncan from Databuzz to speak at WordCamp Brisbane 2018

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WordCamp Brisbane 2018 is on 27-28 October this year at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. Databuzz is pleased to announce that Andrew Duncan will be speaking this year on WooCommerce integration using the WooCommerce API.

Databuzz are big fans of WooCommerce and WordPress – we’ve been using WordPress and WooCommerce for many years to run our websites and eCommerce platforms. Our fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) solution is one of our most popular products and we continue to update this with new features and improvements. Andrew’s presentation will cover the new v3 of the REST API that will be released with WooCommerce 3.5 later this month.

We look forward to meeting up and discussing all things WordPress – you can get tickets and more information from the WordCamp Brisbane 2018 site here:

https://2018.sydney.wordcamp.org/

FileMaker 17 Certified Developer

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Databuzz is pleased to announce that Andrew Duncan recently passed the Developer Essentials for FileMaker 17 Certification Exam and is now FileMaker Certified in v8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. FileMaker 17 Certification is the official credential offered by FileMaker, Inc.

FileMaker Certification is your validation that you are hiring an experienced FileMaker professional who has technical knowledge of the complete FileMaker product line and has passed the “Developer Essentials for FileMaker” certification exam. Being a certified developer demonstrates to clients, peers and management that you’ve achieved an essential level of knowledge, experience and skills in developing on the FileMaker Platform.