FileMaker Developer Conference Show Specials – 10% Off

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Databuzz will once again be demonstrating at the annual FileMaker Developer Conference this week in in Las Vegas, Nevada. To celebrate we will be offering a DevCon show special for the entire week – all versions of fmAccounting Link and fmSMS will be discounted by 10%.

The discount will be applied automatically so no need to enter any coupons and it will run from July 20 – July 26, 2015.

You can purchase fmAccounting Link via the Databuzz website and fmSMS from the fmSMS.

If you’re attending the conference please stop by our booth and say hello and we can demonstrate our SMS and Xero integration solutions.

Databuzz releases fmAccounting Link – Integrate FileMaker Pro and Xero Cloud Accounting

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Sydney, Australia – July 13, 2015 – Databuzz today announced fmAccounting Link, a FileMaker solution that integrates with the Xero Accounting Software.

fmAccounting Link allows you to upload and download data between your FileMaker solution and Xero, the easy to use online accounting software that’s designed specifically for small businesses. fmAccounting Link removes double data entry and human errors saving your company significant time, money and hassle by automating the exchange of data between FileMaker and Xero.

fmAccounting Link 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 Xero API and upload Contacts, Invoices, Bills, Payments and more at the click of a button.

Databuzz will be demonstrating fmAccounting Link at the 2015 FileMaker Developer Conference, to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from July 20-23, 2015. To celebrate we will be offering a DevCon show special for the entire week – all versions of fmAccounting Link will be discounted by 10% when you purchase via our online store at http://www.databuzz.com.au/shop.

fmAccounting Link features include:

  • works with FileMaker Pro v12, v13 and v14
  • completely unlocked
  • can be hosted by FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Server
  • works with Macintosh and Windows
  • includes support for FileMaker Server scheduled scripts
  • supports multiple Xero Organisations
  • supports both the main Accounting API and the Payroll API

“Like many of our customers we use FileMaker Pro to run our business and Xero for our accounting,” said Andrew Duncan, Director of Databuzz. “We didn’t want to have to re-enter Contacts, Invoices and Payments multiple times in FileMaker and Xero, so we built fmAccounting Link to streamline our business and now we’re making it available for everyone.”

fmAccounting Link works with the following Xero API endpoints:

  • Organisations: authenticate multiple Xero Organisations
  • Contacts: download and upload Contacts
  • Invoices: download and upload Invoices (including Invoice line items)
  • Items (Products): download and upload Items (Products price list)
  • Payments: download and upload Payments against an Invoice
  • Employees: download and upload Employees
  • Timesheets: download and upload Timesheets to Xero
  • Account Codes: download Account Codes from Xero
  • Bank Transactions: download Bank Transactions from Xero
  • Tracking Categories: download Tracking Categories from Xero

Availability, Pricing, and Compatibility

fmAccounting Link is available in a number of licenses: Workgroup, Vertical Solution and Developer. It is available now from the Databuzz website at http://www.databuzz.com.au. Workgroup Licenses start at AUD $495.00. fmAccounting Link requires FileMaker Pro v12, v13 or v14.

Media/Customer Contact:

Andrew Duncan

Phone: +61 418 468 103

sales@databuzz.com.au

http://www.databuzz.com.au

 

About Databuzz: Databuzz is a long standing member of the FileMaker Business Alliance and a Xero Approved Developer. 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 13 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.

fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) Videos Available

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We’ve been busy recording a number of new videos that demonstrate how to integrate the fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) solution and how easy it is to get up and running. The first three of these videos are now online and cover:

  • Private Application Setup and Authentication with Xero
  • Downloading Accounts, Tax Rates and Tracking Categories
  • Create an Invoice in FileMaker and Upload to Xero

You can find a list of all the videos on our fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) Videos page. We’ll be recording new videos and updating this page over the next few weeks – let us know if there’s a particular video you would like us to record.

Using SMS Marketing to Drive Revenue

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There’s an interesting article on the Xero blog about using SMS marketing to drive revenue – How to increase sales on a budget.

The article illustrates how an Auckland hair salon came invested $45 on an SMS marketing campaign to their existing customers to promote another one of their services that generated $24,000 in short-term revenue and up to $451,955 in long-term revenue.

This demonstrates an effective and appropriate use of SMS marketing to your existing customers – something fmSMS integrated with your FileMaker solution was designed to do.

Telstra SMS API

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Earlier this year Telstra, Australia’s biggest mobile phone operator, announced a preview of their new APIs website. I was pleasantly surprised that the first API that they were previewing was an SMS API which they were making available to a limited group of developers. I quickly signed up for the preview and started working out how to add support for the Telstra SMS API to fmSMS – within a few hours I had it successfully sending messages and receiving replies. During the Preview Telstra were not charging for use of the SMS API, however there were a few limitations:

  • you could not send more than 1000 free SMS messages per month
  • you were limited to 100 messages per day
  • you can only send messages to Australian mobile phones

Telstra have recently opened up the SMS API Preview to all developers and it’s still free, subject to the same original limitations. We’ve released an updated version of fmSMS with support for the Telstra SMS API so you can take advantage of the free messaging to Australia numbers during the preview.

For more information about fmSMS and to download a trial version visit the fmSMS website.

Full details about the Telstra SMS API are available at:

Telstra SMS API

 

Working with FileMaker Server and plug-ins

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At Databuzz we use plug-ins in many solutions that we develop – the BaseElements Plug-in plug-in has become a standard feature of most solutions we deploy (if you also use the BaseElements plug-in you should sponsor the plug-in). One of my favourite features of FileMaker Server 12 was the ability to be able to have a server side script schedule install and/or update a plug-in.

If you login to your FileMaker Server using the FileMaker Server Admin Console application and navigate to the Database Server > Server Plug-Ins tab (for FileMaker Server v12 you’ll find this under FileMaker Server Overview>Configuration>Database Server) you will see 2 options which are disabled by default:

  • Enable FileMaker Script Engine (FMSE) to use plug-ins
  • Allow Install Plug-In File script step to update Server plug-ins

If you’re going to be working with server side script schedules that use plug-ins you will need to enable both of these. If you attempted to install/update a plug-in using a server side script schedule and the Allow Install Plug-In File script step to update Server plug-ins was disabled you would get this error:

This plug-in could not be updated automatically. Error 3 (Command is unavailable (for example, wrong operating system, wrong mode, etc.))

Once you enable the Allow Install Plug-In File script step to update Server plug-ins option you will be able to install plug-ins successfully via a server side script schedule, however you might not think it is working at first. Plug-ins get saved to the following directories:

  • Windows: [drive]:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Database Server\Extensions\
  • Mac OS: /Library/FileMaker Server/Database Server/Extensions/

Here’s a screenshot showing the contents of my Extensions folder:

Screen Shot 2015-06-10 at 9.10.43 am

You’ll notice there are 2 plug-ins installed: the BaseElements plug-in and the SMTPit Pro plug-in. However looking at the list of installed plug-ins in the Admin Console only shows the SMTPit Pro plug-in:

Screen Shot 2015-06-10 at 9.10.02 am

 

Even though the BaseElements plug-in does not appear in the list it is installed and loaded, as I can perform server side script schedules that use the plug-in successfully. The only way I’ve found to update the list is to restart the server machine – logging out and back in to the Admin Console and restarting the Database Server do not appear to update the list of plug-ins in my experience.

If you look at the Log Viewer after restarting the Database Server you will only see log entries for the plug-ins that are visible in the Admin Console as well:

Jun 10, 2015 8:59:25 AM Server Events Information 476 Plug-in enabled: SMTPit Pro SE

I’ve experienced this on both Mac and Windows servers with Server v12, 13 and 14. Once you restart the server machine the list of plug-ins will then be updated, but this can be a bit disconcerting the first time you use server side schedules to install/update plug-ins and don’t see any evidence of them in the Admin Console.

 

Installing 32-bit and 64-bit plug-ins in FileMaker Pro v14

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The recently released FileMaker Pro v14 is the first version of FileMaker Pro that can be installed and run as either a 32-bit application or a 64-bit application – on Windows you have to choose which version to install, and on OS X FileMaker Pro is installed as a single application bundle containing both 64- and 32-bit versions (you can choose which version to run via the Get Info window).

When using the 64-bit FileMaker Pro application you will need to ensure that any plug-ins you install are the 64-bit versions – 32-bit plug-ins won’t load with the 64-bit FileMaker Pro application. The same applies to the 32-bit FileMaker Pro application – it will only load 32-bit plug-ins.

How do you check which version of FileMaker Pro v14 is installed in order to install the appropriate version of the plug-in? FileMaker have added a new function to v14 for just this purpose – Get ( ApplicationArchitecture ). This function will return the following depending on the platform:

  • i386 for the 32-bit version of FileMaker Pro
  • x86_64 for the 64-bit version of FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Server, FileMaker WebDirect, and Custom Web Publishing
  • arm7 for FileMaker Go running on an ARMv7-based device
  • arm7s for FileMaker Go running on an ARMv7s-based device
  • arm64 for FileMaker Go running on a 64-bit ARM-based device

As plug-ins are only supported by FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server you can ignore the FileMaker Go options. To install a plug-in for the appropriate version/architecture/platform you can write a script that incorporates the following:

  1. use the Get (ApplicationVersion) function to determine whether you are running under FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced, FileMaker Server or the Web Publishing Engine
  2. also use the the Get (ApplicationVersion) function to determine the version of the FileMaker client you are running
  3. if the client is FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced and the version is less than 14 you can simply install the 32-bit version of the plug-in using the Install Plug-In File script step – you can check the installed version using the Get(InstalledFMPlugins) function
  4. if the client is FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced and the version 14 or higher you can use the Get ( ApplicationArchitecture ) function to determine is it is a 32-bit or 64-bit installation and then use the Install Plug-In File script step to install the appropriate version
  5. if the client is FileMaker Server and the version is 13 or higher you will need to install the 64-bit version of the plug-in. For FileMaker Server v12 you need to install the 32-bit version of the plug-in. Remember to check the options in the FileMaker Server Admin Console under the Database Server > Server Plug-Ins tab to enable FileMaker Server to use plug-ins and update them via the Install Plug-In File script step.

Plug-in vendors will typically supply 3 versions of each plug-in:

  1. the Mac OS X version of the plug-in – this is a single binary plug-in (file extension .fmplugin) containing both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the plug-in
  2. a Windows 32-bit plug-in (file extension .fmx)
  3. a Windows 64-bit plug-in (file extension .fmx64)

You can store each of these plug-in files in separate container fields to be referenced by the Install Plug-In File script step, once you have branched for your FileMaker client, version and architecture.

If you’re using plug-ins with FileMaker Server’s Web Publishing Engine you’ll need to install these manually on your server – see the FileMaker Server Help guide for details on where to install these (the Custom Web Publishing Engine has been a 64-bit process since FileMaker Server v12.0v2).

This FileMake Knowledge Base article has more information about FileMaker Pro v14 and 64-bit operating systems – FileMaker Pro/Advanced and Windows 64 bit operating systems.

fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) and FileMaker Pro v14

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We’re pleased to report that fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) v1 is compatible with FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced v14 that was released today. We haven’t encountered any issues so far in our testing and have been able to send single and bulk messages successfully.

If you encounter any issues with fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) v1 and FileMaker Pro v14 please let us know.

fmSMS and FileMaker Pro v14

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We’re pleased to report that fmSMS v3 is compatible with FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced v14 that was released today. We haven’t encountered any issues so far in our testing and have been able to send single and bulk messages successfully.

If you encounter any issues with fmSMS v3 and FileMaker Pro v14 please let us know.

Databuzz to Exhibit at the 2015 FileMaker Developer Conference

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FileMaker Inc. have recently released the schedule for the 20th anniversary edition of the FileMaker Developer Conference (DevCon) to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from July 20-23, 2015. We’re excited to announce that we will be once again exhibiting at the conference, and this year we have 2 products to demonstrate (a 100% increase on previous years!).

As we have in past years we will be demonstrating fmSMS, our award winning 2 way SMS solution for FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go and FileMaker Server (including support for FileMaker WebDirect). fmSMS allows you to send an SMS from FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go and FileMaker Server to almost any mobile phone in the world, reaching over 800 networks in more than 200 countries. You can get more information about fmSMS from the fmSMS website.

This year we will also be showcasing FileMaker integration with the Xero online accounting software. Xero is easy to use online accounting software that’s designed specifically for small businesses and is a great match for FileMaker Pro to help you run your business. We can help you integrate your existing FileMaker solutions with Xero, or if you would rather do this yourself we also have a new product called fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition). fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) lets you upload and download Contacts, Invoices, Payments, Bills, Timesheets and more between FileMaker and Xero. You can get more information on fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) from the fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) product page.

 

If you’re coming to the conference please stop by and say hello and we can demonstrate how you can send and receive SMS/TXT messages using FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go and FileMaker Server. We hope to see as many of you there as possible and look forward to answering your questions about FileMaker, SMS integration and Xero.

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