San Francisco Day 4: Cruisin’
Today started out with me participating in a focus group for FileMaker. It was good. There were about a dozen of us there with some of the FileMaker people. There were people with large user bases, and others with small installations like my company. They wanted to get our reactions to some ideas that they are tossing around for making it easier to share FileMaker databases with people who don’t have FileMaker. Don’t worry, I asked, I’m not violating any non-disclosure by telling you that. It was pretty cool to be invited, and they have some very interesting ideas. I’m hoping that they do what they were talking about. It would make some things about my job much easier.
Attending that focus group made me late for my first session of the day. This one was “Web Services with FileMaker Pro” by Jesse Barnum of 360Works.
Session Description (from the DevCon web site)
Web Services have become the universal glue between modern IT organizations. Now you can tap into this universe of interoperable data with FileMaker Pro to do things like zip code lookups, CRM integration, and automated shipping. You’ll also learn how you can publish your own XML Web Services using what you already know about FileMaker scripting. Attendees should understand basic XML concepts and be familiar with using FileMaker plugins.
This session was good. Jesse covered using XML Web Services in FileMaker. He showed examples of using them to do things like setting up your solution to handle UPS shipping. Jesse is an excellent presenter.
As a little bonus, here is an interview of Jesse Barnum by Jason Mundok. He has a pretty exciting announcement for in that video.
We are trying to integrate our FileMaker system at my office with an accounting program. So, I went to “Accounting Integration for Mac and Windows” by Linda Pitts from Compu-Books.
Session Description (from the DevCon site)
Attendees will get an overview of ways to share data and integrate with three popular accounting software products on Mac and Windows and will learn about two FileMaker accounting products available. Examples of user interfaces and developer tips will be shared and time frame for development will be discussed.
This session was pretty good. The two biggest things that I got out of it was that QuickBooks is awful if you are using a Mac. Don’t expect any integration there. The program that she did get me interested in was MoneyWorks. This company from New Zealand is really doing some good stuff here. I plan on having our financial person download the demo and try it. Looks like a real solution for us.
During lunch I got to meet Forrest Sass and Lee Strong of the FileMaker Success Tips podcast. It was great talking to these guys. It was also cool to find out that they already knew my podcast. Sweet. Very nice guys. I plan on checking out their podcast on my way home.
After lunch, I went to “America’s Top Separation Model” by Matt Navarre, MSN Media.
Session Description (from the DevCon site)
If your solution is in multiple sites or uses staged development, then you’re familiar with the process of doing upgrades. Each time you upgrade, you have to clone the file, import data into all tables, and do many other little tweaks. This session will cover the mechanics of separation and focus on the tricky aspects such as value lists, relationships that must remain in the data file, calculated fields, and security considerations.
This one was very interesting. From the minute he starts talking, you can tell that Matt is one very smart guy. He showed us the advantages and disadvantages of using separate FileMaker files for your data and interface. I’m going to have to experiment with this when I’m back home. Some of Matt’s concepts really made sense to me. For how we are using FileMaker in my office, I certainly can see the advantages. Particularly when it comes to to upgrade anything. Good stuff.
The final session that I attended for the day was “Quantum Scripting” by Debi Fuchs, Aptworks Consulting.
Session Description (from the DevCon site)
This session is about modular scripting. If you are familiar with FileMaker scripting, and are looking for ideas to make your scripts more flexible and reusable, then this session is for you. You will learn to design rock-solid, modular, “building-block” scripts that you can call again and again within your own custom solutions. In the process, you will hear about real design principles from computer science (abstraction, modularity, encapsulation, etc.) and apply them to FileMaker (using script parameters, script results, error codes, subscripts, and variables). You will see actual code gathered from the larger community of FileMaker developers, and take home several scripts that can be building blocks in your own custom solutions.
Well, first the good. Debi is obviously a very intelligent person. We could all see what she was trying to demonstrate. The idea of small modular scripts that support larger scripts makes perfect sense.
However, Debi’s presentation was very hard to sit through, in fact many people didn’t. It was the most people I’ve ever seen walk out of a presentation. I felt really bad for her. Her presentation style is kind of rambling, and she obviously got flustered a bit when trying to work with the screen blown up so that people could see the code. I don’t think I would attend another presentation by Debi.
San Francisco
The day ended with a fantastic cruise on the San Francisco Belle. This was just amazing! The boat is a three story riverboat. We had dinner on the Belle, and then we went out in the bay. We went around Alcatraz and under the Bay Bridge. It was an amazing experience with new friends.
Finally, some of us went to “Lou’s Blues Bar” on Pier 47. That was a rocking good time.
Over all, this was a pretty good day.
Rick's Vault 
Hi there – overall I enjoyed reading your article on Devcon (as a fellow attendee). What a great event. Thanks for sharing your experience online. It was interesting to read and helped me to reflect on the experience. I will make an effort to catch your podcasts!
However I thought your comments on “Quantum Scripting” by Debi Fuchs, Aptworks Consulting were a bit harsh. I was there too and I was impressed with Debi’s logic. Sometimes presentations don’t go exactly as planned for one reason or another – and I suspect the venue, the very large number of people in the audience and the screen resolution (though screens were huge) were all factors. I understand that your views are personal and may be shared by others but Debi deserves a bit of respect. It would have perhaps been better to suggest ways that could have improved the presentation (and kept the “I don’t think I would attend another presentation by Debi.” view to yourself). Pretty hurtful – don’t you think?….on reflection!!
I too loved the cruise – I was so engrossed with the chat that I never even noticed that we sailed round Alcatraz!
Robert, thank you so much for your comment. I really appreciate that. I wasn’t trying to be harsh about Debi’s presentation. I’m sorry if I came off that way. However, if I’m going to post my observations of an event here in this blog, I believe that it is only fair to say what I see as bad, along with the good. It doesn’t do the readers any good to only see what I liked about an event. I did start with some good things about Debi.
Since you were there, you must have seen the people leaving. As I also stated in my post, I felt bad for Debi. There is no question that she is a very intelligent person, and has some valuable insights on how to use FileMaker. I was actually looking forward to this session. Yes, the dealing with the screens was an issue. But, I also had some problems with the general presentation. I don’t know if the problem was preparation or simply nerves. Either way, I didn’t get as much out of the session as I would have liked. Most other sessions at DevCon exceeded my expectations.
I hope you will come back and comment more here.