FileMaker Pro 13 Slide Control Awesomeness.
One of the best new features of FileMaker Pro 13 is the Slide Control. At a basic level we have seen this type of control on the web for years, but now it has been brought into FileMaker. The Slide Control is easy to setup using FileMaker Pro 13 or FileMaker Pro 13 Advanced, but was designed with the Power of FileMaker Go in mind.
FileMaker Pro 13: Slide Control Setup
In the above image you can add(+) and remove(-) panels. Panels can be navigated to with the arrow keys. Slide Controls can have object names, so they can be navigated to via Go To Object
Swipe gestures control whether or not you can use touch control on the iPad or iPhone via FileMaker Go. Show Navigation Dots show dots below the Slide Control. The size is of the dot is controlled by the point size setting. By deselecting Show Navigation Dots, them they can only be navigated to by swiping them in iOS or using Go To Object.
FileMaker Pro 13: Panel Navigation Dots
New Functions and Trigger To Accompany The Slide Control.
New Trigger:
OnPanelSwitch is a pre-event script trigger.
Get(TriggerCurrentPanel)
It returns 0 if not used with OnPanelSwitch. It returns the following when the starting panel has an object name of Panel 1.
1
Panel 1
New Functions:
Get(TriggerTargetPanel)
It returns 0 if not used with OnPanelSwitch. It returns the following when the starting panel has an object name of Panel 2.
2
Panel 2
Wicked Cool Uses
Navigation. Simple Example.
FileMaker Pro 13: Panel Navigation with Buttons
In the security example below, hiding a button with “Hide Object When” the object cannot be navigated to. This is powerful, by turning off Enable Swipe Gestures and turning off Navigation Dots, a user can only navigate to panels that you want them to via scripting. TIP – If you set “Set Script Animation” to On, the panels will slide in when using Go To Object.
FileMaker Pro 13: Slide Control Navigation with Security
Demo File: SCG_SlideControl.fmp12
Final Take
FileMaker, Inc. has gone the distance in this release with new interface controls. We will be able to continually evolve our development techniques to build not only better looking applications, but more creative interfaces, saving development time and customers money. We have some other uses for slide controls that will be featured in an upcoming post.
