FileMaker user group "game show" meetings...what's next?

Lounge (Discussions)
1

There were 2 recent FileMaker user group "game show" meetings that went very well. (links below)
Different people would take sides and duel over a particular FileMaker topic.
The audience would join the debate and everyone would then vote.

With the disclaimer that, in most cases the correct answer is “it depends”, the game show format led to lot of interesting and fun discussions.

Here are outlines of the [2] meetings...

[1] May 2021 Meetup: FileMaker Feature Duel Pt. 1

  • Button Bar v. Button
  • $$global_variable vs. Global Field
  • Perform Find vs Go to Related Record
  • Plug-Ins vs. Native?
  • Perform Find vs ExecuteSQL
  • Get ( UUID ) vs Get ( UUIDNumber )
  • Built-in Theme vs Custom Theme
  • Transactions vs. "The Easy Way"

[2] DIGFM: FileMaker Feature Fight, Dual Duel Deux (5/13/2021)

  • See the clickable "timestamp links" on the Youtube page

Thanks for the shows!

Below are some (unsorted) ideas for more A vs B discussions/duels. These could make up entire meetings or could individually be a portion of a user group meeting.

  • Set Variable Script step vs. Let $var for instantiating vars
  • Custom Function" vs "Script Function”
  • Single vs Multi-File
  • SVG Glyphs vs ICONs in container fields
  • Tooltips vs Popovers
  • Zebra Stripes vs NO Zebra Stripes
  • Show Status bar vs Hide Status Bar
  • Refactoring Grouped Objects vs leaving them be
  • Go to Field vs Go to Object
  • Table views vs List views
  • Serial Primary Keys vs UUIDs
  • Tab Controls vs. Slider+Button Bar

Additional Ideas (more below)

  • Unstored Calc field vs Auto-Enter
  • Native Accounts vs External Authentication :fire:
  • color vs colour (sp?)
  • "__ID" for primary key vs never using "_" as a prefix
  • "¶" vs ¶
  • $the_file_paths vs $theFilePaths
  • Built-in "Modification fields" vs. Custom Modification fields that can be toggled off and/or ignore some fields.

2021-09-28

  • Popovers vs. Card Windows
  • PSoS vs Script Schedules

2021-09-30

  • Custom Dialogs vs Layout Windows vs. Popovers vs Card Windows (4 teams?)

2021-10-07
Sorted relationship vs one line sorted portal vs LastRelatedField_uCT to show most recent record data

What other FileMaker A vs B topics do you thing would be interesting to discussion/duel over?

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watching the video(s) was really fun, I think I'll steal the idea for our own user group meetings, maybe slightly altered: just 2 or 3 "duels" as one part of the evening, but with participants pre-assigned to advocate one of the items...

and maybe start with "isValid" vs. "isEmpty"

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  • Unstored Calc field vs Auto-Enter
  • Native Accounts vs External Authentication :fire:
  • color vs colour (sp?)
  • "__ID" for primary key vs never using "_" as a prefix
  • "¶" vs ¶
4

if vs case

5

GetAsBoolean vs Implicit Evaluation
GetAsBoolean( x ) vs x

Mathematical Operators vis Boolean Logic
qty * cost * ( 1 + salesTax * hasSalesTax ) vs if ( hasSalesTax ; qty * cost * (1 + salesTax) ; qty * cost )

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Not using repeating fields vs. Never using repeating fields. :grin:

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• WHILE function VS Recursive Custom function
• repeating fields vs button bars
• place holder vs layout vars
• master detail portal (found set based) vs relationship based portal
Perform Script by Name vs Perform Script by Reference

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