RUCKSACK Texnology

I hesitate even to bring this up, because this is Dangerous Knowledge. When you create a new FileMaker database, FileMaker gives you a default login account, with a default name and password. I wish it didn't and in my opinion, it shouldn't. But it does. So here's what you need to know: Never, ever leave that default account enabled. When would this matter? If the database is stored on your computer and never shared with anybody, keeping the default account enabled means anybody who can get into your computer, can open the database — as developer. Now, this isn't really as big a deal as you might think, because they could do this even if you didn't use the FileMaker default login account. (Hint: Password crackers.) That's one more reason why you need to be careful about the security of your computer. But God forbid the database is hosted on a server that is configured for remote access! In that case, physical access to the server is irrelevant. Any Int...

I don't remember exactly when I started writing for Macworld. More than a decade ago. I reviewed the last six or seven versions of FileMaker Pro for Macworld, but they asked me to do a lot of other stuff, from short reviews to feature articles, about a range of subjects: email apps, calendar and task management apps, photography software and hardware, and a lot more. My work as a freelancer was not been terribly lucrative, but I enjoyed it immensely and I've always been proud to be associated with them. A good bit of the credit for any value my articles for Macworld might have had goes to my editors. In the last couple of years I've worked with a couple of really good editors at Macworld. One of them, Roman Loyola, was among the senior editors who today find themselves looking for work. Roman improved everything I ever submitted to him and he was a pleasure to work with. If you're looking for somebody with remarkable skills as a writer, editor, and technologist, look ...

It's been a bit of a struggle but Rucksack Texnology has finally found a permanent home — for the website and for the blog. Visit us here: http://rucksack-texnology.com The blog is located within the website, here: http://www.rucksack-texnology.com/blog Hallelujah!!

This post assumes you're using CMAssistant 8.1. Not too many of our licensees have upgraded to 8.1 yet, so I'll make a note where you might need to make adjustments for versions of CMAssistant going back to 6.5 or so. So, here's the problem. You want a list simply of the location names and addresses for a route in your current delivery system. Here's how you do it. 1. Find the route's current deliveries I am assuming you want to get location info for a current  route. There are several ways to do this. Perhaps the easiest way to do it is to start in ROUTES. Find the route you want by name and go to form view. In the Run Dates tab of the details box on the right, click on the go-to-related-records (">") button in the Delivs column for the first row. Note the delivery date. That ought to be the most current delivery set for that route. The run dates tab of the details box in ROUTES (CMAssistant 8.1). This button (circled in the scree...

FileMaker Inc announced today the release of an update for FileMaker Server 12 (standard and advanced) that brings the version to 12.0v6: more info here . The main benefit of this update appears to be compatibility with Mac OS X v10.9 "Mavericks". If you're using FileMaker Server 12 on a hardware running Mac OS X v10.9, you should download and install the update. (1-21-14)

I spend a lot of time in my FileMaker Pro databases, and I know many of my clients do, too. When you're opening and closing the same databases a dozen times a day, it's nice to have time-saving shortcuts to those files. There are basically two ways to create a shortcut. You can save the file as a "Favorite" inside FileMaker Pro; or you can save it as a shortcut or alias on your operating system desktop. FileMaker "Favorites" To save the file as a Favorite inside FileMaker Pro, first open the database. Then, in FileMaker Pro 13's menu, go to File > Open Favorite > Add Current File to Favorites . From that point on, the file will be in your favorites list and you can open it by using the same "Open Favorite" menu. Favorites are terrifically handy and I encourage you to give them a try. Creating a shortcut/alias on your desktop or in your OS X Dock It's just a little trickier to save the file as an alias on your desktop or ...

In my family, we decided to do Secret Santas this year. My wife and I have three daughters, and the two older daughters got married in the last year, so there are seven of us in the immediate family. We all agree that Christmas is really about something rather more important than shopping or gift-giving, and we agree that keeping it simple is a good idea. So somebody said, How do we do this? Although we're all in Dallas, we weren't together on the day that this decision was made and weren't going to be all together until Christmas day, so writing names on paper and drawing them from a hat wasn't going to be practical. Without thinking, I said I could build a database that would make make the Secret Santa assignments and email them out anonymously. My wife looked at me like I was crazy (which, as it happens, she knows me to be). The first concern she voiced had to do with security. She worried that I was going to know who all the Secret Santas were. I assured here th...