[NPL] Intermediate/Advanced FileMaker Script Training

The SCRIPTOLOGY FileMaker Hands-On Training Classes

Intermediate and Advanced scripting courses for serious FileMaker Pro
3.0/4.0 users, based on the popular Scriptology book and CD ROM from ISO
Productions.

Course Content: FileMaker Pro Scripting

Locations:
– Phoenix, Arizona
– Santa Clara, California *
– Toronto, CANADA *
– Santa Monica, California *

* Due to the popularity of this course, it has been expanded to
include three new locations. The Santa Monica course doesn’t have a
new date at this time. If you are interested in this class, contact
Jerry Robin using the contact information below.

Upcoming INTERMEDIATE classes (see curriculum details below)

– January 20-22, 1999 (Phoenix, AZ)
– February 3-5, 1999 (Toronto, CANADA)
– February 24-26, 1999 (Santa Clara, CA at FileMaker, Inc. headquarters)
– March 22-24, 1999 (Phoenix, AZ)

Upcoming ADVANCED classes (see curriculum details below)

– January 25-26, 1999 (Phoenix, AZ)
– February 8-9, 1999 (Toronto, CANADA)
– March 1-2, 1999 (Santa Clara, CA at FileMaker, Inc. headquarters)
– March 25-26, 1999 (Phoenix, AZ)

To sign-up for these courses, please visit:

http://www.filemakerpros.com/training.html

Or, email:

scriptology@filemakerpros.com

Or, call:

650-856-1983

NOTE: It is possible to take both the intermediate and advanced
scripting class with one trip. In fact, we encourage it with a
$240.00 discount for anyone who takes both the intermediate and
advanced scripting class. You will get a weekend break between the
two courses to relax and enjoy yourself. (Exception: no break between
the March classes in Phoenix.)

The fee for each class is $995.00. Each attendee receives a copy of
the Scriptology book and CD at no additional charge (an $80 value).
Both classes together are only $1,750.

Due to the exchange rate differences between the U.S. and the
Canadian dollar, the Toronto class is $1,299.00 Canadian for the
intermediate or advanced course or $2350.00 Canadian for both
classes. Thanks for your understanding.

Each class will be taught by two instructors. This allows for maximum
knowledge, since each instructor has a variety of experiences.
The Phoenix courses will be taught by:
– John Mark Osborne, co-author of the Scriptology book and CD, and
– Jerry Robin, nationally renowned FileMaker trainer

The Santa Clara courses will be taught by:
– John Mark Osborne, co-author of the Scriptology book and CD, and
– Eric Culver, nationally renowned FileMaker trainer

The Toronto CANADA courses will be taught by:
– John Mark Osborne, co-author of the Scriptology book and CD, and
– Vince Menanno, president of Waves in Motion

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About the INTERMEDIATE class – Scriptology 101 – (see below for more
details):

Day 1: Fundamentals of Scripting

Day 2: Intermediate Scripting

Day 3: Intermediate/Advanced Scripting

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About the ADVANCED class – Scriptology 201 – (see below for more details):

Day 1 & 2: Intermediate/Advanced Scripting

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** Please read this if you are planning to take the Advanced class
only: **
It is recommended that you attend both the intermediate and advanced
courses even if you believe you are an advanced user. The
intermediate course covers material that is essential groundwork for
the advanced course. (See the curriculum details below in order to
ascertain whether you qualify for the advanced course.) Even if you
know some or most of the material mentioned below, it is likely the
intermediate course will enhance your knowledge or even correct
erroneous assumptions. We have found that most people will benefit
greatly by taking both the intermediate and advanced courses.
———————————————————————

The wildly-popular Scriptology book and CD from ISO Productions will
be referred to throughout both courses. However, Scriptology is
provided to help you continue learning after you graduate. The
primary material for the course is specially designed exercises that
will help you learn everything you ever wanted to know about
scripting. (Well, whatever we can squeeze into a couple of days,
anyway…)

Every student will have a computer. You will have plenty of
opportunity to follow along with the instructors and practice the
scripting techniques as they are presented. There will also be a
2-hour lab the second night of the Intermediate class, so you can
practice what you’ve learned.

Although each class will cover techniques and solutions for real-life
scripting scenarios, the emphasis for the class will be on thinking
creatively. Students will be challenged to discover multiple
approaches to the same problem and asked to analyze the advantages
and disadvantages of each. Our goal is to teach you how to solve the
problems specific to your work.

Course curriculum includes:
————————————–
– Comprehensive overview of Script Steps
– Selected topics from the Scriptology book and CD
– Deeper coverage of the most important script steps
– Complex Scripting problems
– Insightful answers to your most challenging personal scripting problems

Curriculum Details:
————————–
Fundamentals of Scripting (Day 1 – Intermediate class)
———————————————————————–
+ Comprehensive overview of ScriptMaker dialog including keyboard
shortcuts, helpful hints to make scripting easier and what script steps
you don’t need to learn
+ An exercise titled “Introduction to Scripting” designed to teach
navigational script steps such as Go to Record, Go to Layout, Sort, Find
All, attaching scripts to buttons and other straightforward script steps
that introduce you to scripting.
+ Organizing, Commenting and Modularizing Scripts
+ An exercise titled “Find” which takes you from a basic 2 line
user-definable find script to a 44 line script that covers just about
every conceivable feature. Students will help the instructor build this
script so that the purpose of each script step can be discovered.
Included in the exercise is Set Error Capture, Allow User Abort, If,
Status functions and Show Message.
+ Additional find subjects will be covered including how to locate
records related to the currently selected one. Four approaches will be
covered to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of each. Also, a
file from Scriptology will be used to demonstrate how to isolate a record.
+ An exercise titled “Restoring” will be used to teach this fundamental
scripting concept. Included in the discussion will be cross-platform
considerations, advanced uses of restore and the various parameters that
can be restored with find, import, export, sort and Page/Print Setup.
+ Question and Answer session regarding the fundamentals

Intermediate Scripting (Day 2 of Intermediate class)
———————————————————————
+ An exercise titled “Replace” will show how the Replace function works
and why it is better than a looping script in many situations. In the
process of the exercise, calculation functions like Case, Left, Right,
Middle, LeftWords, MiddleWords and RightWords will be discussed in order
to perform a calculated replace.
+ An exercise named “Set Field” will show you how this script step
differs from all other ScriptMaker steps. Powerful techniques such as
appending, subtracting, pushing and pulling will be discussed.
+ An exercise titled “Show Message” will explore how this script step can
be used for much more than just displaying a message on the screen.
Topics include determining which button was selected, troubleshooting
with Show Message, balloon help and bypassing messages for savvy users.
+ An exercise named “If/Else” was designed to show how the If script step
can change a static script into a dynamic script. Without this script
step, your scripts would always perform the same task.
+ Question and Answer session for intermediate issues

Intermediate/Advanced Scripting (Day 3 of Intermediate class)
————————————————————————

+ An exercise called “Go to Related Record” shows how this powerful
script step can perform finds.
+ An exercise titled “Perform Script” will demonstrate how to use this
script step for than just modularization. It is the most basic method for
communicating between files.
+ A file called “Exit/Halt” will demonstrate the differences between
these two script steps. In addition, the options on the Button dialog
that appear when selecting Perform Script will be discussed.
+ A file from Scriptology will be covered to demonstrate when to use
Paste Result rather than Set Field.
+ Startup and close scripts will be covered using examples from
Scriptology.
+ Any script steps that haven’t been covered sufficiently will be
explored in more detail with the remaining time. Since each class varies,
this period can be longer or shorter depending on the number of related
questions that are discussed.
+ Question and Answer session

Intermediate/Advanced Scripting (Day 1 and 2 of Advanced Class)
————————————————————————
+ Dynamic scripting and calculations using loops and status functions.
+ Conditional layouts and when not to use scripting.
+ Hierarchical or Conditional menus in single-user and multi-user
scenarios.
+ Multi-key relationships and the Go to Related Record script step.
+ Restoring and saving a found set of records.
+ Irregular button highlighting.
+ Conditional scripting based on a user-entered password.
+ How to determine which version of FileMaker is being used.
+ Preventing users from accessing the Windows menu.
+ Custom dialogs.
+ Progress bars and charting.
+ Marking records in single-user and multi-user scenarios.
+ Referential Integrity.
+ Clairvoyance or type ahead.
+ Multi-state buttons.
+ Topics suggested by students. (Students are encouraged to bring their
own scripting challenges. This is often the most exciting part of the
class, as the instructors solve the most difficult problems before your
very eyes!)

———————————————————————
About the instructors:

John Mark Osborne is the co-author of “Scriptology” and the
“Everything CD for FileMaker Pro” (both published by ISO
Productions). For 2 years, John was the Technical Lead for FileMaker
Pro at FileMaker, Inc., serving as an escalation path for other
technical support representatives and writing a large portion of
TechInfo, their technical information reference. He is also the
author of the popular FileMaker Pro web site Database Pros
(www.filemakerpros.com).

Jerry Robin, owner of Robin Consulting Services, is an experienced
consultant, trainer and developer of custom FileMaker Pro databases.
He is one of only five consultants in the U.S. who has been
authorized by FileMaker, Inc. to teach their “Relational Database
Design 1” Seminar. Since 1992, he has provided custom database design
services and training to dozens of companies in the U.S. and Canada,
including Motorola, NASA, Holiday Inn, Citibank and Apple Computer.
Jerry also offers courses in relational design and custom web
publishing with FileMaker Pro. Visit his web site for more
information (www.robinconsulting.com).

Eric Culver is owner and president of Information Specialists. Eric
is one of only three trainers authorized by FileMaker, Inc. to teach
the advanced relational design course. Eric also runs a successful
consulting business where he created SuperSeats, an internet based
Microsoft Access/SQL Sever application for the ticket broker
community, and Flash Code, a commercially available shrink-wrapped
application for health care insurance billing. Eric also offers
courses in relational design with FileMaker Pro. Visit his web site
for more information (www.info-specialists.com).

Vince Menanno is owner and president of Waves in Motion. Vince
recently demonstrated his library of commercially available
shrink-wrapped plug-ins for FileMaker Pro 4.0 to a packed theatre at
the FileMaker Developer conference. Vince has also created fantastic
developer tools such as The Analyzer and DocuScript. For more
information regarding Waves in Motion products, visit the Waves in
Motion web site (www.wmotion.com).
———————————————————————
Class prerequisites:

You should have the following knowledge before you come to the
Intermediate class:

– understand the basics of creating and using relationships in FileMaker
Pro
– know how to create and use portals
– understand how to define fields and design layouts
– in general, feel very confident using basic FileMaker Pro features
– you don’t need to know anything about ScriptMaker, but a quick read
through of the script steps can really help you get the most out of the
class

The Advanced Scripting course is NOT for beginners. You should have
the following knowledge before you come to class (or attend the
Intermediate course):

– confidence designing relationships in FileMaker Pro
– know how to create and use portals
– familiarity with most scripting steps
– familiarity with most calculation functions
– in general, feel confident designing FileMaker database solutions

———————————————————————
Registration and fees:

Course fee for the Intermediate Training is $995.00 for all 3 days –
includes Scriptology book and CD. Course fee for the Advanced
Training is $995.00 for 2 days – includes Scriptology book and CD.
The price for both classes is $1,750.00.

Due to the exchange rate differences between the U.S. and the
Canadian dollar, the Toronto class is $1,299.00 Canadian for the
intermediate or advanced course or $2350.00 Canadian for both classes.

These classes are usually sold out well in advance. To guarantee a
seat in any class, please register no later than 3 weeks before date
of class. All class fees must be paid one week before class.
(Corporate and Government Purchase Orders also accepted.)

To register, for schedule updates, or for information about other
FileMaker training classes, please visit:
http://www.filemakerpros.com/training.html

Or, email:

scriptology@filemakerpros.com

Or, call:

650-856-1983

To learn more about the Scriptology book and CD, visit
www.scriptology.com, send email to iso@isoproductions.com or call ISO
Productions at (925) 454-0187.

Regards,
John Mark Osborne