The SCRIPTOLOGY FileMaker Hands-On Training Seminars
* FileMaker Pro Demystified *
2 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 and Calculations
Locations:
– Boston
– Washington D.C.
– San Jose
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DATES:
Upcoming INTERMEDIATE classes (see curriculum details below)
– Sep. 13-15, 1999 (San Jose at FMI headquarters)
– Sep. 20-22, 1999 (Boston/Wellesley)
– Nov. 15-17, 1999 (Washington, D.C./Reston)
Upcoming ADVANCED classes (see curriculum details below)
– Sep. 16-17, 1999 (San Jose at FMI headquarters)
– Sep. 23-24, 1999 (Boston)
– Nov. 18-19, 1999 (Washington, D.C.)
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.
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.
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REGISTRATION:
To register for a Scriptology course, please visit:
http://www.databasepros.com/training.html
or, call:
(650) 962-1439
or, email:
jmo@best.com
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QUOTES:
“I’m sure you’ve heard it MANY times before but……… an outstanding
course.
Your humor and wit are only matched by your knowledge.” – Steve Monroe
“Thanks to both of you for an outstanding course on FileMaker Pro this past
week.
The course exceeded my expectations (which were high to begin with). I feel
that
I have saved at least one year in moving through the learning curve
necessary to
master FileMaker at its highest levels.” – Vincent Lackner
“I learned a tremendous amount and have already put some of these lessons
into new
databases.” – Geoffrey Winship
“I don’t recall a single question that could not be answered by one of you
off the top
of your head. I would highly recommend any class you offered.” – Bruce Littrell
“Just a quick “googly” of a message [from the U.K.] to say a great big
thank you for all
your hard work over the last fortnight in providing an excellent course. I
know I speak for everyone by saying that it gave us so much help. Both of you
must be congratulated for it all. Thank you.” – Edward Calaghan
“Thanks again for a wonderful class. I learned a lot and I’ve already
started evening ‘study sessions’ with the textbook to become a decent
scripter.” – Georgena Terry
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CURRICULUM:
Each class will be taught by two instructors. This allows for maximum
knowledge, since each instructor has a variety of experiences.
– John Mark Osborne, co-author of the Scriptology book and CD, and
– Rich Coulombre, nationally renowned FileMaker trainer
– Eric Culver, nationally renowned FileMaker trainer
See below for additional information on each instructor.
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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
—
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:
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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!)
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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 http://www.databasepros.com/
Rich Coulombre is owner and president of The Support Group. Rich wrote
one of the very first high level FileMaker Pro books and it became wildly
popular. Rich now runs one of the most successful FileMaker consulting
and training businesses in the world. Recently, Rich was named the best
FileMaker trainer by FileMaker, Inc. Visit his web site for more information
Eric Culver is Vice President of Stratisoft and author of the Relational
Database Design courses. His expertise in the area of FileMaker
is unparalleled and is teaching style is fun and interactive. Eric is
also a featured speaker and trainer at the FileMaker Developer
Conferences.
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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
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REGISTRATION:
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.
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.)
If you’d like to register for the Boston, San Jose or Washington D.C. classes,
visit:
http://www.databasepros.com/training.html
or, call:
(650) 962-1439
or, email:
jmo@best.com
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.