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‘Ace of Charts’ Workshop

The Art and Science of adding dynamic charts & graphs to your FileMaker Pro solutions

-=[ Newly Updated for FileMaker Pro 11 ]=-

Best for...
  • In-house developers* responding to management's requests
  • Independent developers* wishing to provide additional functionality
  • Anyone* who currently exports to any other application for charting

    *attendees should be comfortable with FileMaker Pro layout mode, calculation fields, and relating tables
Course Length & Price

1 day (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.); $495

Schedule of Upcoming Classes

To register for a specific class using a credit card, please select your class and complete the online registration form—or call us at 800.946.5433 to speak in person.

* March 18, 2010 (Thu) in Redwood City, CA Register Online
* April 22, 2010 (Thu) in Redwood City, CA Register Online
* May 13, 2010 (Thu) in Redwood City, CA Register Online
* June 24, 2010 (Thu) in Redwood City, CA Register Online

Classroom Location


Seaport Conference Center
459 Seaport Court
Redwood City, CA 94063
map & directions

 

Course Description

‘Ace of Charts’ is an eye-opening examination of the means and mechanisms for adding attractive, useful charts & graphs to existing FileMaker solutions. Learn to make embedded dynamic graphs that update on-demand or automatically. You'll leave this class with an understanding of the four distinctly different techniques for implementing charting in FileMaker Pro, along with working example files for each that you can adapt for your own solutions. If you are exporting data from FileMaker to another application just to produce a graph, then this is the class for you!

Course Content

Following are the specific topics covered in this class:

Approaches to Charting in FileMaker

Four different methods for constructing charts in FileMaker are covered, to provide deployment options appropriate for any organization.

  • The built-in chart layout object introduced in FileMaker Pro 11
  • Plug-ins and container fields (xmCHART from x2max, 360Works Chart)
  • HTML/Flash in a Web Viewer (FusionCharts, FusionMaps, Maani SWF Charts, Google Charts API)
  • FileMaker non-chart indicator methods (merge variables, conditional formatting, repeating fields) that still have a place in providing visual information and feedback

    The capabilities and pros & cons of each approach will be explained and demonstrated.
Charting Fundamentals
  • Why charts—types of needs addressed with charts:
    • - Ranking
    • - Correlation
    • - Deviation/Variance
    • - Time Series
    • - Portion of Whole
    • - Categorical Comparison
    • - Period-to-period Comparison
  • Choosing the right chart type for the data
    • - Bar
    • - Line
    • - Area
    • - Pie (Why it's rarely the best choice.)
    • - Scatter
    • - Radar
    • - Bubble
    • - Bullet
    • - High-Low-Median/Average/Close (Stock style)
    • - Histogram
    • - Gantt
    • - Combination Charts
    • - Geographical Charts
  • Chart Parts & Usage
  • Common Charting Mistakes
Preparing FileMaker for Chart Integration
  • Normalizing Data
  • Creating Groups & Summaries
  • Cross-tab Reporting
  • Just Enough Statistics to Be Dangerous
  • Building for Reusability
  • Data Separation Options
  • Building in User Preferences
Implementation Methods
Best Practices
  • Charting to Identify Exceptions
  • Charting to Discover Trends
  • Design Patterns for Optimum User Experience
  • Repurposing Charts—Printing vs. Single-User Screen vs. Presentation Screen
Instructors

Our instructors are FileMaker Certified Developers, and are practicing consultants who bring valuable real-world experience and best practices to the classes they teach.