FileMaker Plugin Developer: Sky Dancer Studios
Number of Plugins: 2 FileMaker Plugins
Mike Faulkner is Chief Software Artist, Telephone Answerer and Head Janitor at Sky Dancer Studios.
When did you first start using FileMaker?
When version 1.0 came out back in the 1980′s!
What made you start making FileMaker Plugins?
When I needed functions that FileMaker didn’t provide internally.
Do you use any plugins created by other people? If so which ones?
Not presently.
Which of your own plugins do you feel is your best work?
Our flagship plugins are our cross-platform encryption plugins,
BlowFish. Developing cross-platform binary encryption that took into account all the various possible processors, memory storage, character set encodings, etc. was very challenging. Making things binary compliant across PCs and Macs with various processors was interesting indeed!
Do you think making plugins cross-platform is important?
YES!!!!!!!!
What do you think of FileMaker adding features that come from Plugins? Such as Printing to PDF and Script Triggering?
I think most plugins simply provide functionality that FileMaker should actually have included internally. For instance, our encryption plugins are, in my view, are simply providing database encryption protection that should rightly be included in any database these days. I think, as FileMaker continues to improve and grow, many of the current functions provided by plugins will be increasingly internally provided by FileMaker. It’s just a natural progression of the continued development and improvement of FileMaker, and it’s to be expected.
What do you think the next feature originally come from a plugin FileMaker will add will be?
No idea! But I think internal database data encryption (our own plugin’s functionality) would be a natural!
Do you think Free plugins harm companies who sell plugins?
No. Not in the slightest! There will always be a market for functions that have not been coded yet! (And there is no guarantee for the life of software of any kind…3-5 years is about the average lifespan for almost all software as computer technology evolves.) As old functions die away or become readily available for free, new opportunities open up just as rapidly. And I always welcome new talent and ideas in the marketplace AND in the free software movement. I think it all improves the overall suitability of FileMaker for more and more database tasks and user’s and business’ needs.
What features would make the next version FileMaker perfect?
Documentation!
There is scant documentation about plugin development from inside FileMaker other than their simple “sample” (which leaves many unanswered questions about many aspects of how FileMaker processes data internally.) This makes many tasks of plugin development up to “trial-and-error” to see how FileMaker really works internally!
Any tips for people who want to make a FileMaker Plugin themselves?
Mostly, learn from existing developers of plugins from forums, user groups, etc. Much more information is available from people outside of FileMaker than from inside about data handling, triggering of calculated field updates, binary data handling, containers, etc.
