Vincenzo Menanno of Beezwax


FileMaker Plugin Developer:    Beezwax

Number of Plugins:    2 FileMaker Plugins

Vincenzo Menanno is Director of FileMaker Development at Beezwax.

When did you first start using FileMaker?

Oh boy… I can’t even remember – it must have been around 1986.

What made you start making FileMaker Plugins?

There were things that I wanted to do with FileMaker that were not possible, but with the plug-in API, all of a sudden there were ways to do things if you were thinking creatively.

Do you use any plugins created by other people?  If so which ones?

Yes, I have used many over the years, but the ones I am using currently are: Simple Dialog from 24U, Super Container and Scribe from 360Works.

Which of your own plugins do you feel is your best work?

I feel that our Web Services Plug-in is probably the best plug-in that we have ever done, just because it opens the door to so many ways to integrate with other services. And Web Services is a hot topic these days.

Do you think making plugins cross-platform is important?

I think it used to be. Now it feels like things are moving away from that and the web and mobile (smart phones) are taking front stage.

What do you think of FileMaker adding features that come from Plugins?  Such as Printing to PDF and Script Triggering?

I think its inevitable that they do this, and I am glad that FileMaker Inc. is integrating these features into the product. I just hope that they would also do 2 other things along side this:

  • Continue to improve the plug-in API so that developers can continue to innovate and do great things
  • When they do end up going into a space where there used to be a plug-in for a particular feature, I wish that they would consider all the things that those plug-ins did. For example,a one of my biggest frustrations with the current implementation of script triggers is that there is no way to turn them off.

When we did Script Scheduler (which was a plug-in that gave people the ability to trigger a script from the result of any calculation), we had a way to disable the triggering of scripts. I wish they had really looked at many of these plug-ins to see what and how the developers were using them.

What do you think the next feature originally come from a plugin FileMaker will add will be?

Charts was the recent thing that was added but the next one I have no idea … I wish they would build native support for Web Services :)

Do you think Free plugins harm companies who sell plugins?

I personally don’t know how people have the time to even do free stuff!

What features would make the next version FileMaker perfect?

Oh boy! I could get very detailed here, but I won’t so I’ll be very general.

  • Modern UI look and Modern UI widgets – the dream would be to use Interface builder to be able to build front ends for FileMaker.
  • A compelling web strategy – that is up to date and solves the performance issues that we have been seeing.
  • A FileMaker iPhone and iPad application that we can use to develop solutions for our clients.
  • Improving the plug-in API that will allow developers to continue to innovate.

Any tips for people who want to make a FileMaker Plugin themselves?

You definitely need to have good programming skills or get together with someone who has programming skills and knowledge.


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