September 16 – IT Solutions – Simple User Feedback System for Your FileMaker Solution

Thank you all for joining us on September 16 when we discussed building a simple user feedback system in FileMaker Pro.  The session was well-attended and we received a ton of positive feedback – thank you all.  We’ve been asked about the recording for those who missed it and for those who want a recap – we are including the embedded video below so you can watch when it is convenient for you.

We are also including the sample file in this post.  This sample file was built on top of the official FileMaker Invoices Starter Solution.  The feedback system is the only portion of this file authored by the presenter of this session.  The rest of the solution is courtesy of our friends at FileMaker, Inc.  For more information about the starter solutions, please visit this link.

We received a lot of questions during the session.  We’d like to take this opportunity to publish those questions (and the answers) so folks who couldn’t attend can get a glimpse into the discussion we had…

Questions and Answers:

Q:What Plug-In are you using to get your script functions to show in different colors? And is the Plug-In adding the script line numbers?

A: This was one of the most popular questions!  I am using MonkeyBread Software Plugin to get the colors and numbering in the Scripts window.  This is a great plugin and certainly worth every penny.  You can learn more about it here.  The colorization and line numbering is an OSX only function.  However this plugin is also great for calling PHP scripts, controlling printers, and lots of other stuff.

Q: What are you using to send the email? Send email script step? Or a plugin?

A: The feedback is just sent with the send email script step.  Attaching the screenshot and snapshot link are totally optional since you can get to them in the database.  Depending on your situation you might want to simply hard code the SMTP credentials, or tie them to the current user.

Q: Why not use SetField instead of Insert File?

A: You can’t use SetField to insert a File into a container field.

Q: Do you need to set the Storage mode for the container fields if it will be on a server?

A: The storage mode doesn’t matter for this.  If you anticipate a lot of feedback you might want to take advantage of remote containers.  But for most uses it is probably not needed.

Q: What tool are you using to capture the screen shot automatically? Mac vs. PC?

A: To take the screen shot, I am using 360Works’ free plugin ScriptMaster. I will be doing another webinar or Blog post about this.  But the general idea is this: Install the Plugin, register the function in the opening script of the solution, set the container field by calling the function.  Check out the sample file.

Q: What if the record of the snapshot link has been deleted?

A: I don’t give the users access to the Feedback table.  If you do give them access, there is no need for them to get to the snapshot link field.  However, if you attach the snapshot link to the developer email, then it doesn’t matter if the snapshot in the container field gets deleted.

Q: How do you get the Feedback request into the Help menu?

A: This will be the topic of another webinar or Blog Post.  However in broad strokes, Create a new Menu based on the Help Menu, remove any items you don’t want, then add the Feedback Script, assign the new Help Menu to any Custom Menu’s you already have.  Finally don’t forget to install a Custom Menu as a File Default.

Q: Users typically like to know that their feedback submission was received and appreciated at the time they submit it. Does your system allow that sort of acknowledgement protocol?

A: Not Directly.  My personal work flow is when I get a Feedback item, I read it and reply with a short note saying I got it, a time frame before it gets serious attention, and a time frame to get accomplished.  My feeling is that people recognize an automated email as not being a real acknowledgement of receipt.  However you could show a dialog box letting the user know the email was sent successfully.

Q: Corporate users are often behind firewalls that prevent SMTP sending from workstations. Suggested workarounds?

Related Q: Don’t you have issues with multiple users sending SMTP mail? the gateway may block thinking spam.

A: This will be the topic of another webinar or Blog Post.  In my experience there have been 2 main stumbling blocks with SMTP emails:

• The admin won’t give you any corporate SMTP credentials. In this case I have created gmail accounts to accomplish this, if I am allowed.
• Corporate users must use a RELAY that isn’t compatible with the Send Mail script step. In this case, I was able to build a work around.  I was given an exception for the Server to send SMTP emails.  So instead of the user sending the email, the script creates a record in a temporary table.  The FileMaker Server then runs a server side script to find any records in the temporary table that have not been emailed.  If it finds any it sends an SMTP email and marks the record as being sent.

Here’s the video recording of the webinar in case you missed it or just want to watch it again:

Here’s a link to the sample file download.