I like it when things just work.I have also had the pleasure of interacting with the folks at Productive throughout my career and they’ve always been a cheery and helpful bunch. As far as I can tell, from my corner of the universe, it just works. I’ve never heard anyone complain about it, nor have I been called in to troubleshoot it. For the Productive Computing marketing team, that might be bad. But the reason I’d like to point this one out is that, for me personally, I never hear about it.
#Install baseelements plugin pdf
Productive Computing offers many more plug-ins than just the PDF Manipulator. PDF Manipulator from Productive Computing Between MBS and BaseElements, it’s hard to imagine not being able to accomplish what we need to in a business environment.ģ. But I’ve noticed that before I tackle anything these days, I’m checking the MBS feature list to see if I’m reinventing a wheel that they’ve already reinvented. The devs around me, on the other hand, continue to ask me how I get along without it. My personal experience with MBS is quite low. I don’t have experience with their software, but the plug-in is, in my opinion, stable, useful, and a great first option when working at the edge of FileMaker’s built-in capabilities.Ģ.
#Install baseelements plugin software
It’s hard to know where to start with BaseElements, since it offers so much and has both a plug-in and a software solution that helps to analyze FileMaker solutions. Without endorsing or promoting any particular product, company, plug-in, or Bar Fight Topic, I submit to you four personal examples of me stepping outside of the NO camp just a bit. All blanket statements have their edges and, emerging from underneath my comfort blanket of NO plug-ins, I have noticed there are some plug-ins that seem to universally slip from my fellow developers’ lips on a regular basis, in a positive light. The passing of time has given me a second chance to review both my life choices and my Bar Fight Topics. In hindsight, what I failed to do was maintain objectivity. In addition, Claris FileMaker now has plug-in alternatives that are worth looking into like: Even as recently as the 19.2.2 release, Claris is giving developers new functions to handle plug-ins. Things are much better now when it comes to installation. That was how I joined the NO plug-ins group. Or an unbeliever, whichever the case may be. So when I heard developers I respected (and still do) swear off plug-ins as time-wasting single-point failures waiting to happen, I became a believer.
That was not the lifestyle I was looking for.Īs a solo developer, the last thing I needed was an unhappy customer or some third-party problem that took up precious hours troubleshooting when I was behind already anyway, on top of being late for dinner. Or if not stopping the show completely, it would reschedule it to 5PM on a Friday night, potentially lasting through 2AM on a Saturday morning. Whether it was because OSes had not grown up yet either, or that there was no reliable plug-in distribution method back when my beard was actually ginger, installing plug-ins could sometimes be a real show-stopper. And, of course, the classic scenario where the FileMaker Script Engine (being the shy thing that it is) decided to stop being social and went home from the party early. There were warnings about new FileMaker versions breaking things. There were horrific stories of bugs causing business activity to grind to a halt for hours upon hours. However, in retrospect, the only reason I didn't use plug-ins was because of anecdotal evidence from fellow developers.
I landed in the “NO” camp for most of my career. (2) The veteran often has a strong and immediate knee-jerk reaction to the question, “Should you use plug-ins or should you not?” (1) The veteran is old enough to have paid fees at Blockbuster for returning a VHS tape late. The way I have generally been able to tell a true FileMaker veteran from an up-and-coming developer is simple. That’s what I’d like to address in this post. Given enough time, Bar Fight Facts can make us blind to good decision making.