Insert From URL

We’ve recently been working on a project for a company in Seattle that you'll all be familiar with -- Space Needle. Yes, it's a company, as well as a large pointy building. Space Needle runs the eponymously named structure, as well as the Chihuly Garden of Glass nearby.

Working with the folks at Space Needle, we are developing an iPad FileMaker Go application for their managers to use to document the status of the grounds, staffing, service, etc., so that they can have objective information about their overall quality of service over time.

One of the pieces of data to be gathered is the weather conditions each day. In order to standardize how this data is gathered, we decided to try and obtain it from an internet source. 

A little research at the Programmable Web turned up Weather Underground as a good-looking option. They have an extensive API for obtaining weather data, and one of their weather reporting stations is only a few blocks away from the Space Needle.

Utilizing the Insert From URL script step introduced in FileMaker 12, we created a button that allows the manager to insert the current weather. The data returned from the Weather Underground API is in JSON, which is fairly easily parsed. The API returns a lot of data, from which we parsed out the sky conditions and the high/low temps.

Upon further discussion with our client, it turned out that a button to capture the current weather was not necessarily ideal, since the weather can vary considerably through the day. We looked back at the data available from Weather Underground, and in addition to current conditions, they have an API call for getting weather history, so we may choose now to standardize on capturing the daily weather observation at a consistent time of day, rather than whenever the manager happens to click the weather button.

The Insert From URL script step is a powerful new feature in FileMaker Pro 12.

MSF 2012

Technology as a way to get kids hooked on science

I hope that everyone is enjoying the new year! This is Rin, reporting in again after some more education-based travels.  Last November I had the privilege of participating in another NASA international collaborative event. We traveled to Melaka, Malaysia for the second Melaka Planetarium Space Festival. The Melaka Planetarium is run by a small but ambitious group of passionate educators. The Planetarium sponsored nine NASA scientists and educators to bring workshops, demonstrations and activities aiming to encourage interest in space and earth sciences among elementary- and middle-schoolers. 

This time, as at previous space festivals, I witnessed some exciting applications of technology in the hands-on workshops. Paulo Younse of JPL brought a set of easily programmable robots, which students “taught”  to navigate an obstacle course of a Martian landscape. Boys and girls of all ages find this activity exciting and challenging, and unwittingly learn the basics of programming.

Peter Falcon, also of JPL, brought a “magic planet” - a sphere-shaped screen that allowed students to visually see patterns and changes in a way that would be impossible out of a book. On this globe, students explored changing sea levels, being able to see the changes on a global level right before their eyes. They could also see temperature changes, cloud patterns, and many other aspects of earth science that are often difficult to grasp in the abstract. And it was beautiful! I know what I want for my birthday this year!

Another fantastic hands-on use of technology was arranged by Gabriel Alvarado from the SETI Institute. Mr. Alvarado wanted students and teachers alike to have access to real data and assist in actual scientific discovery. He brought this about by introducing festival-goers to PlanetHunters.org, a website where anyone can log on and view data from the Kepler mission, which searches for planets in other star systems. Users are trained in reading this data, and are then set loose to hunt for planets by looking for patterns in light output from far-away stars. Amateur astronomers all over the world examine the Keplar data, “tagging” stars that might have planets. When a star receives enough attention from amateur users, the Keplar scientists go in and examine the data as well. Just recently, a planet in a rare double binary star system was discovered in this way. The ability to access real data and participate in real science ignited the curiosity and excitement of many a festival-goer, child and adult alike.

Even with this astounding technology, the real motivators were the NASA team themselves.  Every team member was overflowing with enthusiasm and energy, encouraging students to ask questions and find solutions to problems that they might not have ever considered before. I was honored to be included and hope to continue to work with this team in the future.

~Rin Scherrer

Google Maps App Release

It seemed like nothing could be more thrilling to iPhone users than the release of Google Maps new app for the iPhone Wednesday night. The app quickly shot to the top of the downloads in the app store. If you have held back from upgrading to iOS 6.0 because of Apple maps, now is the time to upgrade.

Besides having much more accurate directions and maps, some perks of the new app are:

• Voice guided turn by turn navigation - just like Apple maps.
• New Google Maps SDK allows developers to integrate with other apps.
• Google has partnered with Yelp and Zagat so entering a business will now reveal more than just the location.
• Detailed public transportation directions.

One of my personal grievances with Apple maps is that once you have begun the voice guided navigation, there’s no easy way to get a greater overview of the map. It keeps you only in the next hundred feet ahead unless you display the header area with the overview button. With the Google maps app, you can easily pause the directions by tapping inside the map to view any other part of the route. When you are ready to resume, simply hit the resume button.

My Initial Experience with Windows 8

With Windows 8, Microsoft has made a rather dramatic departure from the user interface of prior versions. The general understanding is that Microsoft is trying to create an integrated operating system that will work well for users on newer touch sensitive tablet devices, as well as more traditional desktop environments.

I have yet to use Windows 8 on a tablet device, and so I might not be Microsoft’s idea of an ideal target user, but I think I’m probably very typical of a technically capable Windows 7 user.

My first use of Windows 8 was to install it on a virtual machine on my Mac laptop, using VMWare Fusion. I wanted to test whether or not FileMaker 6 (obsolete for 8 years now) worked under Windows 8. The new operating system installed on the VM without any trouble, and I was then able to install FileMaker 6, which installed fine and in the limited testing I did seemed to work ok. I created a few records and printed a simple layout.

I can’t say that this initial experience with Windows 8 made me a big fan. As an experienced Windows 7 user, I really don’t like having to re-learn where to access features that I’ve known how to use for years. Windows 8 boots up into a new tile based interface (shown in screen capture above) and you have to click a tile to get to the traditional desktop. Once there, you no longer have a ‘Start’ menu, so you have to re-learn how to open applications, access control panel functions, etc… 

My second experience with Windows 8 was significantly worse. I made the seriously incorrect assumption that I could purchase a Windows 8 mini-tower and downgrade it to Windows 7. After several hours of messing with this, I finally decided to give up, get rid of the Windows 8 system, and order a system with Windows 7 pre-installed. Just getting past the ‘secure boot’ feature in Windows 8 in order to boot from the Windows 7 installer DVD took me over an hour. 

I sound like a luddite, even to myself, but I’ll be sticking with Windows 7 for quite some time. 

--John Newhoff

ExecuteSQL Function in FileMaker

This is a nice writeup of the new (in FileMaker 12) ExectueSQL function in FileMaker. It has a good mix of information: a general tutorial of supported SQL commands as well as specific information about how the ExecuteSQL function works in FileMaker.

http://www.filemakerhacks.com/?p=6406#more-6406