In my little corner of the universe, the annual FileMaker Developer Conference is a big deal, and for me personally it’s a very big deal to be selected as a speaker this year. I’ll be presenting two topics:Take the Plunge Into Plugins, where I’ll delve into the mysteries and magic of FileMaker, using as examples dialog plug-ins, credit card processing and field-triggered scripts; and The Credit Card Conundrum, which will elaborate and extend the discussion from the first session. My wife and daughters will be joining me in delving into the magic kingdom and the mysteries of those drinks with the little paper umbrellas in them.

You can’t tell from their website, but FMPDX puts on some great meetings. Tonight’s presenter was Vincenzo Menanno of FM::Nexus, showing off the essential Inspector, as well as Dragon Web Surveys and Account Manager.

Great stuff, but the show-stopper for me was his new Web Services Plug-in. This thing gives your FileMaker solution direct access to all kinds of web services. E.g., eBay, Amazon, Google, Authorize.net, census data, shipping services and on and on. You can add a new web service by simply dropping a new WSDL file (Web Services Description Language) into the plug-in’s folder. The functions then show up as external functions in the FileMaker calculation dialog. It’s still in beta as of this writing, but should be released soon. What I saw of it looked very, very cool.

I highly encourage Portland-area FileMaker developers to attend these monthly meetings. In addition to great presenters, you get a chance to chat face to face with representatives from FileMaker, Inc. — tonight’s guests and pizza-patron was Phil Smith, your regional sales rep — as well as your peers. Good times.