May 22, 2019 Blog FileMaker FileMaker 18 FileMaker Techniques FileMaker 18FileMaker Pro Advanced 18FM 18Launch App New in FMPA 18: Open Specific App at Launch One of the new features in FileMaker Pro Advanced 18 is the ability to automatically open a specific app at launch. This feature is available for Windows and MacOS. The My Apps window, which was released in FMPA 17, shows a list of favorite apps in one convenient window and you can select the app you want to open from that list. My Apps window introduced in FileMaker Pro Advanced 17 The new “Open Specific App at Launch” feature adds additional simplicity to opening FileMaker apps. It can tell the FileMaker client to open a specific app when it’s launched. This is easier than having to manually find the right database file from a list and launching it. Users just need to open FMPA and they’re immediately taken to their app. This feature is most useful for network deployments. This feature only works through assisted install. The assisted install template file is available in the disk image of the FileMaker installation file. This blog post will not go through how to silently install FileMaker Pro Advanced on the network, please contact us or check the documentation for more information on that. Here’s how you can prepare a FileMaker installation package on MacOS that automatically opens a specific app at launch: Open the FileMaker Pro Advanced 18 installation disk imageCopy all the contents of the disk image to a new folder, then open Assisted Install.txt with a text editor. Default [i]Assisted Install.txt[/i] file 3. Insert the link to your hosted FileMaker database file next to AI_LAUNCH_CUSTOMAPP=. To get the link, go to: File –> Hosts –> Show Hosts –> Choose the database file that you want to use –> Click the only icon on the upper right corner of the window –> Copy the shown link and paste it next to AI_LAUNCH_CUSTOMAPP= Hosts Window This is the network link to your hosted database file. 4. Save and close Assisted Install.txt. Don’t forget to update all the other fields in the file before saving and closing it. 5. Test the installation package by installing FileMaker using FileMaker Pro 18 Advanced.pkg that you copied in step 2. Once you open the newly installed FileMaker Pro Advanced 18, the custom app you specified in the assisted install file should open automatically. This window was displayed immediately after opening FileMaker Pro Advanced 18 It’s working! 6. If all goes well, then you can go ahead and deploy this installation package to your network. From the user’s perspective, this feature makes it much easier to get to the app they are looking for, as it eliminates the need to have custom launchers deployed to all users. This also works for multiple FileMaker apps if you launch FileMaker to a single central launcher app that displays a list (and possibly a description) of available FileMaker apps. In conclusion, this new feature further streamlines the deployment of FileMaker apps for users and adds intuitiveness to the user’s experience. By Karl Jreijiri
11 Comments Jamey Posted on 3:45 PM - May 23, 2019 How can we use Open Specific App at Launch with FMGo 18? Karl Jreijiri Posted on 5:20 PM - May 23, 2019 Hello Jamey, The new Open Specific App at Launch feature in available only in FileMaker Pro Advanced 18. My favorite way to do the same thing on FMGo is to use the Shortcuts app. Here’s how: 1 – Download Apple’s Shortcuts app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shortcuts/id915249334) then open it. 2 – Create a new shortcut. 3 – Add the URL step and enter in it: fmp://YourFMServerAddress/filename (.fmp12 is not required). 4 – Add an Open URL step. 5 – Tap the play icon to test your new shortcut, if your FMGo opens your app then you can continue with the next steps. 6 – Tap on the settings icon (https://prnt.sc/nsldcc). 7 – Choose a name, icon, Siri phrase if you want, and then Add to Home Screen. 8 – Follow the steps shown in Safari to add the shortcut to your Home Screen. 9 – Open the shortcut on the device’s home screen and it should automatically open FMGo then open the app you specified in step 3. Steve Posted on 2:29 AM - May 28, 2019 I haven’t seen anywhere for doing this on windows yet? Karl Jreijiri Posted on 10:14 AM - May 28, 2019 Steve, how many Windows FileMaker installations do you want to use this feature for? The new “Open Specific App at Launch” feature is mainly made for network deployments. You have other options if you want to deploy this feature on a small amount of Windows FileMaker installations: 1 – Create a shortcut for fmp://YourFMServerAddress/filename (.fmp12 is not required). 2 – Use our LaunchIt file: https://app.works/launchit/ Please let me know if you need any help with that. Dianne Posted on 2:05 PM - August 16, 2019 Karl, I have a client using the new FMP18 who would prefer for the program to launch with the “My apps” page as it previously did. Do you know of the way to correct the process so that it does not go to a specific folder at launch? Thank you! Karl Jreijiri Posted on 12:41 PM - August 20, 2019 Hello Dianne! On MacOS try to delete this file: /Users/[USER]/Library/Preferences/com.filemaker.client.pro12.plist This will delete FileMaker’s configuration (including the list of recent files, favorite apps…). You can also look for and delete the line in that file that is referring to the FM file that is set to open at launch. Relaunch FileMaker once done. On Windows: Modify the registry configuration in this path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\FileMaker\FileMaker Pro Advanced\18.0\Preferences. Relaunch FileMaker once done. Please let me know if the methods mentioned above helped you out. Marlon Posted on 12:41 AM - October 8, 2019 Thanks Karl, Is this by any chance also available for FMPA 17? Eleanor Fulton Posted on 10:51 AM - October 8, 2019 Hi Marlon, This is a new feature in FMPA18, so it is not available in version 17. Karl Jreijiri Posted on 10:58 AM - October 8, 2019 Hello Marlon, You can use the following methods as alternatives: 1 – Create a shortcut for fmp://YourFMServerAddress/filename (.fmp12 is not required). This shortcut opens FileMaker then the database file. 2 – Use our LaunchIt file: https://app.works/launchit/ Steffon Posted on 10:14 AM - October 29, 2019 Hello, I recently put together a network installer for some folks at my company and used this function. I am in the midst of putting together another installer where we don’t want this function applied. When testing the second installer, the custom app launch function still seems to be applied. So far as I know, I’ve uninstalled properly and did not include a file path in the assist instal.txt file. Alas, when I reinstall FMPA 18, it still automatically opens the aforementioned file. Any advice? Karl Jreijiri Posted on 4:06 PM - October 29, 2019 Hello, I had the same problem on MacOS. I had to uninstall FileMaker using AppCleaner (https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/) to solve the same issue you’re having. For Windows, I recommend the following: – Quit FM 18 then delete this registry record “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\FileMaker\FileMaker Pro Advanced\18.0”. Open FM 18 and check if you’re still having the same problem – If the above method doesn’t work then just use Revo Uninstaller and delete all the installation’s related files (through the advanced option in Revo Uninstaller). Revo uninstaller uninstalls a software then scans your computer for residual files to delete. Please feel free to contact us if you need additional help with this.