Welcome to the February FMPug newsletter,

We have an action packed newsletter for you this month so lets dive right in shall we.

SmartPill 1.5 - Feel the love this valentine.

Last February FMPug helped Scodigo launch their SmartPill product and we are pleased to announce that we were contacted again by Scodigo to help announce the release of SmartPill 1.5.

SmartPill does one simple but very powerful thing, it allows you to run PHP code and return the results back to FileMaker. Putting the power of PHP inside FileMaker opens a whole new world of possibilities. Version 1.5, a free
upgrade for existing customer, includes 11 new functions, more built-in extensions and single file distribution for Windows.

Just a few of the things you can do:

- Send and receive email - Send and receive files using FTP - Get URLs (with SSL support)
- Read and write to Active or Open Directory with LDAP functions - Communicate with web services
- Encrypt and decrypt your data - Execute shell commands and return the results - XML, XSL and XPath functions - Read and write to files on disk - Connect to MySQL databases

Special 30% discount offered to FMPug members through February 24th! FMPug members normally save 20%, so this in an additional 10% savings - only for FMPug members!

New Locations - It's time for a tour!

The new year has seen a growth in our West Coast groups. Thanks to Phil Smith of FileMaker we now have two new chapters in San Francisco. These were existing groups that have decided to join the FMPug community and leverage the power of the pug. The new groups are the East Bay San Francisco Developer group headed by Dave Nicely of Nicely Done Solutions and DiGFM hosted by James Toland.

We already have some great guest speakers lined up to do some West Coast tours and now is the time to contact us if you are interested in speaking at FMPug. The West Coast tour could take you through Seattle, WA - Portland, OR - San Diego, CA - Los Angeles, CA - East Bay San Francisco, CA and end at "The Wedge" otherwise known as FileMaker Headquarters, Santa Clara, CA. This is a great way to get exposure for your products and/or services.

Don't Let Your Membership Lapse Now!

In the run up to this years FileMaker Developer Conference in Phoenix, AZ July 13th - 17th 2008 keeping your FMPug membership current is vital. FMPug is proud to announce that it is sponsoring DevCon for the second year in a row and we plan on making the attendance for our membership very worthwhile.

Take Our Poll and Go To DevCon On Us

If you had not been by the FMPug homepage in a couple of days you might have missed that we are running our DevCon mini-poll again. We invite each and every reader to vote. We want to know if you are planning on attending or not. Either way the information is important to us.

Voting takes one click...it really could not be easier. However this year we have spiced up the additional feedback. We are looking for the most creative, inspiring, tear jerking, gut wrenching, comedy filled reason from you as to why we should give you a full conference pass for free. This pass has a face value of over $1200 and we are going to give it away on May 15th. All you have to do is mark that you are an FMPug member and provide your name and then your reason of why you should get the pass. Mind though that it is inspiring.

Once At DevCon -- Win A MacBook Air

All FMPug members that are registered before and during DevCon will have the opportunity to win a brand new MacBook Air.

Last year we gave away a MacBook to one lucky FMPug member Robin McClish who told us that the MacBook has improved her life considerably (ok, not in so many words but we felt the vibe!)

This year we wanted to reward members who joined before DevCon and so for each full month that your membership is current in the run up to DevCon will score you an extra entry in the drawing. And yes, there will be opportunities at DevCon to add more entries to enhance your chance to win.

We have also purchased the now famous Manila folder notebook sleeve to enable you to protect your new MacBook (or mail it to a loved one!*)

*FMPug does not recommend mailing the MacBook Air in the case -

So, if you are not yet a member now is a great time to join.

Making Your FMPug Membership FREE!

We are always working on new ways to enhance your FMPug membership and one of the best ways for you of quickly recouping the cost of membership is to take advantage of the FMPug Discount Program. To access the discounts simply log in to your member homepage and then visit the discounts link.

The Everything Reference - Save $15 on the Printed Edition

The biggest ticket item from DevCon 2007 is now available to buy in print or PDF format. Order your copy today It’s a concoction of books, reference manuals, guides, application help files and original work, distilled into a single convenient source. Staying true to its name, we believe this book will prove to be an “everything reference” and a useful addition to your information arsenal. * FMPug members can save $15 on the printed version and $6 on the PDF version by logging into their member home page. A recent reviewer wrote; "Everything is laid out in precise sections without having to dig through explanations and extra descriptions that are in all the other FM books. At a glance I can see everything I'm looking for. My FAVORITE feature is that it lays flat so I don't need an elbow or other devices to try to hold open the book page and type at the same time! I can even prop it up on it's own spine and it won't snap shut! As a reference I really appreciate the clarity this book provides!"

You asked, we delivered.

FMDiff joins the FMPug Vendor Network. Welcome Winfried and we thank you for your support of the FileMaker community. - FMPug members save $25

FMDiff is a developer tool that should be in everyone's FileMaker toolbox. If your solution suddenly exhibits strange behavior, how do you find out what happened to the files? How much time would you have to invest?

With FMDiff the basic test is done within minutes. Simply compare your backup or "Good Clone" against the solution. You immediately can tell whether anything has changed and where, either due to human or hardware error.

FMDiff compares your current solution against a previous one (or a Clone) and reports the differences. For the first time it is now possible to verify that the internal file structure (tables, fields, relations, etc.) is the same as at the time of delivery. This is especially important for sensitive areas like accounting or healthcare.

Find out more at FMDiff.com

SmartPill Special Discount - 30% off until February 24th

Our featured item this month was also the featured item last year. And the guys at Scodigo have really stepped it up a notch to offer you the chance to save 30% off this great product.

Find out more at Scodigo.com

360Works adds AdminAnywhere as an ongoing discount

We are pleased to have 360Works extend their discounts to the FMPug community with the addition of AdminAnywhere as a continual discount.

AdminAnywhere is a server side plug-in that allows you to monitor your FileMaker 8 or 9 server from any internet enabled device, including the iPhone. FMPug recommends this plug-in for all who use FileMaker server. The ability to not only monitor but take action of the databases hosted on your or your clients server from any location is a critical tool for all developers.

Find out more at 360Works.com

Take Advantage Of All 4 Discounts and Save $104.60

Translation -- your FMPug membership is now FREE! It really does not get any better than that. If you are not yet a member but you want to partake in some of this FREEdom then simply click over to FMPug.com and join to get access to all the benefits above and then some.

FMPug - Dressed to the 7,8's and 9's for you

That about wraps it up for this month. Watch next month as we bring a whole new FMPug to you.

Cheers

Andy Gaunt
FMPug Founder

FMPug - A Developer's Best Friend!