Denis SomarFounder & PresidentSecret Weapon Labs

Our second FileMaker Addict interview is with Denis Somar of New York City-based Secret Weapon Labs.

How did you get started in IT?
Initially, it was helping my family's retail business transition from a paper based inventory workflow to a completely digital system. I knew nothing about computers at the time, other than how to write my term papers (I was a college sophomore). I subsequently learned networking, FileMaker development, AppleScript, Lasso, HTML, and a whole bunch of other technical stuff.

From there I landed a computer-lab management job during college and learned even more about networks, printers, installing network cards, ram, and (of course) saving senior theses from computer crashes. After college, during the dotcom boom, I landed a job working for a large consulting firm and was surprised at the bloat in the majority of their corporate intranet applications, most especially Lotus Notes.

How long have you been using FileMaker, and how did you get started with it?
I started with version 3 of FileMaker and learned through other enthusiasts' websites and most especially, the FileMaker usenet newsgroup.

How are you using FileMaker today?
I still field phone calls from my occasionally panicked mother - "How do I find this? How do I do xyz in FileMaker, etc?" - who still uses that FileMaker template I developed. She loves it and I've received a lot of commercial interest in it since I started on it so many years ago.

Beyond that, I've set up a number of small businesses with FileMaker from small retail clothing stores, to restaurants, to a car rental franchise on the West Coast and they have all been literally blown away by the power and ease of FileMaker.

Tell us about your company, Secret Weapon Labs. What was your motivation in starting the company?
After getting the family business running smoothly on FileMaker, I realized how much fun I had doing it, I was impressed by the challenge which was juxtaposed by how bored I was developing Access-based solutions for my corporate fulltime job. So I left the company to start SWL.

Initially, I only created simple websites for business looking to get a polished and economical presence on the web. Soon after, the infamous FileMaker application for my family needed to be updated as their business grew and they were buying newer and increasingly different hardware, and I was pleasantly reminded of my addiction to FileMaker.

I found myself stretching FileMaker in ways I wasn't really reading about on the FileMaker website, newsgroup, or any publications. I then saw Sal Soghoian demo (at one of the Apple WWDCs, I believe) the generation of a real estate catalog from FileMaker to InDesign, all with AppleScript in under two minutes. It crystallized that I had my fingers on the pulse of something very intuitive, very powerful, and certainly fun, so I couldn't say no to pursuing it further!

What do you like best about your job?
The day to day dealings with clients and seeing a solution I produced take flight is all incredibly gratifying. The ability to take risks with technology is certainly easier to do with the kinds of clients and projects I deal with than with larger multi-million dollar contracts.

Let's talk a little about FileMaker 8. What are your favorite new features?
Customizable menus, tab controls, and tooltips (in that order) have almost completely changed the way I develop in FM. The menus have enabled me to really minimize and simplify the GUI, not including menus, to be simple and unobtrusive and bely the power of the FM environment.

If you could add a feature to FileMaker, what would it be?
Certainly, I would add the ability to have direct and specific control over printers, the print dialog box, the ability to switch printers, etc. I find this to be a ubiquitous necessity for nearly all of my clients who print from everything to clothing tag printers, dot-impact printers, standard laser printers, or huge multi-million dollar printing presses.

What's your favorite tool, plugin, or technique for developing FileMaker databases?
The version 7 features of script parameters and the "ElseIf" script statement have also COMPLETELY changed the way develop solutions. I've been able to consolidate almost all of my navigation scripting into 3 or 4 scripts versus one script for each button which usually resulted in 20-40 navigation scripts.

Another important feature has been the ability to enter and modify fields in the header and footer part of a layout. It helped me build a kind of FM search engine, that bares an intended verisimilitude to Apple's Spotlight, so my novice users don't have to figure out find requests and grep symbols.

You mentioned on your blog that, "Nearly as long as FileMaker developers have been adamant on establishing and using naming conventions, I've been equally as adamant on NOT using them." This really struck a chord with me, because I have not yet found a proposed naming convention that I feel comfortable with...

I know that I've got my own method for naming things. What's your method?
My method has been simple: if my user were prompted with a sort dialog or some other field management dialog e.g. import records, exports records, etc., they should be able to recognize what field(s) they're dealing with and not have to place support calls or emails because of seemingly ambiguous naming.

I understand why developers are particular about their own conventions, but ultimately as His Job-ness put it: "We could build the best program in the world, but if no one can figure out how to use it, or manage their data, then it's worthless." I completely agree with that design philosophy, and given that FM gives us limited control as to what extent we can protect users from themselves, developers have to consider the possible impact of their naming conventions on lost users.

You've got an interesting product that you've developed called iCanary. Tell us a little about what the product does, and how you came to develop it.
The Sal Soghoian demo made me realize the true power of FM's implementation of Apple's AppleScript language. I explored many of the included examples and started exploring the wealth of resources on the web that discuss FM & AppleScript.

But alas, as the cliché goes, with great power comes great responsibility and I realized that many users and developers weren't truly aware of some of the security concerns AppleScript could pose. FM 5 was no lead-walled data silo and was certainly hackable. But why worry about hacking if the front door is open to anyone via AppleScript? I realized this as I was writing an Automator-like application in REALbasic, for AppleScript.

That app never saw the light of day and the codebase became the foundation for iCanary.

Secret Weapon Labs also provides Web design services. As a Web designer, what challenges are you facing today?
Great question! I'm still fascinated by CSS and the power that it grants when used effectively. That being said, I learned the slice-and-dice approach to HTML tables so well and so thoroughly that it became a hard way to re-learn the changing rules of the web. But you can sink with the ship or bend with the wind, and the "wind" of the web has certainly been favoring more open, solid, and robust architectures based with everything from databases, to programming languages, to browsers.

Striking a balance between effective and elegant web designs that scale well, are accessible, and as standards-compliant as one can produce is the ultimate challenge these days. I think it's easy to throw a lot of high-bandwidth content into a Flash-based site and have it deliver, but nobody wants to wait 20 minutes to see a presentation just because it has audio and some nifty graphics.

You seem to focus quite a bit on Web standards. Do you feel that the Web standards that exist today make your job easier?
It is incontestable that web standards have made certain functions of web design easier (others, not as much yet). I think this applies most especially to highly-frequented sites like ESPN or the NY Times. Effectively separating content from presentation makes loads of differences in designing and managing websites (FileMaker 7+ for that matter) and it has certainly made life easier.

What advice do you have for those that are interested in FileMaker development?
First off, try and learn from another human rather than just a book, or website, or instruction manual. For most casual users, the initial cost of a class may be prohibitive to learning FileMaker, so then the next option would certainly be to maybe join a FileMaker User Group or see a Wednesday presentation at any nearby Apple Store, and if that fails than try to glean as much as possible from the example databases that FM comes preloaded with. These are great resources that just beg to be tinkered with and explored.

DatabasePros.com is a great resource as is the FileMaker Advisor magazine (which I believe has just launched a FileMaker Basics magazine for new users).

My learning path was the initial dissection of a preloaded FM inventory database template and then voracious reading and discussion in the FileMaker usenet newsgroup which has been beautifully archived by Google Groups.

In your many years of FileMaker experience, what's the most important thing you've learned?
Without question, there is never enough planning when it comes to preparing for a project. The more planning you do BEFORE you ever touch FileMaker pays off in spades as you develop and program as smoothly as possible. We should strive to produce FM solutions, as Einstein would put it "as simple as possible, but not any simpler". I once read on the FM newsgroup that if we build the best idiot-proof system, someone will always build a better idiot. Thus, the "as simple as possible..." mantra!

What technology has most changed your life?
The recorded sound -- whether it be in the form of a vinyl record, audio tape, CD, or bits of an MP3 -- has had the most poignant effect in my life. The computer has played a large part as well, but that should go without saying.

What are your favorite things to do that don't involve work?
I went to art school and studied studio art for more years than I can count. I've recently purchased some blank canvases, new paints, pencils, and a sketchpad. I'm itching beyond belief to put pencil on paper and brush on canvas again. There's a great organic feeling of serenity when you compose art with your hands that I have yet to experience with a computer.

I also noticed on your blog that you're an "always-thirsty-for-new-inspiration guitarist." Have you had a chance to use GarageBand?
My goodness, I ADORE GARAGEBAND!! If there were ever any toy I wish I had when I was in high school and had slow weekends or summers to tinker with, it would be Apple's Garageband. The simplistic UI belies an unbelievable amount of recording power. I've used Garageband for a bunch of things from recording and mastering some of my own fiddling to a friend's band to just messing around with a mix of loops. (That latter mix is available on iCompositions at http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=6574)

On a similar note (no pun intended!), what's in heavy rotation on your iPod these days?
Santana's latest album "All That I Am" is in play as is Buddy Guy's "Bring 'Em In". The John Mayer Trio has been producing some great stuff ("Come When I Call" and "Who DId You Think I Was" both come to mind) the rest of their recordings aren't on iTunes unfortunately. John Scofield also recorded an album of Ray Charles covers entitled "That's What I Say" that has some interesting renditions of songs with a slew of guest artists. The Cafe Del Mar 20th Anniversary discs are there in addition to Ottmar Liebert's Nouveau Flamenco which is AWESOME!

Thanks for having me on your blog Tim. I look forward to some great things from fellow FileMaker addicts and from your blog. Keep up the great work!

Thank you, Denis!

For more information about Denis and Secret Weapon Labs, visit his Web site: http://www.secretweaponlabs.com/ And be sure to visit Denis's blog: http://www.secretweaponlabs.com/words/