Episode 25: Reports, Pickers, and JSON: The Value of Virtual Lists

About this episode

This episode explores the powerful technique of virtual lists in FileMaker for generating reports and handling complex data.

Virtual lists are one of the most powerful and flexible techniques in FileMaker, giving developers the ability to generate custom reports, create dynamic pickers, and display complex data without storing it in fields.The team breaks down the essentials, like how global variables and JSON arrays feed into unstored calculations, how scripts can define headers and build arrays with SQL or looping, and why this approach is so effective for reporting and beyond.We also look at advanced use cases, from scaling large data sets and handling character limits to applying conditional formatting, integrating with WebViewer for interactive tables, and exploring Kevin Frank’s MD5-hashed window method for running multiple virtual lists at once.

Topics covered

• Virtual Lists
• FileMaker
• Custom Reports
• Dynamic Pickers
• Data Handling
• Conditional Formatting
• WebViewer Integration

Keywords

• Virtual Lists
• FileMaker
• JSON
• Global Variables
• SQL
• Dynamic Data
• Conditional Formatting
• WebViewer
• MD5-hashed Window Method

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