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A Step-by-Step Guide to Encryption at Rest (EAR) in FileMaker

meta_prasad — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 11:41:47 +0000

Security plays a vital role in any software application. Most of the time, standard approaches, like Startup login, encryption of password, etc., are followed. 'Manage Security' section of FileMaker provides different types of settings to manage various levels of access as well as privileges to the logged-in user.

Encryption at Rest goes beyond this by providing security to the FileMaker file when it is physically stored on a disk. Encrypting a database provides additional security to your FileMaker application.

What you need?

To encrypt one or more database files in FileMaker, you will need:

FileMaker account with [Full Access] privilege
Encryption Password
A shared ID

Steps to follow:

To encrypt a database, you should have the required FileMaker files stored locally. If the files are hosted on the server, you will need to unhost them, perform EAR, and then host again.

In FileMaker Pro client, go to menu 'Tools >> Developer utilities'.
Add the files you need to perform encryption on. In the case of a multi-file solution, add all the required files.
Specify one of the files as Primary.
Select the Project folder, where you would like to place the encrypted files after EAR is completed.
Under Specify Solutions options, select the 'Enable Database Encryption' option.
This will automatically select the option above 'Create Error log for any processing errors'. This log is important (but optional) since it creates a log file in the EAR folder. This file will let us know if the encryption was successful or if there were any errors. In the case of multiple files, the encryption status of each file is logged.
Specify a Shared ID; it links multiple encrypted files.
Specify a FileMaker Account with [Full Access] privilege. This will be for the Primary file specified above. If the other files have different [Full Access] password, then it will be prompted during the EAR process.
For the files, which are linked with each other via 'External data Source' and have different [Full Access] credentials, the login may be prompted more than one time for the same file.
Specify the encryption password. In case of multiple files, if the files' encryption passwords and shared IDs match, the user will not be prompted again for the encryption password. Enter a password hint, if needed.
The option 'Keep 'Open Storage' is checked if you do not want the container field data to be encrypted.
Click 'OK' to start the encryption

After EAR completion:

After the EAR process is completed, check the log file for encryption status.
In the case of external storage container, the EAR process will create the same folder structure for each file. Container data will be encrypted/not encrypted depending on the EAR option specified above.
Users will be prompted for encryption password when opening the files via FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Go locally.

When the files are hosted on the FileMaker Server or FileMaker Cloud, users will be prompted for the encryption password before hosting. This password can be saved to automatically open encrypted files when the server restarts.

IMPORTANT When performing EAR on hosted files, copy the hosted files and related remote container folders locally where you would be performing the EAR. The remote container data is stored under ‘RC_Data_FMS’ folder under databases folder on server. In this ‘RC_Data_FMS’ folder, there is separate folder for each database that is hosted on the server. When copying remote container folders for EAR, you need to copy the folder which is inside each database folder to your local folder. If this is not done properly, it will result in container data not encrypting and also will show errors in the log file, especially when you are working with secured storage.

Remove Database encryption:

You can remove database encryption applied to a file or a set of files. It is a similar process as that of encryption.

Under 'Tools >> Developer Utilities', add the files you want to remove encryption from, select 'Remove Database Encryption' option. You will need the Encryption password and [Full Access] login details of the FileMaker files.

Encryption at Rest is an essential aspect of data security in FileMaker. By following the above steps, you can encrypt your FileMaker database to provide an additional layer of security. If you have any doubts or need assistance, reach out to the team of experienced and certified FileMaker experts at MetaSys Software, your custom software development company.

The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Encryption at Rest (EAR) in FileMaker appeared first on Metasys Software Pvt Ltd..

Guide to Avoid Navigation Rework in FileMaker

meta_prasad — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 08:47:00 +0000

Did you ever encounter the turmoil of adding a new module on all layouts post creation of standard menu navigation?

Well, we all know how bothersome that could be! Here we are with an easy solution, read along…

Undoubtedly, navigation is an integral part of every application. It plays a pivotal role when a user requires navigating to different modules and sections.

Static navigation is rigid, which demands rework of all modules even when a single module is to be updated/added. Planning an end-to-end navigation prior to application development is the perfect solution. However, practically it is impossible to predict all modules and create a navigation way ahead of time. The second-best solution is to setup a smart extensive set of menu items for the future.

Let’s take a look at two elaborate approaches to implement a sidebar navigation!

Approach 1: Using Fixed Left Navigation

In this approach, a button bar is added on the left-hand side of the layout in advance. Each button has calculations referring to dynamic variables as button labels, with a common script to define every button action. By default, this navigation bar is visible on all layouts.

The downside to this approach, it can work for Form views, but not for List views. Additionally, the demand for more real estate in the layout of the application is another drawback that leads us to Approach 2.

Approach 2: Hamburger Menu Using Popover

In this approach, a Hamburger menu icon is placed in the header of the layout. Clicking this will expand/collapse the popover. The popover has a button bar and it’s implementation is similar to Approach 1, with the only difference of buttons placed on the Popover. This approach works well for Form view, List view, and Table view.

Let us take a look at the Application Implementation Steps in detail.

Step 1 – Opening Script

Create an Opening script or a Startup script to set global variable values that are used as calculation to define labels for each button segment in a Button bar.

For any new module navigation, set the global variable to the same.

Step 2 – Specify Active button

The Sidebar_Values variable defined in the Opening script will store the list of table names, i.e. main navigation module table names. It is then used to define the active button bar segment of selected module as below.

Step 3 – Main Navigation Script:

Create another script which is the main script used for navigation between modules. This script is attached to every segment of button bar, with a script parameter defined for the module to navigate.

If the user is currently on the Details view, then the application redirects to Details view of the destination module. Similarly, If the user is in List view, the application redirects to the List view of destination module.

Each layout has set icons to help navigate to Details view or List view specifically. For instance, if the user is in Details view, clicking relevant icon will help navigate to List view and vice versa.

This script checks if the user is on Details or List view and sets it to a variable. Append this variable to script parameter to get the layout where the user wants to navigate .

Step 4 – Naming convention:

Each layout requires a specific naming convention . In this case, it is <> _<>.

Here the ViewType can be DetailsView, ListView or TableView. Let’s take a look at some of these examples.

Contact details layout will be ‘Contacts_DetailsView’
Contact list layout will be ‘Contacts_ListView’
Contact table view layout will be ‘Contacts_TableView’

By following the Approach 2, adding a new module is matter of few simple steps and the application is as good as new.

Hope you find this article insightful. Feel free to leave a comment or post any challenges that you may have.

Our FileMaker development experience includes handling complex project management systems, e-commerce shopping sites, cruise booking systems and more.

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