fmESignature Link (DocuSign Edition) v1.5 Update

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It’s been a while since we last released an update to fmESignature Link (DocuSign Edition), our FileMaker solution for integrating with the DocuSign eSignature platform. 2021 was a busy year for fmESignature Link releases – we released six updates last year with lots of new features so it’s not too surprising that the release pace was a bit slower this year.

We’ve spent lots of time in 2022 working on custom integrations for clients in Australia, New Zealand, USA/Canada and Europe. This has kept us busy but has also led to lots of new ideas for features. We’ve worked on a few composite template integrations as well which we hope to include in a future update.

We’ve just released another free update – v1.5 – which includes a number of new features, including:

  • we’ve added support for using Phone Authentication when sending Requests
  • when sending a Request for a DocuSign Template you can now pre-populate data for the DocuSign tabs such as Text tabs, which can also include a value from a FileMaker field as well as a static value. We’ve separated out the sending of DocuSign Template requests from the other Template types to simplify things and allow for more flexibility in future updates
  • downloading DocuSign Templates now includes the roles which allows us to support pre-populating the Template Tabs
  • we’ve added support for recipient access codes when sending a request to add another layer of security to ensure only the intended recipient can access the document
  • you can now download and print DocuSign Audit Events for a Request

You can find the full list of changes in the version history notes here. Existing customers can download this version from the link on your original order email (contact us if you need the link to be reset etc).

fmESignature Link (DocuSign Edition) and FileMaker WebDirect

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Since first releasing fmESignature Link (DocuSign Edition) back in 2019 we’ve been asked regularly about support for FileMaker WebDirect. fmESignature Link (DocuSign Edition) was originally built for FileMaker Pro users and we didn’t do any testing or optimising for using it with FileMaker WebDirect. Over the years we’ve added support for performing scripts on FileMaker Server as well as for webhooks for receiving completed PDFs, and recently we decided to explore some options for using it with FileMaker WebDirect.

After publishing our updated guides for linking an existing FileMaker solution to the fmESignature Link file earlier this year we’ve had a number of enquiries about linking to a FileMaker solution that is accessed using FileMaker WebDirect and whether eSignature requests could be generated from a WebDirect solution. FileMaker Server has had the ability to create PDF files since v16, which is also the minimum version required for using fmESignature Link, so we couldn’t see any issues with generating a PDF from your FileMaker solution using FileMaker Server and then sending that across to the fmESignature Link file and creating a request and sending this all from a WebDirect session.

We’ve put together a new guide and a companion video that demonstrates how you can link your solution to the fmESignature Link file and create a custom PDF file and send a DocuSign request all from a WebDirect session:

fmESignature Link (DocuSign Edition) – WebDirect Linking

You will need to create a couple of new scripts to manage the process (we include some examples of these in our guide). Users of your existing FileMaker solution never see or access the fmESignature Link file directly. If you’re using FileMaker WebDirect as your primary interface and would like to incorporate sending agreements via DocuSign we think this is a great solution that you can implement relatively quickly. Please get in touch if you have any further questions or would like to schedule a live demonstration of this.

Slack Notifications for Completed DocuSign Agreements

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Last this week I attended the Slack Frontiers Asia Pacific event in Sydney where the focus was on the digital HQ and how Slack can integrate with thousands of Apps. Integrating with DocuSign was a common topic in many of the sessions – Slack has a DocuSign App in their App Directory which makes connecting DocuSign to Slack very simple.

I’ve written previously about connecting FileMaker and Slack for receiving notifications for incoming SMS messages with our fmSMS solution and as I saw several demonstrations of receiving a notification in Slack that a DocuSign agreement had been signed I wondered whether I could use the same approach for our fmESignature Link (DocuSign Edition) solution. I wanted a more customised notification that included a link to the Requests record in the fmESignature Link file.

I took a copy of the FileMaker script that generates and sends the notification to a Slack channel and was able to modify this and have it up and running in under 5 minutes. I simply added the Slack Notification to the existing FileMaker script that is performed when the notification is received and processed via a webhook from DocuSign.

If you’re using Slack in your organisation we think this is a great solution to generate notifications to users when incoming messages are received. As well as the Slack channel notification you can also get a notification from your operating system (e.g. macOS or iOS) when the message is posted to the Slack channel:

Here’s a screenshot showing an example of a Slack notification generated by FileMaker Server and pushed via a Slack App/bot to a Slack channel:

Here’s a short video we recorded showing this in action as a new DocuSign agreement is completed (you can also watch this on YouTube here):

If you would like to discuss adding Slack notifications for your completed DocuSign webhook notifications please get in touch for a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements.

WooCommerce Webhooks Using Claris Connect

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We’ve just published a new support guide on setting up webhooks using Claris Connect with out fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) solution. Using Claris Connect for webhooks can be a much simpler process than using the supplied PHP files for the FileMaker Data API as you don’t need to worry about hosting the php files and dealing with web servers, PHP configuration changes, port forwarding etc. You can setup a new Claris Connect Flow in a few minutes which can receive updates from WooCommerce and create new Order records or update existing customer records.

With the recent introduction of the Claris Platform Bundle and the Problem Solvers Circle which include a Claris Connect Standard license we expect to see a lot more customers be able to leverage the power that Claris Connect offers.

If you’re interested in using Claris Connect for receiving incoming webhook notifications for new WooCommerce orders please visit our WooCommerce Webhooks Using Claris Connect guide for step by step instructions. We’re pleased to report that no changes to the fmEcommerce Link file were required to support Claris Connect webhooks.

Claris Connect Webhooks

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With the recent introduction of the Claris Platform Bundle and the Problem Solvers Circle which include a Claris Connect Standard license we’ve decided to take another look at using Claris Connect for creating webhooks for our FileMaker Integration solutions. Claris Connect is a cloud-based data integration service that helps schools and businesses create powerful, automated workflows between applications. It was first released in March 2020 and required a seperate subscription to your FileMaker licensing, with plans starting at USD $99 per month, which was prohibitive for many potential customers.

Now that you can license the whole Claris Platform with a single subscription and get access to Claris Connect we expect to see a lot more customers be able to leverage the power that Claris Connect offers. We’ve always included PHP webhook files that initially worked with the FileMaker PHP API and more recently the FileMaker Data API. These webhook files allowed you to automate connections between your Claris FileMaker solution and other platforms, for example:

Webhooks can save schools and businesses time and money by automating these connections. Claris Connect includes a native Webhooks Connector that you can use to act as the receiver of the incoming requests and then perform additional actions, including creating new records in a FileMaker solution, populating fields with data from the webhook request and performing a FileMaker script. This can be a much simpler alternative to having to host PHP files somewhere and deal with web server configurations, port forwarding, PHP ini files etc. You can usually setup the Webhook in Claris Connect in minutes and don’t need to learn any new programming languages.

Databuzz will be providing support for using Claris Connect Webhooks as an alternative to the PHP files that we supply. For fmSMS we’ve created support guides for setting up Claris Connect Webhooks for both the Twilio SMS Gateway using the native Claris Connect Twilio app as a well as generic Claris Connect Webhooks for the other SMS Gateways:

We’ve also created support guides for Xero, WooCommerce, Shopify and DocuSign:

If you’ve recently signed up for either the Claris Platform Bundle and the Problem Solvers Circle we would encourage you to consider the advantage of using Claris Connect Webhooks over the traditional PHP files.

fmMMS Now Supports 46elks MMS Gateway

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fmMMS, our FileMaker solution that lets you send and receive MMS messages from the FileMaker Platform, has just been updated to include support for the 46elks MMS Gateway based in Sweden. With fmMMS and 46elks you can send and receive MMS messages to Swedish numbers.

You can download a trial version of fmMMS to test with the 46elks MMS Gateway from here. You can also sign up for a trial account with 46elks. More information on using the 46elks Gateway with fmMMS is available on our support site.

fmSMS Now Supports TextAnywhere SMS Gateway

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fmSMS, our FileMaker solution for sending and receiving SMS messages from the Claris FileMaker Platform, has been updated to support the TextAnywhere SMS Gateway based in the UK.

TextAnywhere are one of the UKs leading SMS providers, supporting businesses of all sizes. fmSMS had previously supported the Mediaburst, Clockwork SMS and FastSMS Gateways which have since merged with TextAnywhere.

You can download a trial version of fmSMS to test with the TextAnywhere SMS Gateway from the Databuzz website.

Twilio Now Supports Message Scheduling for SMS and MMS

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When we first released fmSMS one of our favourite features was the ability to submit an SMS to a Gateway and have them deliver the message at a future date and time. This was great if you wanted a message to be delivered to the recipient at a specified date and time, not at the time you sent the message to the Gateway.

For example you might want send appointment reminders the evening before the appointment to remind the customer about the appointment tomorrow. For appointment reminders for a Monday appointment you would have to send the messages on a Sunday or have some server schedule setup to create and send these messages. Message Scheduling allows you to introduce more sophistication to your messages based on business requirements, such as scheduling them to be sent before, during or after business hours depending on the nature of your messages to promote customer engagement. It also eliminates the need for complex server schedules to be running each day.

Twilio, one of our recommended Gateways that we have partnered with for many years, has never supported message scheduling for SMS and MMS as well as WhatsApp messages. Based on developer feedback over the years they introduced Message Scheduling as a Public Beta earlier this year and as of August 24, 2022 Message Scheduling is now globally available.

We’ve just released updates to both fmSMS and fmMMS to support messaging scheduling when using the Twilio Gateway for both regular SMS/MMS messages as well as WhatsApp messages. fmSMS v4.2.11 and fmMMS v 1.18 now support scheduling messages. If you’re not already using Messaging Services with your Twilio account you will first need to create a new Messaging Service as you need to include a Messaging Service SID when sending a request which includes the message scheduling parameters.

You can get all the details on the fmSMS Twilio Gateway page and the fmMMS Twilio Gateway page. Scheduling a new message is a simple as selecting the required date and time you wish to send a message:

fmSMS Now Moving to Databuzz Website

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Back in 2008 when we released our first FileMaker solution – fmSMS – we decided to launch a new website just for this product. We didn’t have any fancy eCommerce sites back then – we just used PayPal to handle the payment processing and we manually processed all the orders and emailed the files to the customer. Over time we added new functionality to the website and introduced WooCommerce to handle online orders and automatic fulfilment.

What we didn’t anticipate at the time was that fmSMS would not remain our only commercial FileMaker solution that we sell – today we have 9 FileMaker solutions that we sell and support, and plan to release a few more in the next 12 months. It no longer makes sense to maintain 2 online stores for our products, where fmSMS has it’s own site and all the other products are on the main Databuzz website.

Today we are decommissioning the standalone fmSMS website and moving the content into the main Databuzz website where it will sit alongside all our other products. We’ve also been hard at work over the past few months updating our Support site for fmSMS where you will now find a list of FAQs and our Getting Started Guides. Each SMS Gateway will now get a dedicated article in our Knowledgeable covering details specific to each Gateway, such as setting up Webhooks.

We haven’t migrated all the Orders from the backend across, but existing customers can always contact us if they need to redownload fmSMS again or the Webhooks files.

Send and Receive MMS messages to WhatsApp users using fmMMS

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With over 2 billion people in more than 180 countries using WhatsApp to communicate with friends, family and businesses WhatsApp is a communications platform that you can’t ignore. What started as an alternative to SMS now supports sending and receiving a variety of media including text, photos, videos, and documents.

The WhatsApp Business Platform allows companies to message their customers directly within the WhatsApp messaging platform. For example companies can send appointment reminders, shipping alerts, order notifications, product demonstration videos, verification codes, boarding passes, and more. Millions of businesses around the world are now using the WhatsApp Business platform to communicate with their customers. Using the WhatsApp Business API you can respond to customer initiated messages or initiate messages to customers once you have secured their opt-in using customisable message templates which can be text or media-based.

When we released v4 of fmSMS (our solution for sending and receiving SMS messages using the Claris FileMaker Platform) back in 2019 we included support for sending SMS messages to WhatsApp users using the WhatsApp Business API with Twilio. Twilio was one of the first SMS Gateways that fmSMS supported so it made sense to extend support to WhatsApp users using the Twilio API – you can see a short video demonstrating this here.

When we were developing fmMMS – our solution for sending and receiving MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) Messages using the Claris FileMaker Platform – we also wanted to include support for sending MMS messages to WhatsApp users using Twilio. Here’s a screenshot from fmMMS showing an outgoing message with a single media file attachment:

Here’s how that message appears in the WhatsApp app on an iPhone (also showing a message sent in reply):

We’ve put together a short video demonstrating sending and receiving MMS messages between FileMaker and WhatsApp in action (you can also watch this directly on YouTube here):

If you would like to discuss sending SMS or MMS messages to WhatsApp users from your FileMaker solution please get in touch for a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements.