FileMaker and Web Services
With the release of FileMaker 16, the ability for FileMaker to speak with the rest of the web-connected world has vastly expanded. They have done this in two ways: one which allows FileMaker to reach out and connect with other services, and another which allows those services to reach back the other way and connect to FileMaker.
First, FileMaker has implemented a bunch of JSON functions in FM16. JSON is simply a text-based language which is structured in a very consistent manner. This allows programs like FileMaker to receive large chunks of text-based data and unpack it into its particular elements. These set of tools in FileMaker will save a lot of programming time by providing developers with more powerful tools to automate your business.
Second, FileMaker has released their own Application Programming Interface tools, or API. It used to be that when we wanted to hook FileMaker up to a web service, we would need to go to that particular website and see if they had an API which we could use to interface FileMaker with them. Now FileMaker itself has a bunch of API tools. This means that other services can now reach back to FM and connect and interface data. This will be very good for the growth and future of FileMaker.
In fact both of these tools, while maybe a little foreign for the average person, are great benefits to FileMaker developers. They will greatly speed up programming and they will greatly increase the power of FileMaker to interact with the world. So, in a nutshell, FM16 has provided us with more speed, and more power. Nothing wrong with that!