One of the great things about FileMaker is it’s ability to create useful solutions quickly. That’s why FileMaker is the #1 rapid application development software in the world. Our local Claris Platform User Group in the Twin Cities (CPUG-MN) has monthly meetings and orders pizza for the group for our lunch. With about 30 people in attendance on a regular basis, it’s a challenge to order the right amount of pizza and the kinds people want the most.
It’s also amazing how much pizza gets converted into code with our talented developers.
Several years ago we created a Pizza Party Count app for the iPad to solve this problem. Several things changed that made it time for a new version.
(1) We now have more types of pizza available. The original version only allowed for 6 kinds of pizza and all were hard coded into the solution. This version allows you to enter your own pizzas types easily as new records in the Pizzas table and displays up to 8 on the screen at a time.
(2) iPads have different size screens so we updated the solution to take full advantage of the display sizes by adjusting the placement of items on the screen that adapt.
(3) Newer versions of FileMaker has new development features. We’ve taken advantage of these new features including, for example, button images.
(4) The app now works across multiple iPads to tally with several users simultaneously.
So this new app better accomplishes our purpose and allows you to pass around an iPad before the meeting so everyone can order exactly the slices they want. It then summarizes how many pizzas you need to order and each kind.
We made Pizza Party Counter able to take a credit card payment as well.
Using the power of Square Online Store, you can set up an account and store to sell a product. Create a “Pizza” product for the amount you want contributed. 
Insert the URL store for that into the Prefs.
Then each person can pay for their pizza individually without needing cash.
Using FileMaker Pro you could easily modify it to do other things. That’s the power of FileMaker.
Get FileMaker Go for your iPad for FREE here. You can also download the Claris FileMaker app on your desktop workstation and use it to modify the app to meet your needs using the FREE trial of FileMaker Pro here.
Download the FREE Pizza Party Count solution for your iPad to play around with it.
Tim Cimbura – CEO, CFO and Software Engineer
Tim is an expert in creating custom business solutions that make businesses more effective, productive, and profitable. He specializes in rapid application development with the Claris platform including FileMaker, Laravel, and WordPress. He also knows Apple macOS technology inside and out.