Chicago Area FileMaker Developers Association (CAFDA)

THIS LIVE MEETING CAN BE ATTENDED BOTH IN-PERSON AND ONLINE, BUT IT WILL NOT BE RECORDED. You snooze, you lose!

*Scroll down to get directions for how to attend this meeting, either in-person or remotely. In-person attendance is recommended, but not required.*

FileMaker just wasn’t designed for some things. One example of “FileMaker wasn’t built for this” is sending email. FileMaker’s “Send Mail” script step hasn’t had a serious update in over 20 years. It has several limitations we’ll address during this CAFDA meeting:

• Send Mail can give unintelligible errors. We’ve all had at least one cryptic error message from Send Mail that is a nightmare to debug. Sometimes it’s just easier to use something with human readable errors.
• Send Mail can only send plaintext emails. Plaintext is missing all the trappings of modern email: clickable links, HTML, rich formatting, inline images, graphical signature blocks, etc. The email looks like it’s from 2002, which isn’t great for user-facing applications.
• Send Mail depends on a working email server. Administrating an email server is a job that most of us won’t ever attempt (and for good reason). Instead, we typically farm out that work to someone else. That can add an extra support layer or attach a lot of unwanted strings to what should be a simple script step.
• Send Mail almost always means storing a plaintext password in your database. In the wrong hands, that password can be used to send bogus emails from your real email account without your knowledge.
• Send Mail can be painfully slow. There’s a whole SMTP handshake that has to happen before your email is sent. If your email server is not so fast, it can take a long time to push out a large stack of emails.

So what can we do about these issues? Even though Claris may not have solved for these, Amazon has. So for this edition of CAFDA, we’ll dive deeper into Amazon’s Simple Email Service (SES). SES is an enterprise-grade platform for sending transactional, marketing, and notification emails at scale. By leveraging Amazon SES, you can eliminate the cost and complexity of managing your own email servers while benefiting from the same robust infrastructure used by global brands like Netflix and Reddit. The service provides industry-leading deliverability through advanced tools like the Virtual Deliverability Manager, which helps ensure your messages land in the inbox rather than the spam folder. Best of all, you only pay for what you use with a cost-effective pay-as-you-go model that is often up to 90% cheaper than traditional email providers.

Our meeting will start with a comparison of the Send Mail script step to SES. Then Sully will add some depth around how SES integrates with FileMaker. Tim Krebs and Lisette Wilson of Informing Designs will also demo Pennywire, a simple FileMaker application that sends email via SES. Make sure you ask Tim to send you the “FileMaker Dragon” email. You’ll be impressed!

Meeting Schedule:

• 9:15 AM — Room opens
• 9:30 AM — Coffee & social time
• 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM — Meeting & discussion with Sully, Tim and Lisette

HOW TO GET TO THE MEETING ROOM ON THE 20TH FLOOR OF THE EAST TOWER OF MARINA CITY (300 North State Street):
Getting yourself to a meeting downtown can be a fun and pleasant experience if you plan ahead!

METRA
If you are coming from the suburbs, taking the Metra train is recommended. Marina City is a 25-30 minute walk or a $10-12 cab ride from Ogilvie and Union stations. If you’re walking, cross the river and walk north on Wacker until it curves to the right (east). If the weather is nice, take the stairs down to the riverwalk to maximize your experience. Then, continue to follow the river to the east until you see two iconic buildings that look like giant corn cobs. The meeting is on the 20th floor of the East Tower, the building on the right.

DRIVING
If you would prefer to drive, discounted valet parking is available at $25 for 12 hours (Sully has passes). Use 300 N State St. as your destination in your preferred mapping app. Once there, pull into the large ramp upward toward the Hotel Chicago and House of Blues on the west side of State Street. Follow the yellow lines that curve left toward valet parking. Use any lane to pull up as far as you can toward the glass domed valet stand. Then, turn off your car and wait for an attendant.

CTA (the L)
The closest L stop is Clark and Lake. Find the river (north of the L stop), walk to it and look for the corn cobs. You're headed to the one on the right.

Getting Inside The Building:
To enter the landmark Marina City East Tower, you must first go to the concourse. This can be confusing, as the concourse is below street level. There are three entrances to the concourse level.

• On State Street, at 300 N State, below street level.
• On Dearborn Street, at 323 N Dearborn, below street level.
• In the glass dome that houses the valet stand.

Once on the concourse level, look for the EAST tower security office. Tell the lobby guard you are here for a CAFDA meeting on the 20th floor. Be prepared to show a photo ID and sign into a guest book. Then, use any of the five elevators to go to the 20th floor.

STATE STREET EMERGENCY BRIDGE REPAIR
Additionally, please note that the State Street Bridge has been closed for emergency repairs since April of 2025. Both cars and pedestrians will not be allowed on the bridge until it is completed. If you’re walking East along the river from the train station, use the Dearborn bridge and concourse entrance instead of State Street. Don’t just wait until you hit State Street and hope to cross there! There is currently no vehicle or pedestrian access to the State Street Bridge. Sorry! Pick another bridge (please don't try to swim).

Access to Marina City’s valet parking is indeed still open, albeit only by traveling through the intersection of State and Kinzie. Your destination address remains the same. Just be careful that your mapping app doesn’t try to route you over a closed bridge.