From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION: How Do I Install InBizness?
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ANSWER: The database itself is a single FileMaker file. So it depends upon how you want to implement the sharing of it. It can be run in a peer to peer setting. That means that one user can open the database and share it with a limited number of users. Although this does work, it is not the recommended method. It is highly recommended that InBizness run on a well maintained FileMaker 9 Server. You can purchase a server and set it up for in house sharing. You can also have InBizness hosted with a hosting company. We provide hosting services for the database at $50 a month charge for agreements paid for in 6 month blocks. There are a number of other FileMaker hosting companies out there and each has its own unique advantages in what they offer.
Each user that wants to use InBizness, will need a copy of FileMaker Pro installed on their machine. If you need copies of FileMaker or FileMaker server, we do have a bundling agreement with FileMaker and can offer these applications at a competitive price.
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
FAQ: Looking At My Files?
From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION:
Is it reasonable for me to send you files to be converted to FP9 for which you will bill me at your stated rate to prepare a quote, and prepare a separate quote for which I will pay to convert to your InBizness system. I have some minor concerns about the people here accepting a major change in what they have been doing.
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ANSWER:
Sure that isn’t a problem. You might want to go ahead and purchase a couple hours of FileMaker Estimation Or Project Management (which can be found as the bottom link at http://www.dwaynewright.com/store.html . You might even want to toss in an extra hour if you would like for me to do a BaseElements analysis on the files. BaseElements is an application used for detection and troubleshooting of database files.
When I’m done with the estimate, I can send you the converted files, the BaseElements reports and the estimate in one shot.
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION:
Is it reasonable for me to send you files to be converted to FP9 for which you will bill me at your stated rate to prepare a quote, and prepare a separate quote for which I will pay to convert to your InBizness system. I have some minor concerns about the people here accepting a major change in what they have been doing.
-------
ANSWER:
Sure that isn’t a problem. You might want to go ahead and purchase a couple hours of FileMaker Estimation Or Project Management (which can be found as the bottom link at http://www.dwaynewright.com/store.html . You might even want to toss in an extra hour if you would like for me to do a BaseElements analysis on the files. BaseElements is an application used for detection and troubleshooting of database files.
When I’m done with the estimate, I can send you the converted files, the BaseElements reports and the estimate in one shot.
=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
FAQ: Still Need Copies Of FileMaker?
From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION:
I'm going to purchase the following off your website..
BUNDLE: InBizness SOHO 2.5 Hosting (6 months) (pre-order)
This bundle is designed for workgroups between 5 and 25 users. This package includes a copy of InBizness 2.5, 10 custom design hours, complimentary hosting services for 6 months and free upgrades to all versions of InBizness for six months. $1950.00
I'm going to get the 10 hours of design and the 6 months of hosting because I would like you to be able to make changes and add the items I mentioned in my previous emails.
Regarding FileMaker copies.. since I'm hosting with you, will each one of the users of the dbase still need a full version of FileMaker running on their local computer? Does FileMaker have a data entry only version, for people who only want to use the dbase online? These users ( sales reps ) will not be making any changes to the dbase design.
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ANSWER:
Will each user require a copy of FileMaker Pro on their desktop?
Well, the answer is yes, no and maybe. The hosting package does not come with any copies of FileMaker. If you need additional copies of FileMaker, these will need to be purchased. We do have a Solutions Bundle Agreement with FileMaker, so I can work up a bundle price that does include full copies of FileMaker Pro 9 software.
Under the maybe and no categories, as of version 2.5 of InBizness, I have not built in any FileMaker Instant Web Publishing (IWP) features into the database. By building them in, I really mean duplicating layouts and removing features that are not IWP compatible. So if you have a user that only needs limied access to a few modules, we can enable IWP features and they can use a compatible web browser. The hosting plan does include IWP hosting capabilities, it is just that I haven’t build layouts specific for IWP compatibility.
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION:
I'm going to purchase the following off your website..
BUNDLE: InBizness SOHO 2.5 Hosting (6 months) (pre-order)
This bundle is designed for workgroups between 5 and 25 users. This package includes a copy of InBizness 2.5, 10 custom design hours, complimentary hosting services for 6 months and free upgrades to all versions of InBizness for six months. $1950.00
I'm going to get the 10 hours of design and the 6 months of hosting because I would like you to be able to make changes and add the items I mentioned in my previous emails.
Regarding FileMaker copies.. since I'm hosting with you, will each one of the users of the dbase still need a full version of FileMaker running on their local computer? Does FileMaker have a data entry only version, for people who only want to use the dbase online? These users ( sales reps ) will not be making any changes to the dbase design.
-------
ANSWER:
Will each user require a copy of FileMaker Pro on their desktop?
Well, the answer is yes, no and maybe. The hosting package does not come with any copies of FileMaker. If you need additional copies of FileMaker, these will need to be purchased. We do have a Solutions Bundle Agreement with FileMaker, so I can work up a bundle price that does include full copies of FileMaker Pro 9 software.
Under the maybe and no categories, as of version 2.5 of InBizness, I have not built in any FileMaker Instant Web Publishing (IWP) features into the database. By building them in, I really mean duplicating layouts and removing features that are not IWP compatible. So if you have a user that only needs limied access to a few modules, we can enable IWP features and they can use a compatible web browser. The hosting plan does include IWP hosting capabilities, it is just that I haven’t build layouts specific for IWP compatibility.
=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
FAQ: Migrate My Data Into Your System
From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION: I have four companies utilizing FileMaker for all financial control, stock, shipping, customers, prospects, rep commissions, personnel etc, in general the vast majority of operations in the companies. Is it possible to migrate my data into your system without losing any?
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ANSWER: Without looking at the files first, I would be guessing. Since you are using FileMaker now, my best guess is .... “Yes, it certainly can!”. Working with legacy data integration is always an adventure however. Here is what we do for complex legacy data migration ...
All your data is imported into a new FileMaker 9 file and a unique table is created for each file or existing table you have. For the sake of this discussion, lets call this the Data Translator.
After phase one, the Data Translator will contain all the tables, fields and data from your current system. We then create scripted routines to place your data from the Data Translator into the InBizness shell. In some cases, the data may not go cleanly into the new shell and has to be “worked / cleaned” to fit snugly into the new system.
After this is done, the Data Translator will have a collection of scripts that clean and place your data into InBizness SOHO. At that point we ...
- Empty the Data Translator
- Get a fresh copy of InBizness
- Import your latest legacy data into the Translator
- Run all its data cleaning scripts
- Run all its scripts placing data into InBizness
- Upload the new InBizness file to your server
We then recommend a testing period to make sure we got it all working correctly. This can be anytime from a week to a month. We fix any data problems we come across. Then we do a final Data Translator action and we should be good to go.
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION: I have four companies utilizing FileMaker for all financial control, stock, shipping, customers, prospects, rep commissions, personnel etc, in general the vast majority of operations in the companies. Is it possible to migrate my data into your system without losing any?
-------
ANSWER: Without looking at the files first, I would be guessing. Since you are using FileMaker now, my best guess is .... “Yes, it certainly can!”. Working with legacy data integration is always an adventure however. Here is what we do for complex legacy data migration ...
All your data is imported into a new FileMaker 9 file and a unique table is created for each file or existing table you have. For the sake of this discussion, lets call this the Data Translator.
After phase one, the Data Translator will contain all the tables, fields and data from your current system. We then create scripted routines to place your data from the Data Translator into the InBizness shell. In some cases, the data may not go cleanly into the new shell and has to be “worked / cleaned” to fit snugly into the new system.
After this is done, the Data Translator will have a collection of scripts that clean and place your data into InBizness SOHO. At that point we ...
- Empty the Data Translator
- Get a fresh copy of InBizness
- Import your latest legacy data into the Translator
- Run all its data cleaning scripts
- Run all its scripts placing data into InBizness
- Upload the new InBizness file to your server
We then recommend a testing period to make sure we got it all working correctly. This can be anytime from a week to a month. We fix any data problems we come across. Then we do a final Data Translator action and we should be good to go.
=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
FAQ: Accommodate Normal Business Requirements
From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION: Does your business system accommodate all the normal business requirements?
ANSWER: I’m afraid that I would have to say that normal business requirements is something few people would agree upon. Particularly in a day and age in which business requirements are changing rapidly. Ten years ago, the ability to interface with email not be considered a normal business requirement but today it does (in my opinion).
Currently InBizness Supports business modules such as Clients, Contacts, Vendors, Staff, Leads, Proposals, Quotes, Sales Orders, Invoices, Payments, Inventory, Campaigns, Emails, Events, Media, Purchase Orders, Vendor Bills, Finances (check writing included), Bank Deposits, Timecards, Office Equipment, Office Software, Mileage recording, Credit Memos, Return Merchandise Authorizations and Customer Support tracking. Each of these modules are open for customization to a particular users business needs.
Some would say that the ability to customize a business tool to the unique needs of a business is normal. However, QuickBooks does not allow that capability and they are the largest seller of business software on the planet. Talking about QuickBooks ...
There isn’t any double entry accounting features within InBizness. However, previous versions of InBizness have been connected successfully to QuickBooks. There are companies and products that specialize in this type of integration. Here are some links to information about those products and services.
SolutionMakers Inc. - 123Synch
Productive Computer - FMBooksConnector
Happy Software - FileBooks Link
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION: Does your business system accommodate all the normal business requirements?
ANSWER: I’m afraid that I would have to say that normal business requirements is something few people would agree upon. Particularly in a day and age in which business requirements are changing rapidly. Ten years ago, the ability to interface with email not be considered a normal business requirement but today it does (in my opinion).
Currently InBizness Supports business modules such as Clients, Contacts, Vendors, Staff, Leads, Proposals, Quotes, Sales Orders, Invoices, Payments, Inventory, Campaigns, Emails, Events, Media, Purchase Orders, Vendor Bills, Finances (check writing included), Bank Deposits, Timecards, Office Equipment, Office Software, Mileage recording, Credit Memos, Return Merchandise Authorizations and Customer Support tracking. Each of these modules are open for customization to a particular users business needs.
Some would say that the ability to customize a business tool to the unique needs of a business is normal. However, QuickBooks does not allow that capability and they are the largest seller of business software on the planet. Talking about QuickBooks ...
There isn’t any double entry accounting features within InBizness. However, previous versions of InBizness have been connected successfully to QuickBooks. There are companies and products that specialize in this type of integration. Here are some links to information about those products and services.
SolutionMakers Inc. - 123Synch
Productive Computer - FMBooksConnector
Happy Software - FileBooks Link
=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
FAQ: Record Creation Via Incoming Email
From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION:
Is it possible to automatic create an order from a email? I’m looking for an easy way to get orders from my php/sql based website into filemaker. Maybe you have some other ideas on this.
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ANSWER:
Yes, it is possible. What normally happens is we use a plug-in to bring the email directly into FileMaker or some way to directly get the email in. After that, we run a FileMaker script to parse the data in the field and create all the order information based upon the email. The email will need to be consistent in nature or its possible the parsing routine might hiccup.
=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION:
Is it possible to automatic create an order from a email? I’m looking for an easy way to get orders from my php/sql based website into filemaker. Maybe you have some other ideas on this.
-------
ANSWER:
Yes, it is possible. What normally happens is we use a plug-in to bring the email directly into FileMaker or some way to directly get the email in. After that, we run a FileMaker script to parse the data in the field and create all the order information based upon the email. The email will need to be consistent in nature or its possible the parsing routine might hiccup.
=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
Monday, August 11, 2008
FAQ: Customization Hours
From Dwayne Wright - Certified FileMaker 9 Developer
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION:
Is your program something that could fit our needs or would it require hundreds of hours of customization???
We have looked at two other Filemaker integrated solutions and they both do everything we need (with customization) but they both have their disadvantages. i.e. Cost and user interface is confusing. Your program has the right cost and the user interface is very clean. All of which I like.
ANSWER:
The customization of InBizness is pretty straight forward. Tracking down the needs analysis and putting it into a hard plan can be tricky, time consuming and expensive. If you have a specific idea of what you need and can point me to it, then I can reduce the customization costs dramatically. InBizness can be integrated with Quickbooks and can be upgraded to have most of the accounting needs you mentioned.
As far as manufacturing goes, that is possible as well. It really depends on your particular needs. If we can get that firmed out, then we can work up an estimate on those needs.
=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
WEB: www.dwaynewright.com
EMAIL: info@dwaynewright.com
TWITTER: dwaynewright
QUESTION:
Is your program something that could fit our needs or would it require hundreds of hours of customization???
We have looked at two other Filemaker integrated solutions and they both do everything we need (with customization) but they both have their disadvantages. i.e. Cost and user interface is confusing. Your program has the right cost and the user interface is very clean. All of which I like.
ANSWER:
The customization of InBizness is pretty straight forward. Tracking down the needs analysis and putting it into a hard plan can be tricky, time consuming and expensive. If you have a specific idea of what you need and can point me to it, then I can reduce the customization costs dramatically. InBizness can be integrated with Quickbooks and can be upgraded to have most of the accounting needs you mentioned.
As far as manufacturing goes, that is possible as well. It really depends on your particular needs. If we can get that firmed out, then we can work up an estimate on those needs.
=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Recently, I just used this technique in my upcoming 2.5 release of InBizness SOHO. I have been doing a lot of proposals lately for database work and wanted to streamline the process a bit. A number of my proposals have common milestones and I wanted the ability to copy a similar milestone from one project and place it within the current proposal.
Here you can see the new interface for the milestones module. (you may need to click the image to enlarge. You can see a button in the portal row that copies the primary key fields data into a global variable. This way, that data is available as I go to a different record. I have a self relationship between my milestones table and use a script to place the key id and set the fields in the new milestone equal to the one I copied.
Here you can see the script in the Script Debugger (a feature in FileMaker Advanced)(you can click the image for a larger version)
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More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
Here you can see the new interface for the milestones module. (you may need to click the image to enlarge. You can see a button in the portal row that copies the primary key fields data into a global variable. This way, that data is available as I go to a different record. I have a self relationship between my milestones table and use a script to place the key id and set the fields in the new milestone equal to the one I copied. 
Here you can see the script in the Script Debugger (a feature in FileMaker Advanced)(you can click the image for a larger version)=
More info about the author and FileMaker in general, contact me at info@dwaynewright.com.
© 2008 - Dwayne Wright - dwaynewright.com
The material on this document is offered AS IS. There is NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, expressed or implied, nor does any other contributor to this document. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Consequential and incidental damages are expressly excluded. FileMaker Pro is the registered trademark of FileMaker Inc.
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