Filemaker examples. Filemaker: a database with a human face

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Most of the innovations implemented in FileMaker 12 products, to one degree or another, reflect the desire of developers to “mobilize” their platform.

Many of the proposed improvements are aimed at small and medium-sized businesses that would like to better integrate mobile devices into their existing workflows. Enterprises will have simple, reliable tools at their disposal to create and deploy professional-grade databases without writing any code.

Users are provided with enhanced capabilities to use the built-in functions of tablets and smartphones. Among other things, Filemaker 12 Go provides the ability to quickly place video and audio materials recorded on a mobile phone in fields of the “container” type. As a reminder, in previous versions these fields could be used to store snapshots, captions, and GPS data.

Portable device support is also included in the server editions of FileMaker 12 Server and FileMaker 12 Server Advanced, which now support streaming large files, including images, audio, video and PDF documents, to the mobile client.

FileMaker Pro 12 includes new themes and templates, powerful app design tools for iPad, iPhone, and desktop PCs, and file management tools for modern, media-intensive apps. FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced includes additional authoring and project management tools.

FileMaker Go 12 apps for iPad and iPhone are available for free through the App Store. At the moment, these applications are not Russified. The free download of FileMaker Go 12 allows anyone to easily work on iOS with database applications built in FileMaker Pro 12.

The new 64-bit versions of FileMaker Server 12 and FileMaker 12 Server Advanced improve WAN performance, expand support for large databases, and enable fast file and media streaming.

Key localization elements for Central European and Middle Eastern versions:

localized interface in Czech, Russian and Turkish;
templates in Hebrew, Arabic, Polish, Czech, Russian and Turkish;
instant online publishing function in Hebrew, Arabic, Hungarian, Greek, Polish, Czech, Russian and Turkish;
Dictionaries and spell checker for Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and Polish.
Mirror layout feature allows users to switch from a left-to-right layout to a right-to-right layout with one click (for MENA countries).

With FileMaker Pro 12, every user can create databases without much difficulty. 16 new standard tasks speed up the creation of databases for managing contacts, projects, digital content, inventory and other critical business tasks. Typical tasks include pre-made screens optimized for iPad and iPhone. Users can change the appearance of applications using 40 new themes. Themes can be used with common tasks or applied to existing databases. Custom Touch themes designed specifically for iPad and iPhone, featuring fonts, colors, buttons, and other iOS design elements.

Users can build apps entirely from pre-built themes or customize every detail with new design tools like gradients, image cropping, dynamic alignment guides, and custom grids. Special screen stencils make it easier to display information on iPad and iPhone screens.

FileMaker Pro 12 includes a new Quick Charts tool for instantly creating visual charts, as well as five new chart styles: bubble charts, scatter charts, positive and negative charts, stacked bar charts, and stacked bar charts.

Improved container fields in FileMaker Pro 12 support saving many file types such as PDF, video, photos, audio and documents using drag-and-drop functionality. Files can be stored in a database or linked. Managing linked files is easier because FileMaker 12 now automatically organizes files on disk and can encrypt them for added security.

The new 64-bit versions of FileMaker Server 12 and FileMaker Server 12 Advanced are optimized for fast data processing. Improved WAN performance makes remote work easier, especially for iOS device users. A modified web publishing engine improves the speed and stability of integrating custom web pages with FileMaker databases, while consistent backups simplify server administration and improve solution reliability.

Users of corporate licenses with active maintenance will have the opportunity to upgrade to version 12 of FileMaker for free in May.

2014: FileMaker 13

On December 19, 2013, the FileMaker company introduced version 13 of the FileMaker DBMS.

On March 18, 2014, sales of the FileMaker 13 DBMS, localized for Russia and Central European countries, began in Russia and the CIS countries.

Description of changes and innovations

For a small company, it is possible to organize shared access to the database for 5 other users of FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Go using FileMaker Pro. To provide access to more users, FileMaker Server is required. FileMaker Server 13 features increased security, more flexible data sharing capabilities, including support for running solutions in the browser using the new FileMaker WebDirect technology.

Innovations and additions

Among the innovations:

create custom browser-based business solutions using FileMaker WebDirect;
new capabilities for iOS development and an optimal work environment for iPad and iPhone through special features (pull-out panels, secondary screens, support for barcode scanning, scrolling gestures, keyboard types, script triggers and other features designed specifically for iPad and iPhone) ;
creating more functional business solutions using new features (such as field selection, custom styles, managing the visibility of layout objects);
guarantee of data protection thanks to a modern encryption system based on industry standards.

Additions of functions, tools:

FileMaker Pro 13 includes improved container fields in layouts. The Get Container Attribute function automatically returns metadata for elements stored in container fields. Depending on the element stored in the container field, more than 40 attributes can be returned (file name, file size, title, model, artist, album, genre, composer, height, width, latitude, longitude, creation date, modified date, stroke -codes, etc.).

The main innovation in FileMaker Server 13 is the FileMaker WebDirect component. This web-based technology enables customized business tasks to be completed directly from the browser without requiring the user to have web development skills. FileMaker WebDirect allows you to eliminate the need for PHP, HMTL5, CSS and JavaScript programming languages to create a web solution.

A new administration console has appeared. The console has been rewritten in HTML5 to provide quick and easy access from any browser. Performing administrative tasks now requires less time, and updating the database status is faster.

Buyers of FileMaker Pro 12, during the transition period, and FileMaker users with an active subscription to updates will receive the new version free of charge. Other FileMaker Pro owners can purchase upgrade versions at a discount.

Licensing

The new version of the product has changed the licensing of access to the server. To connect to FileMaker Server 13 using a browser or FileMaker Go for iPad and iPhone, you must purchase connection licenses

Compatibility

Windows XP and Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) are not supported by FileMaker Pro 13. Users of these OS versions will need to upgrade when upgrading to FileMaker Pro 13.

The FileMaker development environment is today one of the leaders among DBMSs for small and medium-sized workgroups, allowing you to quickly develop ready-made solutions that are fully tailored to the needs of the customer's enterprise. FileMaker's powerful capabilities, teamwork mode, support for a large number of target platforms, and a graphical interface ideal for rapid development - all this makes FileMaker indispensable for solving problems related to data collection and people management, Internet projects and management of heterogeneous information. FileMaker's ready-to-use built-in templates help you quickly create your own solution and get it up and running. With its ability to share data with virtually any application, FileMaker blurs the boundaries of heterogeneous networks by providing simple solutions for any complex problem.

Recently, the DBMS market has traditionally been dominated by market giants, primarily Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, etc. If we consider the market for such open solutions with its diversity, then here, again, DBMSs are presented primarily for professional developers - MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.

It is obvious that when using such serious and powerful tools, the development and maintenance of databases itself becomes the domain of only experienced professional developers. On the one hand, this niche is extremely saturated with a range of various very flexible and powerful solutions, but on the other hand, it must be admitted that the cost of development for such platforms will cost quite a lot of money, also requiring time and a certain amount of experience, even at the stage of correct formulation technical specifications by the customer himself, not to mention the time required to create and deploy such solutions. If, during the operation of a ready-made solution, it turns out, as often happens in life, that the product requires some refinement and further adaptation, then again, it is unlikely that you will be able to do this on your own, which means that you will again have to attract outside specialists.

Ready-made solutions are not always as flexible as required; life has repeatedly proven that it is always better and more reliable to create a personalized solution, as they say, “completely for yourself,” but here we are faced with the problem of the complexity and duration of such development.

If you just think and dream for a second: oh, if such databases could be created entirely on your own, if you didn’t need to be a specialist in several related technical fields at once, if it were just as easy to not only create programs from scratch, but also to correct, expand and refine... And if for large and partly medium-sized businesses, expensive specialized solutions based on serious and expensive DBMS are still somehow justified and economically feasible, then for small businesses, of which the majority are represented, or for home needs, even - using Oracle or even free MySQL is perhaps redundant and even more so – absurd.

Such a long introduction to the topic is intended for only one purpose: the DBMS market for small businesses and home use is extremely in demand and it is practically not represented in the domestic space. If you need to quickly develop a specialized warehouse accounting system for a specific specificity, or just a personal business or financial planning system built on some new-fangled time management concept that you like, where to look for help in this case? What tools are best to use for this - perhaps the popular MySQL in conjunction with some kind of visual front-end written in the equally popular Visual Studio? What quick and easy development options could you suggest for this situation, suitable for any non-technical professional as well as an accountant or first-year student?

And today we have good news: our review will be devoted to a detailed examination of a DBMS of exactly this class, extremely well-known and popular in the West, but not yet very widespread in Russia - FileMaker. Since it has become typical to compare FileMaker with its niche analogs - Microsoft Access and FoxPro - for the sake of decency, we will also repeat this hackneyed analogy, but for the sake of completeness and fairness, we will immediately present their main differences, due to which this comparison, in our opinion , very tense.

Another MS Access?

A very pronounced specificity of the FileMaker DBMS is that it is aimed not so much at the programmer, but at the end user, the non-professional in the field of databases. Even in descriptions of their product, developers stubbornly avoid using the cumbersome term DBMS (database management system), although it is given in the product specification, replacing it everywhere with database application.

The fundamental difference is the method of visual design, which is chosen in these two similar, but not analogous systems. In FileMaker, this approach is different and, in my opinion, much more successful and large-scale. Correctly chosen design strategies (for example, the presence of a very intelligently selected set of ready-made templates for all typical tasks that can always be taken as a basis) further simplify the quick start of your new project based on this development system. For example, here you can program in the built-in visual language FileMaker Script, even without any understanding of the basics of programming, or start immediately designing your database by simply dragging and dropping an Excel file onto an empty project form.

If in MS Access or FoxPro working on a project is an insider's view, and you need to have a clear understanding of how the database functions, then FileMaker is more of an outsider's view. FileMaker encourages you to focus on creating the external view of the database, that is, the interface. FileMaker almost completely takes care of the rest. If you don't even want to develop an interface, you are immediately provided with a standard one, and you have access to powerful data display and search tools to start working with the database immediately. On the other hand, if you wish, you can delve into the essence of the processes and fill your project with additional functionality, independently determine the levels of complexity of interaction with the DBMS that are acceptable to you.

We will return to the numerous successful details of the implementation of FileMaker later, but here we would like to put an end to this stereotypical comparison: in our opinion, FileMaker is a much more accessible and user-friendly system than MS Access, while all its capabilities are in no way are not inferior to MS Access, and in many ways, and we will show this later, they are significantly superior to it.

As for FoxPro, it’s still a system for programmers, no matter how you look at it. Of course, when getting acquainted with FileMaker, it will not hurt you to have programming experience in “serious” languages - this will allow you to “get into” the system and its capabilities literally on the go, in a maximum of 24 hours, immediately starting to work. But, putting the task on the contrary, it will be very difficult for a humanities specialist to quickly and immediately understand FoxPro, you will agree, and there is no need to do this at all! As we will convincingly prove today, there is a much simpler, and please note, much more powerful development system in comparison with MS Access and FoxPro - the FileMaker DBMS.

Definition and target niche

FileMaker Pro is a cross-platform desktop designer of spreadsheet and other information applications built on the basis of its own relational database. Together with the actual engine of this database, as mentioned above, a powerful visual designer is supplied in a single package, with a developed and intuitive GUI interface, which allows you to create any applications in a visual mode: with your own logic, appearance, forms and tables. In addition to storing, operating and processing user data, this environment provides many additional functions and capabilities (which will be discussed in more detail below), which largely depend on the edition of this product (see the second part of this article). In short, if there are RAD (Rapid application development) development environments, then this is a kind of “SuperRAD”, which allows you to create completely similar applications, but 10 times faster and easier!

So, having given a very dry and somewhat official definition, let us summarize for the average person with the promised benefit: having mastered FileMaker, you can easily and quickly create your own projects based on databases, the use of which is practically unlimited. You can very quickly, literally “on your knees,” create, for example, a large catalog of your home library or films, catalog your huge music collection, develop your own system for accounting for goods in an enterprise or accounting for consumables and office equipment, a system for processing orders in your company or personalized printing systems. After spending literally a minute, expose your database to the Internet in the form of an automatically generated PHP website. And many many others...

Maybe someone will object to my bold comparison of FileMaker with real RAD systems, calling it incorrect and appealing to the quality of the final code that a similar application, traditionally developed, for example, in Visual Studio, will have, as incomparably better and more meaningful. But in response, I believe that today this is not the most convincing argument against “desktop frameworks” (and FileMaker, in some way, is one), since today man-hours cost much more than the hardware that needs to be upgraded once for such decisions so that “everything can fly” on it. With this final remark, I tried to respond in absentia to some obvious ideological attacks towards FileMaker that are taking place. And now, having finished with unnecessary rhetoric, let's move on directly to considering its capabilities.

Key Features of FileMaker

This is a multi-platform product - the following platforms are supported: Windows (XP, Vista, 7); MacOS X, iOS.
. Plugin architecture – there are many third-party plugins for connection that further expand the functionality of the main system. . Multilingual support - the system has been translated into more than 12 languages, including Russian.
. Ability to automatically generate advanced and attractive graphs, reports and histograms.
. Support for your own FDML markup language for generating web pages with the ability to dynamically insert from the FileMaker database.
. And if we're talking about websites, the server version of FileMaker has the ability to quickly generate a PHP website automatically - from the structure and content of an existing database.
. Ability to encrypt all used tables and data structures.
. A huge number of formats for importing data into the database: Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, txt, cvs, dbf, etc.; as well as an abundance of formats for the reverse operation - export.
. A close-to-visual script editor that makes programming very easy to understand (if you need it at all).

There is a built-in script debugger that allows you to solve all complex situations. In general, I want to immediately express my subjective opinion that FileMaker has its own scripting language, and will probably be inconvenient for experienced programmers, and is rather more suitable for beginners and advanced users (which can be considered both a plus and a minus of this system ). . FileMaker supports multi-user work with the database, within reasonable limits, of course (you don’t need to count on simultaneous access to the database by a crowd of 400 people). But, in defense of the internal data storage, I would like to say that in the latest versions it has been significantly expanded and supplemented, and now it can quite freely operate with fairly large volumes of data (again, within reasonable limits - within small and medium-sized businesses, it will never will become a direct competitor in this regard for Oracle or PostgreSQL).

External interaction

Often when using such products, the first question that arises is: “How can I connect them with some of my external solutions?” Well, this question is natural. And if I don’t even question the internal capabilities for quick design and extremely convenient creation of applications on FileMaker (because it is so - just try), then the issue of researching FileMaker regarding its capabilities for interaction with other external products requires additional coverage, due to the special importance of this parameter when creating modern and flexible heterogeneous systems.

The first thing to highlight in this area is that FileMaker very widely supports and actively uses the universal XML standard for exchanging a wide variety of information with external applications. In particular, it supports:

XML Data Source Import – import of external data into the DBMS in XML format;
. Export Records and Export Records script step – types of exporting your data in XML format;
. Custom Web Publishing with XML is a mechanism for sending XML data in response to an Internet request for it from an external service.

In addition to XML support for exchanging data with external sources, full ODBC/JDBC support is also available, which further enhances FileMaker's capabilities.

And finally, the most interesting thing from the point of view of an application programmer is the SQL language.

As I wrote above, FileMaker uses its own quasi-visual tools for creating selections, but besides this, there is almost full support for features and SQL, so let's list the main points in this matter as briefly as possible:

External SQL Data Source – a standard tool for creating a “live” two-way connection between FileMaker and the world's leading DBMS (Oracle, MS SQL Server, MySQL);

ODBC/JDBC is an alternative connection method if you do not need a permanent “live” connection to external data sources. This approach has both a plus and a minus: the plus is the much greater versatility and breadth of available data sources; in fact, you just need to find and install a standard ODBC driver for your database on a system with FileMaker. Minus – slightly slower interaction speed; . Execute SQL – the availability of dynamic SQL queries at the level of the FileMaker scripting language through this command, which creates a kind of additional dimension for the successful, and I would even say, sophisticated use of SQL within the FileMaker ecosystem;

MySQL partnership – I especially want to highlight the support for the popular free MySQL database server as an external data source. It should be noted that the level of integration with this source in the External SQL Data Source mode is extremely high quality. The manufacturer FileMaker itself describes many successful examples of large implementations, where the use of such a symbiosis of these two DBMSs was placed at the forefront of the entire information infrastructure. The official partnership between FileMaker, Inc and MySQL AB further strengthens these ties, not only at the technical level, but also at the legal level of support.

Well, in conclusion, in the current topic of “External interaction” it is once again worth recalling the built-in smtp solution, which makes email permanently integrated into the overall system, which again adds convenience to development, especially for corporate purposes, which, along with flexible export from XML sources allow such an application to constantly remain “connected”.

In the second part of this article we will describe the Internet capabilities of FileMaker, its numerous editions, and along the way we will discuss many of its other pleasant features.

To be continued.

Igor Savchuk

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1 FileMaker Installation and New Features Guide for FileMaker Pro 12 and FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced

2 FileMaker, Inc., All rights reserved. FileMaker, Inc. Patrick Henry Drive Santa Clara, California FileMaker and Bento are trademarks of FileMaker, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. The file folder logo and the Bento logo are trademarks of FileMaker, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. FileMaker documentation is protected by copyright. You may not make additional copies of this documentation or distribute it without the written permission of FileMaker. This documentation may only be used with a valid, licensed copy of the FileMaker software. All persons, companies, email addresses and URLs listed in the examples are completely fictitious and any resemblance to existing persons, companies, email addresses and URLs is completely coincidental. A list of creditors is provided in the Acknowledgments documents supplied with this software. Mention of third party products and URLs is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. FileMaker, Inc. is not responsible for the performance of these products. For more information, visit our website Revision: 1

3 Contents Chapter 1 Before You Begin 5 About FileMaker Documentation 5 Customer Support and Knowledge Base 6 Technical Assistance 6 Update Notification 6 New Version Notification 7 About the License Key 7 Feature Requirements on Windows 9 Feature Requirements on Mac OS 10 Features not supported on Windows 10 Features not supported on Mac OS 10 Converting a trial version of FileMaker Pro to a full version 11 Upgrading FileMaker Pro from a previous version 11 Opening files from previous versions 12 Updating a custom dictionary 12 Installing with a volume license 12 Chapter 2 Installing FileMaker Pro on Windows 13 Installation Notes 13 Installing FileMaker Pro 14 Registering FileMaker Pro 15 Installing FileMaker Pro from the Command Line 15 About Installing Bonjour 15 Where to Place Files on Your Hard Drive 16 Uninstalling, Editing, and Restoring FileMaker Pro 16 Changing FileMaker Pro Cache Size 17 What to do next 18 Chapter 3 Installing FileMaker Pro on Mac OS 19 Installation Notes 19 Installing FileMaker Pro 20 Registering FileMaker Pro 20 Viewing the Installation Log File 21 Uninstalling FileMaker Pro Setting the FileMaker Pro Cache Size 21 What to Do Next 22

4 4 Chapter 4 What's New 23 New Structure and Layout Controls 23 Improved Performance and Usability 24 Enhanced Reporting and Analysis Features 25 Integration with Other Applications and Data Sources 26 Script Steps, Script Triggers, and Functions 26 Script Steps 26 Script Triggers 27 Functions 28 Features changed and removed 29 Features changed in FileMaker Pro 29 Features removed from FileMaker Pro 30 FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced 31

5 Chapter 1 Before You Begin Welcome to FileMaker! FileMaker Pro makes information management easy and efficient. About FileMaker Documentation This Installation and New Features Guide will tell you how to install FileMaker Pro 12 or FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced on your Windows or Mac computer and introduce you to what's new in the software. Note. This guide uses the name "FileMaker Pro" to refer to both FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Pro Advanced unless it describes features unique to File Maker Pro Advanced. The FileMaker Pro User Guide contains the information you need to get started with productivity right away. If you're new to FileMaker Pro, check out the FileMaker Pro Tutorial to learn the basic features of the application. For details and complete step-by-step procedures, see FileMaker Pro Help. The Design Guide for FileMaker Pro Advanced describes the advanced features available in FileMaker Pro Advanced, including customizing menus, copying and importing tables, database design reports, and monitoring fields, variables, and expressions using the Data Viewer. Note. If a feature or procedure is limited to a specific platform, instructions and illustrations that also apply to that platform are displayed. For features and procedures that are similar on both platforms, illustrations are provided for either Windows or Mac OS. To view and download documentation for FileMaker, visit To provide feedback on this tutorial, visit

6 6 Before You Begin Customer Support and Knowledge Base Select the menu command Help > Resource Center to access the following components: ready-made solutions; videos and tutorials; user history; forums and other support tools. To access the FileMaker knowledge base, visit To view system requirements, visit Note. The FileMaker knowledge base and software forums are not available in all languages. Technical Assistance FileMaker technical support representatives can assist you with installation, startup, or reinstallation (excluding data recovery) if your hardware configuration meets the software's minimum system requirements. Visit Update Notification FileMaker Pro 12 automatically checks for software updates every seven days. If your computer is connected to the Internet, you can go to the updates web page and download the software update. You can update later by selecting Help > Downloads and Updates. Note. This feature does not install software. You must be connected to the Internet to access the updater and download it.

7 7 To turn off update notification, do one of the following: In the Update Notification dialog box, select the Don't check for updates automatically check box. On Windows, select Edit > Preferences. On Mac OS, select FileMaker Pro menu > Preferences. On the General tab, clear the Notify me when an update is available check box. To turn update notification back on, select this check box. If you disable update notification, the Update Notification dialog box will not appear. New Version Notification FileMaker Pro 12 automatically checks for new software versions every 30 days and notifies you when a new version becomes available. To turn off new version notification, do one of the following: In the New Version Notification dialog box, select the Do not notify me about new versions again check box. On Windows, select Edit > Preferences. On Mac OS, select FileMaker Pro menu > Preferences. On the General tab, clear the Notify me when a new version is available check box. To turn the new version notification back on, select this option. If you disable New Version Notification, the New Version Notification dialog box will not appear. About the License Key FileMaker software is distributed with a unique 35-character alphanumeric license key. Don't lose this key. It is recommended that you keep the license key in a safe place in case you ever need to reinstall the software. License keys are located on the back of the DVD sleeve. If you install software using an electronic download, follow the instructions in your order confirmation email. A valid license key is required to install the software.

8 8 Before You Begin The license key ensures compliance with the FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Pro Advanced software license, which permits one (1) copy of the software to be used on one computer at a time, along with a second copy for use on a home or laptop computer, subject to license restrictions. for software. For more information, see the FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Pro Advanced software license located in the appropriate installation folder. If there is another copy of the application running on the network that is installed with the same license key, FileMaker Pro displays the following error message: "This copy of FileMaker Pro is currently being used by the maximum number of licensed users." To install FileMaker Pro on multiple computers, you will need a unique license key for each installation or a multi-computer volume license. You must license one copy of FileMaker Pro on each computer.

9 9 Feature Requirements on Windows Some features of FileMaker Pro for Windows require the installation of additional software. Feature Send Email Script Step Using Mail Application Phone Dialing ODBC and JDBC Features Inserting QuickTime Video Files and Image Files Software Requirement Microsoft Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, or Office Mail This requirement does not apply to SMTP mail. Telephone dialer or other Telephony Application Interface (TAPI) compatible software The FileMaker ODBC and JDBC drivers are located in the xdbc folder of the installation disk image, as well as in the FileMaker knowledge base on the Learn more about using ODBC and JDBC features page see the FileMaker ODBC and JDBC Guide and the FileMaker Pro Help. For more information about using third-party ODBC and JDBC drivers, see QuickTime 7.5 Software (available at

10 10 Before You Begin Feature Requirements for Mac OS Some features of FileMaker Pro for Mac OS require the installation of additional software. Feature Send Message Script Step Using Mail Application ODBC and JDBC Features Software Requirement Apple Mail, Microsoft Entourage, or Microsoft Outlook 2011 This requirement does not apply to sending mail via SMTP. Actual Technologies ODBC Manager (available at is free software and is not supported by FileMaker. The FileMaker ODBC and JDBC drivers are located in the xdbc folder of the installation disk image, as well as in the FileMaker Knowledge Base at For more information about using ODBC and JDBC features, see: See the FileMaker ODBC and JDBC Guide and the FileMaker Pro Help. For more information about using third-party ODBC and JDBC drivers, see Importing files from Bento Bento 2 or a newer supported version (available at Features not supported in Windows On Windows, FileMaker Pro does not support Execute AppleScript and Speech script steps, nor does it support importing files from Bento. Features not supported on Mac OS On Mac OS, FileMaker Pro does not support Phone Dial script steps and “Sending a DDE command to execute.”

11 11 Export to Excel: Exporting to .xls format requires Rosetta, which is not available on OS X Lion. Converting a trial version of FileMaker Pro to a full version If you have a trial version of FileMaker Pro 12 installed, you can convert the software to a full version without first uninstalling the trial version. You can also upgrade your retail copy of FileMaker Pro version 9, 10, or 11 to the full version of FileMaker Pro 12 by entering your upgrade license key during the trial conversion process. Upgrading FileMaker Pro from a Previous Version If you are upgrading FileMaker Pro from a previous version, it is recommended that you upgrade to the new version before uninstalling the previous version. To upgrade FileMaker Pro from a previous version, follow these steps: 1. Install the update using the 35-character license key located on the back of the DVD sleeve, or the key emailed to you along with the download link. 2. Move your plugins, dictionary data, and your settings to the new version of FileMaker Pro. For information about how to move installations, see the FileMaker Knowledge Base at 3. If you plan to use only the latest version, uninstall the previous one. If you choose to uninstall a previous version before upgrading to the newest version, make sure you have a license key for the previous version. When you install FileMaker Pro with an upgrade license key, the installer searches your hard drive for the previous version. If a previous version is not found, you are prompted to enter the license key for the previous version of the product.

12 12 Before You Begin Opening Files from Previous Versions of FileMaker Pro 12 opens files created in FileMaker Pro versions 7.x, 8.x, 9.x, 10.x, or 11.x. But to use files with FileMaker Pro, you must convert them to the FileMaker Pro 12 file format. For more information about converting files, see FileMaker Pro Help. Updating a custom dictionary If you added words to a custom dictionary in a previous version of FileMaker Pro, you can use it in FileMaker Pro 12. For more information about converting a custom dictionary, see FileMaker Pro Help. Volume License Installation If you are installing multiple copies of FileMaker Pro under a volume license, or if you want to install without human intervention, you can automate the process. To skip the standard installation dialog boxes, use the Assisted Install.txt file on the disk image. For more information, see the FileMaker Pro Network Installation Guide. For volume licensing information, visit

13 Chapter 2 Installing FileMaker Pro on Windows Before proceeding with the installation process, save any open files and close all applications. For the latest information and release notes about FileMaker Pro, visit Installation Notes Before you begin installing FileMaker Pro, please read the following notes. To install FileMaker Pro, you must have administrator access and log in with an administrator username and password. If your computer is running antivirus software, disable it before installing FileMaker Pro. Once the installation is complete, you can turn it back on. By default, FileMaker Pro will be installed in the following folder: C:/Program Files/FileMaker/FileMaker Pro 12. You can change the installation drive and folder during installation. By default, FileMaker Pro Advanced will be installed in the following folder: C:/Program Files/FileMaker/FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced. You can change the installation drive and folder during installation. During the installation process, you can choose to install all components (Complete) or only selected program components (Custom). For example, you can disable the installation of some components to save disk space. At the beginning of the installation, the user selects the language of the FileMaker Pro installer. The default selection matches the operating system language. A full installation installs only the version for the selected language. To install versions for other languages, use Custom installation mode to select language packs for other languages from the list of supported languages.

14 14 Installing FileMaker Pro on Windows Before installing an update or downgrading, FileMaker will scan all hard drives and drives connected to your computer for the previous version. If your computer has many disks, this may take several minutes. Installing FileMaker Pro Installing FileMaker Pro must be done using the installer. FileMaker Pro cannot be installed by simply copying files to your hard drive. If you want to create an installation log that contains a list of registry entries and installed file paths, FileMakerPro must be installed from the command line. See “Install FileMaker Pro from the Command Line” on page 15. To install FileMaker Pro to your hard drive, do the following. 1. Do one of the following: If you received the software electronically, after downloading the file, double-click the installation icon (EXE file); If you are installing FileMaker Pro from a DVD, insert it into your DVD drive, open the FileMaker DVD window, and click the install icon. Install Application Click to view DVD contents Exit 2. Install FileMaker Pro by following the onscreen instructions. For more information about installation, see "Installation Notes" on page Once installation is complete, click Finish. The Product Registration dialog box appears.

15 15 Registering FileMaker Pro Take the time to register your copy of the product. Registering FileMaker makes it possible to get help recovering your license key if it is lost. Plus, you'll receive earlier notifications about updates, new software versions, and special offers. Enter product information, registration information, and additional information when prompted. If you are using a trial version of FileMaker Pro, you must register it before you can start using it. You can also do this using the Help > Register FileMaker Pro menu item. Installing FileMaker Pro from the Command Line To install FileMaker Pro from the command line and create an installation log, follow these steps. 1. Insert a DVD into the drive. 2. Open a command prompt window. 3. Enter the following command line: E:\Files\setup.exe /v /Lr C:\FMP12InstallLog.txt where E: DVD drive. If your DVD drive is assigned a different drive letter, enter that letter instead of E. 4. Follow the onscreen instructions. The FMP12InstallLog.txt file will be created in the root directory of the hard drive. It can be viewed in WordPad or any other text editor. About installing Bonjour Bonjour provides automatic discovery of computers, devices, and services on IP networks. It must be installed on your system to detect remote hosts. If the Bonjour service is not installed or running, FileMaker Pro will not be able to discover remote networks. In particular, it will not be possible to browse internal databases in the Open Remote File dialog box and obtain a list of remote files for use as an external data source. Without Bonjour, you will have to manually enter IP addresses for remote databases.

16 16 Installing FileMaker Pro on the Windows operating system During the installation of FileMaker Pro, the installation program works according to the following algorithm: if the Bonjour service is not detected, the installation program warns about this and offers to install it; If the Bonjour service is detected, but FileMaker does not support the installed version, the installer issues a warning about this and prompts you to manually remove the old version of Bonjour, and then manually install the version of Bonjour that is supported by FileMaker; If the Bonjour service is detected and a version supported by FileMaker is installed, the installer does not warn or install Bonjour. To manually install the Bonjour service, do the following. 1. Open the FileMaker Pro installation folder. 2. Open the Bonjour folder. 3. Open the folder for 32-bit or 64-bit, depending on your version of Windows. 4. Double-click the BonjourSetup icon. 5. Follow the onscreen instructions to install Bonjour. Where files are located on your hard drive The FileMaker Pro installer copies files to multiple folders on your hard drive, depending on the operating system version and the installation options you select. If you install from the command line and specify a log file to be created, the log file will indicate the location of each of the installed files. Uninstall, change, or repair FileMaker Pro You can uninstall, repair missing or damaged components, or change the set of installed FileMaker Pro components using the Add or Remove Programs (Windows XP) or Programs and Features (Windows Vista or Windows 7) control panel ). For more information, see Windows Help. When modifying or restoring FileMaker Pro, you may be prompted to enter a license key.

17 17 Changing the FileMaker Pro Cache Size FileMaker Pro provides internal caching of data from the database. Depending on the amount of memory on your computer, you may need to adjust the cache size to achieve optimal performance. It is worth increasing the cache size if you plan to: work with large database files; simultaneously work with several database files; place database files on your computer; insert large images into the database file. It is worth reducing the cache size if you plan to run several applications simultaneously in a small amount of random access memory (RAM). Note. Reducing or increasing the FileMaker Pro cache size reduces or increases the amount of memory required to run FileMaker Pro accordingly. For more information about memory management, see the documentation that came with your computer. To change the cache size used by FileMaker Pro, you must do the following: 1. In FileMaker Pro, select Edit > Preferences. The Preferences dialog box appears. 2. Open the Memory tab. 3. Enter a value in the Trying to set cache size box, and then click OK. The next time you start FileMaker Pro, the new cache size will be used.

18 18 Installing FileMaker Pro on Windows Operating System What to Do Next After installing FileMaker Pro, you can start using the application right away. Below are sections of the documentation that we recommend starting with. If you are new to databases, you can learn the basics of working with them in Chapters 2, Using Databases, and Chapter 3, Creating Databases, in the FileMaker Pro User's Guide. If you are new to File Maker Pro, take the classes in the FileMaker Pro Tutorial; The PDF file of the tutorial and examples are located in the “Tutorial” folder, which is nested in the “Russian Extras” folder. If you're already familiar with using FileMaker Pro, read Chapter 4, "What's New," in this guide to learn about the new features in FileMaker Pro 12. If you're using FileMaker Pro Advanced, see the FileMaker Pro Developer's Guide and FileMaker Pro Help.

19 Chapter 3 Installing FileMaker Pro on Mac OS Before proceeding with the installation process, save any open files and close all applications. For the latest information and release notes about FileMaker Pro, visit Installation Notes Before you begin installing FileMaker Pro, please read the following notes. To install FileMaker Pro, you must have administrator rights and log in with an administrator username and password. If your computer is running antivirus software, disable it before installing FileMaker Pro. Once the installation is complete, you can turn it back on. You can choose to install all program files (standard installation) or install a partial program (custom installation). For example, you can disable the installation of some components to save disk space. Standard mode installs the version of FileMaker Pro that matches the language version of the operating system. To install additional language versions, select the appropriate language packs in Custom installation mode. Before installing an update or downgrading, FileMaker will scan all hard drives and drives connected to your computer for the previous version. If your computer has many disks, this may take several minutes. You can also install FileMaker Pro using the command line or remotely using Apple Remote Desktop. For more information, see the FileMaker Pro Network Installation Guide.

20 20 Installing FileMaker Pro on Mac OS Installing FileMaker Pro Installing FileMaker Pro must be done using the installer. FileMaker Pro cannot be installed by simply copying files to your hard drive. Installing FileMaker Pro on your hard drive 1. Do one of the following. If you received the software electronically, after downloading it, double-click the disk image icon (.dmg file). If you are installing FileMaker from a DVD, insert the DVD into your DVD drive and open the FileMaker DVD window. 2. Find and double-click the FileMaker Pro installation icon. FileMaker Pro Installation Icon 3. Install FileMaker Pro by following the on-screen instructions. For more information about installation, see "Installation Notes" on page Once installation is complete, the Product Registration dialog box appears. Registering FileMaker Pro Take the time to register your copy of the product. Registering FileMaker software allows you to get help recovering your license key if you lose it. Plus, you'll receive earlier notifications about updates, new software versions, and special offers. Enter product information, registration information, and additional information when prompted. If you are using a trial version of FileMaker Pro, you must register it before you can start using it. You can also do this using the Help > Register FileMaker Pro menu item.

21 21 Viewing the installation log file To view and save the installation log file, select the Window > Installer Log menu in the program window. You can view error messages along with progress messages, just error messages, or all available installation messages. Uninstalling FileMaker Pro 12 To uninstall FileMaker Pro 12, follow these steps. 1. Drag the FileMaker Pro 12 or FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced folder from the Applications folder to the Trash along with all its contents. 2. Drag the FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Pro Advanced preferences file to the Trash. The settings are in the following file. For FileMaker Pro: /library/preferences/com.filemaker.client.pro.plist For FileMaker Pro Advanced: /library/preferences/com.filemaker.client.advanced.plist Setting the FileMaker Pro Cache Size Because Mac OS dynamically allocates memory for applications as needed, it is impossible not to allocate a certain amount of memory to FileMaker Pro. However, you can adjust the FileMaker Pro cache size. It is worth increasing the cache size if you plan to: work with large database files; simultaneously work with several database files; place database files on your computer; insert large images into the database file. It is worth reducing the cache size if you plan to run several applications simultaneously in a small amount of random access memory (RAM). You can change the cache size used by FileMaker Pro as follows.

22 22 Installing FileMaker Pro on Mac OS 1. In FileMaker Pro, select FileMaker Pro > Preferences and select the Storage tab. 2. Enter a value in the Attempt to set cache size field and click OK. The next time you start FileMaker Pro, the new cache size will be used. What to do next Once you install FileMaker Pro, you can start using the application right away. Below are sections of the documentation that we recommend starting with. For database basics, see Chapters 2, Using Databases, and Chapter 3, Creating Databases, in the FileMaker Pro User's Guide. If you've never used File Maker Pro before, take the lessons in the FileMaker Pro Tutorial. The PDF file of the tutorial and examples are located in the “Tutorial” folder, which is nested in the “Russian Extras” folder. If you're already familiar with using FileMaker Pro, read Chapter 4, "What's New," in this guide to learn about the new features in FileMaker Pro 12. If you're using FileMaker Pro Advanced, see the FileMaker Pro Advanced Developer's Guide and FileMaker Pro Help .

23 Chapter 4 What's New This chapter provides an overview of the new features and improvements made in FileMaker Pro 12. For more information about these features, see FileMaker Pro Help unless otherwise noted. New FileMaker Pro Themes Structure and Layout Controls: FileMaker Pro's architecture has been redesigned to support layout themes that are richer in functionality and more attractive. You can easily change the theme using the Layouts menu in Layout mode. Layout Object Formatting: FileMaker Pro has expanded the object formatter with features such as gradient fills, pattern fills including scaling and clipping, transparency, object properties, and rounded corners. To format an object, use themes instead of the default object styles without selected objects. You can remove styles from selected objects and control theme changes using multi-level undo. New layout assistance tools—dynamic alignment guides, guides that drag outside of rulers, and grid controls in Layout mode—will provide users with visual guidance for designing new layouts and modifying existing ones. Multi-level undo and redo allow you to experiment and improve your layout structure with ease. Screen Stencils: In Layout mode, you can click to display guides to design layouts that are optimal for iPad, iPhone, and general desktop solutions or set custom sizes.

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FileMaker's powerful capabilities, teamwork mode, support for a large number of target platforms, and a graphical interface ideal for rapid development make FileMaker indispensable for solving problems related to collecting data and managing people, Internet projects, and mailing lists. With its ability to share data with virtually any application, FileMaker blurs the boundaries of heterogeneous networks by providing simple solutions for any complex problem.

Unfortunately, FileMaker - extremely famous and popular in the West - is practically unknown in cold and distant Russia, well, let's try to correct this injustice.

Recently, the DBMS market has traditionally been dominated by giants, and these are primarily Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, etc. If we consider the market for such open solutions with the variety of its solutions, then here again we see DBMSs, primarily for professional developers - MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.

It is obvious that using such serious and powerful tools, the development and maintenance of databases itself becomes the domain of only experienced professional developers. On the one hand, this niche is extremely saturated with a range of various very flexible and powerful solutions, but on the other hand, it must be admitted that the cost of development for such platforms will cost quite a lot of money, also requiring time and a certain amount of experience, even at the stage of correct formulation terms of reference by the customer himself, not to mention the time it takes to create and deploy such solutions. If, during the operation of a ready-made solution, it turns out, as often happens in life, that the product requires some refinement and further adaptation, then again, it is unlikely to be possible to do this on your own, which means that you will again have to attract outside specialists.

Ready-made solutions are not always as flexible as required; life has repeatedly proven that it is always better and more reliable to create a personalized solution, which is called “completely for yourself,” but here we are faced with the problem of the complexity and duration of such development.

And if for large and partly medium-sized businesses, expensive specialized solutions based on serious and expensive DBMS are still somehow justified and economically feasible, then for small businesses - of which the majority are represented, or for home needs at all - the use of Oracle or even free MySQL is perhaps redundant, and even more so - absurd.

Such a long introduction to the topic is intended only to state a simple fact: the DBMS market for small businesses and home use extremely in demand and he's practically not represented in any way on the domestic market. If you need to quickly develop a specialized warehouse accounting system for a small store or just a personal business or financial planning system built on some newfangled time management concept that you like, where to look for help in this case?

What tools are best to use for this - perhaps the popular MySQL in conjunction with some kind of visual front-end written in the equally popular Visual Studio? What quick and easy development options for such a situation could you suggest, suitable for any non-technical specialist as well as an accountant or a first-year student at the same time?

Since it has become typical to compare FileMaker with its niche analogues - Microsoft Access and FoxPro - for the sake of decency, we will also repeat this hackneyed analogy, but for the sake of completeness and fairness, we will immediately present their main differences, due to which this comparison is made, in our opinion, very far-fetched.

Another MS Access?

Main screen of the development environment in FileMaker 11

The fundamental difference is the method of visual design that is chosen in these two similar, but not analogous systems. In FileMaker, this approach is different, and, in my opinion, much more successful and large-scale. Correctly chosen design strategies (for example, the presence of a very intelligently selected set of ready-made templates for all typical tasks that can always be taken as a basis) further simplify the quick start of your new project based on this development system.

For example, here you can program in the built-in visual language FileMaker Script, even without having any idea about the basics of conventional classical programming, or start immediately designing your database by simply dragging the Excel file onto an empty project form, using the usual Excel to create a layout and fill out your new base. These opportunities are equally accessible to both the technician, who at the same time has the opportunity to complicate them to a level acceptable to him, and the ordinary accountant. While in MS Access or FoxPro, working on a project is an insider's view, and therefore you need to have a clear understanding of how the database is structured and functions, then FileMaker is more of an outsider's view of development.

FileMaker encourages you to focus on creating the external view of the database, that is, on the interface. FileMaker almost completely takes care of the rest. If you don't even want to develop an interface, you are immediately provided with a standard one, and you have access to powerful data display and search tools to start working with the database immediately. On the other hand, if you wish, you can delve into the essence of the processes and fill your project with additional functionality, allowing you to independently determine the levels of complexity of interaction with the DBMS that are acceptable to you.

We will return to the numerous successful details of the implementation of FileMaker later; here we would like to put an end to this stereotypical comparison: in our opinion, FileMaker is a much more accessible and user-friendly system than MS Access, and yet its capabilities are not in no way inferior to MS Access, and in many ways - and we will show this later - significantly superior to it.

Example application written in FileMaker 11

As for FoxPro, it’s still a system for programmers, whatever one may say. Of course, when getting acquainted with FileMaker, it will not hurt you to have programming experience in “serious” languages - this will allow you to “get into” the system and its capabilities literally on the go, in a maximum of 24 hours, immediately starting to work. But, putting the task on the contrary, it will be very difficult for a humanities specialist to quickly and immediately understand FoxPro, you will agree, and there is no need to do this at all!

As we will now convincingly prove, there is a much simpler, and please note, much more powerful visual development system in comparison with MS Access and FoxPro - the FileMaker DBMS.

Definition and target niche

In addition to storing, operating and processing user data, this environment provides many additional functions and capabilities (which will be discussed in more detail below), which largely depend on the edition of this product (see the second part of this article). In short, if there are RAD (Rapid application development) development environments, then this is a kind of “SuperRAD”, which allows you to create completely similar applications, but 10 times faster and easier!

Visual debugger of the built-in scripting language

So, having given a very dry and somewhat bureaucratic definition, let us summarize the benefit it promises for the average person: having mastered FileMaker, you can easily and quickly create your own projects based on databases, the use of which is practically unlimited. You can very quickly, literally “on your knees,” create, for example, a large catalog of your home library or films, catalog your huge music collection, develop your own system for accounting for goods in an enterprise or accounting for consumables and office equipment, a system for processing orders in your company or personalized printing systems. After spending literally a minute, put your database on the Internet in the form of an automatically generated PHP website. And many many others...

Key Features of FileMaker

This is a multi-platform product - the following platforms are supported: Windows (XP, Vista, 7); MacOS X, iOS;
Plugin architecture - there are many third-party plugins for connection, which further expand the functionality of the main system;
Multilingual support - the system has been translated into more than 12 languages, including Russian;
Ability to automatically generate advanced and attractive graphs, reports and histograms;
Support for your own FDML markup language for generating Web pages with the ability to dynamically insert from the FileMaker database;
And if we're talking about websites, the server version of FileMaker has the ability to quickly generate a PHP website automatically - from the structure and content of an existing database;
Ability to encrypt all used tables and data structures;
A huge number of formats for importing data into the database: Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, txt, cvs, dbf, etc.; as well as an abundance of formats for the reverse operation - export;
A script editor that is close to visual, which makes it very easy to understand programming (if you need it at all). There is a built-in script debugger that allows you to solve all complex situations. In general, you need to immediately express your subjective opinion that FileMaker has its own scripting language, and will probably be inconvenient for experienced programmers, and is rather more suitable for beginners and advanced users (which can be considered both a plus and a minus of this system) ;
FileMaker supports multi-user work with the database, within reasonable limits, of course (you don’t need to count on simultaneous access to the database by a crowd of 700 people). But, in defense of the internal data storage, I would like to say that in the latest versions it has been significantly expanded and supplemented, and now it can quite freely operate with fairly large volumes of data (again, within reasonable limits - within small and medium-sized businesses - it will never will not become a direct competitor in this regard for Oracle or PostgreSQL).

External interaction

Often, when using such products, the first question that arises is: “How can I connect them with some of my external, already existing solutions?”

Well, that's a great question. And if I don’t even question the internal capabilities for quick design and extremely convenient creation of applications on FileMaker (because it is so - just try), then the issue of researching FileMaker for its capabilities for interaction with other external products requires additional coverage, due to the special importance of this parameter when creating modern and flexible heterogeneous systems.

The first thing to highlight in this area is that FileMaker very widely supports and actively uses the universal XML standard for exchanging a wide variety of information with external applications.

In particular it is supported:

— import of external data into the DBMS in XML format;
Export Records and Export Records script step - types of exporting your data in XML format;
Custom Web Publishing with XML - a mechanism for sending XML data in response to an Internet request for it from an external service;

In addition to XML support for exchanging data with external sources, full ODBC/JDBC support is also available, which further expands the capabilities of FileMaker (you can read more about it on this page). And finally, the most interesting thing from the point of view of an application programmer is the SQL language.

smtp solution built into any FM application

As I covered above, FileMaker uses its own quasi-visual tools for creating selections, but besides this, there is almost full support for features and SQL, so let's list the main points in this matter as briefly as possible:

External SQL Data Source— a standard tool for creating a “live” two-way connection between FileMaker and the world's leading DBMS (Oracle, MS SQL Server, MySQL);
ODBC/JDBC- an alternative connection method if you do not need a constant “live” connection to external data sources. This approach has both a plus and a minus: the plus is the much greater versatility and breadth of available data sources - in fact, you just need to find and install a standard ODBC driver for your database on your system with FileMaker. The downside is a slightly slower interaction speed;
Execute SQL- the availability of dynamic SQL queries at the level of the FileMaker scripting language through this command, which creates a kind of additional dimension for the successful, and I would even say, sophisticated use of SQL within the FileMaker ecosystem;
MySQL partnership— I would especially like to highlight the support for the popular free MySQL database server as an external data source. It should be noted that the level of integration with this source in the External SQL Data Source mode is extremely high quality. The manufacturer FileMaker itself describes many successful examples of large implementations, where the use of such a symbiosis of these two DBMSs was placed at the forefront of the entire information infrastructure. The official partnership between FileMaker, Inc and MySQL AB further strengthens these ties, not only at the technical level, but also at the legal level of support. A clear demonstration of “harnessing” FileMaker with MySQL can be seen in the demo video of the webinar, which is entirely devoted to this topic.

Well, in conclusion, on the topic of “External interaction”, it is once again worth recalling the built-in smtp solution, which makes email permanently integrated into the overall system, which again adds convenience to development, especially for corporate purposes, which, along with flexible export from XML sources, allows such an application to constantly remain “connected”.

In this article (continued) I described the Internet capabilities of FileMaker, its numerous editions, and also touched upon many of its other interesting features.

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Filemaker examples. Filemaker: a database with a human face

2014: FileMaker 13

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Another MS Access?

Definition and target niche

Key Features of FileMaker

External interaction

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