The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Filemaker Pro v9 David Hague |
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Everyone can use a database application for something. Filemaker Pro is one of the easiest to use discovers David Hague. |
First, a small disclosure. Way back in the distant past (around 1986) before Apple bought it, the Australian distributor of Nashoba Filemaker was a company of which I was the Managing Director. Known as 'Solutions' and based on the Gold Coast, it was also the very first software distie in Australia concentrating on Windows-based applications.
Back then, Filemaker only worked on the Apple Mac and was by far and ahead of any other application in terms of sales. Graphics-based databases were a little thin on the ground then (on the Mac were Panorama, Omnis and Helix and for Windows, there were Omnis Quartz, Superbase and Opus I). In truth, the dBase family still ruled to all intents and purposes. Filemaker has evolved dramatically since that time and is now a fully fledged relational database system. It's easy enough to use to quickly create a cataloguing database say of CDs and DVDs or a membership list and powerful enough to build an accounting system (the Australian MD of Filemaker once told me that the online home loan application system for the Bank of Melbourne was fully automated and built in Filemaker).
Unlike other systems such as Microsoft Access (of which I was on the original beta team and is probably the only computer program I truly dislike) pretty much require you to learn the nuances of the SQL system to function and is not for the casual user in my opinion.Yes, Access is very, very powerful, but it has been designed - again in my opinion - for the programmer to work with rather than the average person who uses Microsoft Office.
Filemaker works on the basis of creating a backend filing system, much like entering data into an Excel spreadsheet, and designing layout screens and reports to display this data dependent upon selection criteria. While this may sound the same as using Access, where queries are used to select and process data, in Filemaker, 'scripts' are used that are pre-built inside Filemaker to perform these actions. These scripts are then strung together to create powerful command structures. For example, a script could be built to select all records with a "Postcode > 2999 and < 4001" (selecting all Victorian records), then concatenated is another script that sorts these selected records based on Suburb name. A final script then prints them on a selected printer using a specific printer layout format.
Without creating a single script, unlike Access and other programming based database systems, Filemaker can be used just about straight out of the box once the fields needed to store data have been designated. All functions such as Add, Search, Delete, Goto are hardwired into Filemaker and accessible from the standard menus. A slider on the left of the main window lets you scroll through records, and pressing CTRL+N for example allows the addition of New records.
It's that easy. Filemaker ships with 47 'templates' that can be used as-is or as starting points for more extensive applications. These are as basic as a cataloguing system right up to a fully blown project or events management system. These can also be investigated or modified to learn how to script your own applications.
Filemaker is a fully graphical system; input and display screens can have any standard Windows elements on them with fonts, images, colours and shapes. The same applies to reports.
One major functionality of Filemaker is its ability to be network based- and that includes the Internet. Additionally, if you already have data in some other format such as SQL, then Filemaker can access this data and read and write records.
There are a number of different versions of Filemaker depending on your needs. At the most basic is 'Bento', which are pre-packaged applications built in Filemaker. The most popular is probably Filemaker Pro, but there is also a Filemaker Pro Advanced and Filemaker Server; to see which may be best for you, www.filemaker.com.au has all the specifications as well as application ideas and scripting tips.
I'm an unashamed fan of Filemaker Pro, I make no bones about it. I've seen (and had to work with) far too many lists of data entered into Excel spreadsheets simply because people weren't aware that solutions exist that allow a lot more flexibility (try printing mailing labels or magazine fly sheets directly from Excel!).
Reprinted from the November 2008 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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