I LOVE FILEMAKER PRO 2.0



Author: Stephen J. Kayner

Date: March, 1993

Keywords: SOFTWARE PROGRAM UTILITY APPLICATION REVIEW

Text:
FileMaker Pro 2.0
A Review by Stephen J. Kayner
Sequoia Macintosh Users' Group
FileMaker Pro is the best selling database for the Mac. FileMaker has
undergone many improvements since its introduction sometime back in
1985. Now, in its umpteenth revision, it is a fully developed, highly
functional, and easy-to-use semi-relational database system. FileMaker
Pro 2.0 is the third version I have used. Let me just get this right
out in the open: I love FileMaker Pro. I use it five days a week, and
it makes me look like I know what I'm doing. Some of the engineers at
work think I have some kind of gift, but what I really have is
FileMaker Pro.
A couple of years ago, my employer needed to set up a fairly simple
database that would use some lookups to calculate costs based on
equipment and manpower hours. An associate tried to do this using
Paradox on a DOS-based PC, and I spent some time helping him try to do
this. I would guess that nearly 100 hours were spent trying to set this
database up. Paradoxically, there were no useful results. I think they
ended up using Lotus 123.
Then we got a Macintosh. Another of my associates set up a very useful
form for this data in short order, using FileMaker II, and we haven't
looked back (except in dismay).
The wonderful new FileMaker Pro 2.0 package includes an Installation
Guide, a Getting Started booklet, a Templates Guide, a Users Guide, and
a Quick Reference card. There are four 800K diskettes, that include the
program, some utilities, and examples. Collectors of Styrofoam slabs
will be disappointed, as Claris has used folded cardboard for filling
out the package. Installation is easy as pie (eating, not baking), and
like the best Mac programs, it's a kick to get it working your way.

FileMaker uses four modes of operation: Browse, Layout, Find, and
Preview. The Browse mode is where the data is entered and viewed. The
Layout mode is where the forms are designed. The Find mode is where the
queries are made. The Preview mode is where you can see what the
printed forms will look like. In addition to the pull-down menus, there
are keyboard shortcuts, and a pop-up menu at the bottom of the window
for moving among these different modes. A zoom tool is available in all
four modes.
Ease of use becomes apparent upon starting a new database. First you
name the file to be created. Then you define the basic fields for data
entry. FileMaker has seven field types: Text, Number, Date, Time,
Picture or Sound, Calculation and Summary.
Sound and color picture fields reference a library of images and sounds
added to any given file, so duplicates are not stored. The picture
import capabilities include 5 formats, including QuickTime files. File
Maker also supports Macintosh format 1 and 2 sounds (works like a Mac,
so give it a quack). To play a sound, just double click on the sound
field.
The Define Fields dialog box has radio buttons for selecting the type
of field to be defined, then sub-dialogs pop up for specific field
types like calculations and summaries. The calculation dialog box
contains three scrolling lists, one containing all of the previously
defined fields, one with all of FileMaker's built in functions (over
sixty of these), and one with simple operators like "and," "or,"
"greater than," and others. There is also a numeric keypad, and some
operator buttons, and a pop-up menu of result formats; time, number,
date, and text.
FileMaker is not a true relational database, but is what I consider a
semi-relational database. It can create links to other FileMaker files
using "lookups." A lookup is a field that pulls in values from another
database using a matching field. For example, the field could be set to
look up a person's salary when the name field matches.
Once the basic fields are defined, the layout is created. The Layout
mode is a wonder of simplicity. It has a book-like tool to move around
to different Layouts. There is a tool palette that has a Pointer, a
Text tool, and three graphics tools: Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, and
Oval. There is a Field tool, a Part tool, and a few other graphics
tools.
The Field tool is used to bring new fields into a layout. The Pointer
is selected and used to drag the Field tool onto the layout. A pop-up
list of the fields that were defined by the user appears, and the field
is chosen. With a click of the OK button, the field appears on the
layout, and can then be moved anywhere using the pointer. The field can
be removed by selecting it and pressing the delete key.
The Part tool is similar to the Field tool. It is dragged onto the
layout where the new part is to appear, and the Parts Definition dialog
appears. The available parts include Title Header, Header, Leading
Grand Summary, Body, Sub-Summary when sorted by..., Trailing Grand
Summary, Footer, and Title Footer. The user selects the desired part,
and then presses OK. The part then appears on the layout. This dialog
also includes some handy page-break and page numbering options based on
the selected part. The Sub-summary when sorted by... option allows data
to be summarized by sorting data into groups. For example, you could
summarize data by date, or area code. When this option is chosen, the
fields are available in a scrolling list where the sort criteria field
is selected.
There are extensive functions for working in the Layout mode. The menu
commands read like a drawing program: Align to Grid, Rulers, T-Squares,
Group, Lock, Send to Back, Alignment, and variations of these. Then
there are commands for formatting fonts, size, text alignment and
color, dates, numbers, time, pictures, fields, and borders. The ruler
can be set to display in inches, centimeters and pixels. The arrows on
your keyboard can be used to nudge objects to exact locations. Surely,
there is enough flexibility here to give your forms a distinctive and
professional look.
FileMaker comes with a host of predefined layouts. There are seven of
these, including ones for labels and envelopes. The label layouts
include a long list of standard Avery sizes and a custom option for
defining others.
Once the layout is created, the data is entered in the Browse mode. The
Browse mode also has a book-like control system. There is a graphical
tool in the upper left corner of the window that lets the user move
around in the database by turning pages, entering record numbers, or
using a slider bar to move quickly through large numbers of records.
There is also a small box just above the Browse tools that changes the
layout. It is a simple matter to switch among different layouts just by
clicking on the box and selecting from the pop-up list of all the
layouts defined for the database. There are also many keyboard
shortcuts that help keep the hands off of the mouse.
Moving among the fields in a layout can be done by using the mouse, but
the tab key makes it much faster. The tab order can be arranged to suit
the pattern used as data is entered.
Data entry can be made simpler by using buttons, checkboxes, pop-up
lists and menus on the layout. This limits the kinds of data that can
be entered into a field, and improves the accuracy of the entries.
Fields can also be defined to accept only unique or existing values,
dates, times and numbers, and numbers within a given range.
After the fields have been defined, the layouts have been created, and
the data has been entered, you can analyze the data using the Find
mode. For me, the power of FileMaker Pro lies in the Find mode. All
fields except picture, sound, and summary are indexed in FileMaker, so
any other field can be used for the find (and sort) criteria.
Multiple Finds can be made at one time, and the Find criteria are easy
to understand functions like "greater than", "range", "duplicates."
There is an "Omit" checkbox that lets you find by omitting certain
records. Then after finding a set, you can look at the omitted set of
records. All good databases incorporate these features to some extent,
but the implementation in FileMaker is outstanding.
The Preview mode allows the user to see exactly what will be printed,
although the Browse mode is also very close to WYSIWYG. Certain summary
fields can only be viewed in the Preview mode, and Preview can be used
to determine how many pages it will take to print a document.
There are excellent scripting capabilities available, with no
programming needed. The scripting dialog box uses a point and click
method of assigning commands from the scrolling list of more than sixty
functions offered. Scripts can be attached to buttons on the layouts,
and can be added to the pull-down menus, with a click of the mouse. The
first ten scripts added to the pull-down menu will have a keyboard
shortcut assigned automatically. The Preferences dialog can be used to
run a script whenever a specific file is opened.
The Preferences dialog box has a scrolling list of icons on the left,
and a window on the right where the settings are input. The icons are
labeled General, Document, and Memory. Selecting an icon displays the
available settings in the adjacent window. The General settings let you
lock the layout tools, automatically add newly defined fields to the
current layout, show the keyboard shortcuts in the menus, and specify
the user name (for network purposes).
The Document preferences are for using smart quotes, setting the
default opening layout, and performing a script. There are also two
toggles for displaying the status area and maximizing the window.
The Memory setting is for specifying the save frequency. Normally
FileMaker saves during idle time, but on a PowerBook this can eat up
battery power. The user can adjust the save time interval. There is no
menu or keyboard command for saving, because it is done automatically.
There are some menu commands for making copies of FileMaker files, and
for saving the file as a compressed copy, which removes the unused
space in a file. Yet another save option allows a clone of the original
file to be made that contains all of the fields and layouts, but no
data. This allows any existing database to be used as a template for a
new database. Hint: FileMaker is shipped with a number of well laid out
sample databases that could save somebody loads of time if used as
templates.
There are built in Import and Export functions, supporting
tab-separated text, comma separated text, SYLK, DIF, WKS (Lotus 123),
DBF (dBase III), BASIC, and MacWrite II Merge formats. There is
considerable flexibility beyond just the format type. Data can be
appended to existing files, and data in repeating fields can be split
into separate records. The Merge format allows data to be exported to
other applications for mail merge, although with its excellent
graphical output, FileMaker can handle form letters and memos quite
nicely, thank you.
Evidently, early copies of FileMaker Pro 2.0 have some problems with
the Merge format exporting, in that blank spaces in the field names are
translated as underlines, and blank fields are made into double quote
marks. This could play havoc with your merging, but I personally don't
merge (in the computer sense). My experience with Claris tells me that
this will be fixed soon, but I would call Claris to make sure of the
most current release number before I ordered.
FileMaker Pro probably sounds complicated to some readers, but you can
start out with a simple database, and add more fields, layouts and
other improvements as you get the hang of the system. It doesn't take
long, and the manuals are clear and very helpful. The interface is so
well refined, that there have been very few revisions to it in the last
few (feature adding) releases. FileMaker Pro is like an old friend to
me now. Yes, you too can look like a database genius, without all the
mess and expense of a brain transplant.
Surely, now that you've read all my gushing over the general
splendidness of FileMaker Pro 2.0, you must wonder if there are any
problems with it. Frankly, yes, there are some things that could be
better. Things can get pretty slow when the databases get large and
complicated. This is partly because all of the fields are indexed, and
partly because FileMaker doesn't attempt to load the entire database
into memory.
Some of the files I use run between 5 and 9 megabytes. One has more
than three hundred defined fields, nearly four-thousand records, and a
dozen or so layouts. It takes forty-five minutes to display one of the
layouts that has seventy summary fields on it. The way to handle this
is to use the Find features to work with only the records that are
relevant, and to minimize the use of summary fields in layouts that
don't require them.
I also use a 7MB database with 29,000 records in it, but with no
summary fields, and only two layouts. This one runs faster, taking less
than ten minutes for a two level sort of all the records, and less for
subsets and other functions like finds and calculating new fields.
Thats still not fast enough, but most people won't have this much data
to get bogged down in.
The files described above may seem large, but FileMaker's limit is 32MB
of hard disk space per file. There is no limit on the number of
records, layouts, scripts, or fields, but field names are limited to 60
characters. Repeating fields are limited at 1000 repetitions, and the
maximum field sizes are 64,000 characters for text and 255 characters
for numbers. Layouts have a limit of 32,767 objects, 99 columns, and a
max size of 110" by 110". Don't even tell me that's not enough.
Sorting is limited to ten fields in a specification. Calculations are
limited to 32,767 characters, and all numbers are converted to 80 bit
extended floating point with precision of 15 decimal positions. Need
more? Talk to Cray.
FileMaker can open up to 14 files at a time under MultiFinder (16 under
Finder), and up to 25 people can share a file at one time (maybe less,
depending on the network configuration).
FileMaker Pro supports the use of Apple events under System 7, as both
a sender and a receiver. Apple events can be used to communicate
between applications. FileMaker Pro supports the Required, Core,
Database, and Menu suites of Apple events, as well as the Apple Object
Model and the complete Object Grammer for the Database suites of
events.
These Apple events allow external applications to perform a wide
variety of sophisticated manipulations of FileMaker and its files.
These events can be used to open or close any database, find records,
sort them, request summary data, modify data, modify lists of records
and fields, switch layouts, print reports, and other useful tasks.
Scripts are used to send Apple events from FileMaker Pro to other
applications. The user just creates a script, then adds the Send Apple
Event command to the script. Then FileMaker prompts for a target
application, and an Apple event to send. There are a number of options
that can then be chosen, depending on the desired chain of events. I
don't fully understand all of this, but if you use Apple events (or
dream of doing so some day), just be aware that FileMaker Pro 2.0 does
include support for them.
Now that there is a version of FileMaker Pro for Windows, Claris has
added transparent file exchange with that rickety old platform. I was
able to put a DOS formatted diskette in the Mac (after cleansing it
thoroughly), and using Apple File Exchange, move a small database onto
it. Then I put the diskette into the PC and copied the file to the
FileMaker for Windows directory. Then I started FileMaker for Windows,
and opened the file. It took a few seconds, but viola!, the file
contained all the fields, data, and layouts that it had on the Mac.
FileMaker can use all of the fonts it finds in the System file, or
Fonts folder (System 7.1). It supports Type 1 and TrueType fonts as
does Windows, but since I don't have the same fonts on the PC as I do
the Mac, the spacing on the layouts was a little off under Windows. I
had to tweak the layouts slightly before they would print out as nicely
as they did on the Mac.
Another benefit of the cross platform file compatibility is seen in
FileMaker's file sharing. Novell networks and Farallon's PhoneNET Talk
can be used to share files among Macs and PC's, without a dedicated
server. Multiple users can work simultaneously on a file, with varying
levels of access rights and passwords for security.
Learned relational database aficionados may read this and think I don't
know much about database applications. You are right, I'm not a
database programmer. With FileMaker, I don't have to be. All I know is
how to get results. And frankly, what else is there?
Don't believe me? Get the March edition of MacUser - FileMaker Pro 2.0
gets the Editor's Choice Award for Best New Business Productivity
Program.
FileMaker Pro 2.0 for the Mac from:
Claris Corporation
5201 Patrick Henry Drive
Santa Clara, CA  95052
(408)727-8227

Retail Price: $399.00

Street Price: $270.00

Upgrades from previous versions: $89.00 (street price)

Competitive upgrades: $109.00 (street price)

Copyright © march, 1993 by Stephen J. Kayner