In this shot, the user has created some fields, added some data, then created a new field (“#”), moved it into place as the first column, and the user is now changing the type of this field from text to number. The greatly improved table view in FileMaker Pro 11 is the default view when you create a new database, allowing you to create new fields by simply clicking a + button (shown here to the right of the Zip field). Experienced developers will probably continue to do things the old-fashioned way, using the Manage Database dialog.Īnother neat enhancement to Table View: You can now quickly show or hide fields without having to edit the underlying layout, which wasn’t possible before. fairly simple lists) will surely be grateful for the running start that the new interface provides. On the other hand, careful do-it-yourselfers building flat-file databases (i.e.
I will bet a plate of barbecued pork ribs that somebody is going to make a mess of a new database using this new user interface, since it really doesn’t require much thought. You can’t create a new table or define a relationship working this way. (ProVue’s Panorama database has had this for a long time.)Īs a data-modeling fanatic and notorious killjoy, I worry that FileMaker Pro 11 may have made things easier here than they should be. And since you are actually working in browse mode, you can start entering data at the same time. As soon as you name a new database, you start defining fields right in Table View. Table View is now the default view for new databases. The most obvious changes to the user interface in FileMaker Pro 11 are found in Table View, where you see fields as columns and records as rows, much like you would in a spreadsheet. (There are two server products, FileMaker Server and FileMaker Server Advanced, which are not covered in this review.) UI improvements In the rest of this review, everything I say about FileMaker Pro should be understood to apply to Pro and Pro Advanced. Otherwise, Pro and Pro Advanced are very similar products-in fact, FileMaker Pro remains a remarkably powerful development tool. FileMaker Pro Advanced has a few utility features that matter to full-time database developers: a debugger, a database analysis tool, the ability to create custom functions, custom menus, and more. FileMaker 11 may be the best FileMaker ever.įor the uninitiated, the the database half of FileMaker family consists of FileMaker Pro and its big brother, FileMaker Pro Advanced.
FileMaker 11 also puts many cool database tricks within the reach of ordinary users.
A year after the release of the FileMaker 10 database program, version 11 has arrived, with new tools and great new features that make it even easier to use.
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