FileMaker Inc.on Monday introduced the FileMaker Pro 8 family of products . With an emphasis on improving the substance abuser experience and extending its sharing capabilities , FileMaker 8 has added numerous features including PDF and Excel shaper and flying matching tools . In addition , the gamy - terminal FileMaker Developer has been replaced with FileMaker Advanced to invoke to a broader consultation . ( Macworldhas a first expression at both FileMaker Pro 8 and FileMaker Pro 8 Advanced that explore the new features in this upgrade . )
One piece of word that will please many FileMaker users is that owners of previous versions of the app will not have to go through any conversion process in upgrading to the Modern reading .
“ I ’m very pleased to say that there is no conversion required whatsoever to use FileMaker Pro 8 — we have retained the FileMaker Pro 7 file data format , ” order Ryan Rosenberg , FileMaker vice president of Marketing and Services . “ you could open and play your solutions and you will have crying access to all the young features . ”
With the release of FileMaker 8 , Adobe ’s PDF technology will be integrated into the software program and approachable through the File carte du jour . Using the PDF functionality exploiter will be able to farm a PDF written document while preserving the original look of their FileMaker information . extra choice also give substance abuser the power to password protect the PDF file , as well as other security features .
While the ability to import Microsoft Excel files has been a feature article of past FileMaker releases , user were not able to export to an Excel spreadsheet . With Excel Maker , the ability to save record to an Excel ‘ 97 and above compliant file will be a dim-witted carte cluck .
“ Our enquiry has shown that there are roughly 100 million Excel exploiter , ” said Jay Welshofer , FileMaker product managing director . “ Although we would contend that 40 per centum of them should be using a mathematical product like FileMaker or else of a spreadsheet , that ’s a great deal of excel spreadsheet . ”
FileMaker 8 now furnish a way to notice information much more cursorily than in previous versions by add Fast Match . This feature allows the user to take the information from the current field and with a click find all matching record . A Fast Match search can be refined or broadened straight off from the contextual bill of fare .
A few token add to FileMaker that Welshofer said user await to see in a modern app admit machine - complete , Calendar free fall - down and a visual tour checker . Mouse wheel support has also been add , set aside users to scroll through record book or William Claude Dukenfield .
FileMaker Developer get a name modification
In addition to add new feature , FileMaker Developer has a new name — the product will now be called FileMaker Advanced . The move , say the company , is to invoke to a wider consultation .
“ We surveyed our install base and come up out something that surprised us , ” said Ryan Rosenberg . “ There are a lot of users out there that are advanced — they could certainly make use of the ripe feature in FileMaker , but they were afraid of the name . They felt they were n’t professional developers and therefore did n’t buy the product . We wanted to make trusted they knew this product had features they could apply . ”
A new name is not the only change in FileMaker Advanced . FileMaker added the power to alter FileMaker menus to perform scripts from carte items . Now a user can rename , add or delete menu items , customize keyboard shortcuts and bestow or delete entire menus .
While Tooltips are not novel , FileMaker hopes to stretch forth their enjoyment by linking tooltips to the applications internal computation railway locomotive . This mean that you could display a helpful touch when a user mouses - over an item or you could instead display the result of a calculation base on the criminal record in the database .
FileMaker Advanced also added a new data viewer , enhanced script debugger and the ability to reprocess fields , tables , script or playscript whole step .
FileMaker Pro 8 will be available on August 29 , 2005 for US$ 299 or $ 179 upgrade . FileMaker Pro Advanced is also uncommitted on August 29 for $ 499 or $ 299 upgrade ( For users of FileMaker Pro 6 , 7 & 8 and FileMaker Developer 7 ) .
FileMaker Mobile 8 ( $ 69 , $ 19 upgrade download ) ; FileMaker Server 8 ( $ 999 , $ 299 from FileMaker Server 7 and $ 599 from FileMaker Server 6 and 5.5 ) ; and FileMaker Server 8 Advanced ( $ 2499 , $ 749 for FileMaker Server 7 Advanced , $ 1499 for FileMaker Pro 6 Unlimited , and $ 1499 for FileMaker Server 8 Option Pack ) will all be uncommitted in the Fall of 2005 .
