Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
advance can be sore , as anybody who has experience through the last couplet of major upgrade to FileMaker Pro can manifest . FileMaker Pro 7 (; October 2004 ) introduced a newfangled file anatomical structure that made groovy things possible , but which caused many older databases to break , sometimes disadvantageously , when they were converted . FileMaker Pro 8 Advanced (; December 2005 ) added much more herculean programming capabilities for developers , but have developers who knew the old versions well had to work hard to adjust to a new port . For those fatigued from the challenges impersonate by previous FileMaker upgrade , there ’s good news . FileMaker Pro 8.5 pop the question significant advantages that are n’t going to break your old database or institutionalise you back to school . FileMaker 8.5 amount in a Pro adaptation ( primarily for database users ) and a Pro Advanced variation ( place to developers ) . I looked at the Pro version for this review .
Faster, faster!
FileMaker Pro 8.5 is one of the marquee Mac apps for Mac OS X to be released in Universal Binary format — that is , an practical app that has been optimise for the Modern Intel Core Duo - based Macs as well as the sure-enough PowerPC Macs . FileMaker ’s publicity materials say version 8.5 is up to two multiplication faster than FileMaker Pro 8 on a PowerPC . found on my real - world trial , FileMaker 8.5 did even better than that — sometimes much dependable .
In one exam I perform , a looping book created 100,000 records ; with each looping of the loop topology , FileMaker target a random value in a subject field and performed a mates of simple math operations on that value . FileMaker 8.5 , running on a 2.16GHz MacBook Pro , ran this book in about three min — around five metre quicker than FileMaker 8 on the same motorcar . sort out 100,000 book was also quicker in version 8.5 than in 8 , by about the same factor of five . FileMaker 8.5 is profligate on older hardware , too . On my 1.33GHz PowerBook G4 , FileMaker 8.5 was roughly twice as fast at performing the same tasks as FileMaker 8 on the same political machine .
Many factor can regard the program ’s speed , so result may vary . And not every test I did exhibit such dramatic differences . For lesson , a find affect the asterisk ( * ) wildcard fictional character ( which stands for one or more unspecified characters ) perform comparably in both version of FileMaker , on all motorcar . Nevertheless , the bottom line is clear : If speed matters to you , elevate to version 8.5 no matter what your ironware .
No browser necessary
FileMaker Pro 8.5 ’s major new feature is a fresh layout object telephone the vane Viewer . The basic idea is simple : Show Web capacity in a define space right on a FileMaker layout . For example , the vane Viewer can show a function of an name and address built from the values in the street , metropolis , land , and postcode battlefield in the FileMaker record you ’re browsing . Move to another record book , and the map changes .
This database uses a Tab Control to ply straightaway entree to a numeral of Web Viewers . Each one make for different information about the museum from the entanglement into the database , but the Tab Control lets users see just what they need quickly , without having to intrude around in a Web web browser to find it . The tab panel display show the museum ’s location using Google Maps . Note that the vane content does not scale , so the small Web Viewer only shows a limited amount of WWW content and you may have to scroll to see what you need .
It has long been potential to use FileMaker ’s Open URL script to take a universal resource locator from a FileMaker field and send out it to your computer ’s default Web web internet browser — pretty much the same way you could sink in a data link in an east - mail and launch your World Wide Web internet browser . But in the past , if you wanted to open up a dynamical Web page that required parameter ( like a mapping website ) , you had to figure out how that web site ’s uniform resource locator were build , and then write your own reckoning in FileMaker to father the right URL . you may still tie the World Wide Web Viewer to any URL you may construct , but easy access to a couple of dozen Web sites , admit Google Maps and FedEx package trailing , is built into the Web Viewer Setup dialogue , so even a beginner can get Web content displayed in no time .
And in the past , you had to go with the fact that the internet browser window came to the stem and covered up the FileMaker windowpane . In FileMaker Pro 8.5 , using the Web Viewer , you will be able to see Web content and database content side by side . The database I expend to give my household bills , for example , has a field that stores the connection addresses for various accounts and there has long been a button on the explanation layout that open bill - remuneration Web sites in my browser app . In the past tense , while reviewing my credit card bills online , I often had to swap back and forth from FileMaker to my web web browser to compare mission . But in FileMaker Pro 8.5 , after taking two proceedings to add a Web Viewer to the layout where I exhibit my account data , I am able to look at the data point online and the datum in my database and liken them in the same window . It ’s not just coolheaded , it ’s useful .
You utilize the Web Viewer Setup dialog to control what the new Web Viewer shows . Here , using one of the built - in formula guides , I configure the viewer to show an address in Google Maps by merely place the appropriate fields from my database into the alternative fields on the right . The resulting expression is displayed at the bottom of the dialog .
What make the vane Viewer especially exciting is that it can display any substance that you could see in a web browser . That include but is not limited to vane pages : In addition to maps , you could view stock quotes , news website , Web cam TV , online photos , weather in various city , your company ’s online stocktaking database , or your credit card or bank building statement . The vane Viewer can also exhibit file cabinet on your punishing magnetic disk such as pictures , movies , and PDF and Flash files , so long as your web browser has the appropriate plug - in installed . In scant , anything that you may view in your web internet browser , you may view in the FileMaker Web Viewer .
There are some limitations . You will unremarkably want the entanglement Viewer to take up only a part of your screen , but you might be loading WWW Sir Frederick Handley Page that were design for viewing in a full web browser windowpane , so you might be in for some scrolling . Of the thousand and one possible way to use the vane Viewer , only a fistful are really build into the Setup dialogue . For the rest , you ’re on your own , as you have always been , and some of the more originative uses of the vane Viewer ( like interacting with Flash content ) may require innovative scheduling outside FileMaker Pro . And , while users can interact with Web mental object picture inside the Web Viewer ( by clicking links or fill up in Web kind , for illustration ) , there is no simple way to extract data from the entanglement Viewer and lay aside it in database fields .
More enhancements
Greater speed and the Modern Web Viewer are FileMaker Pro 8.5 ’s newspaper headline characteristic , but there are a handful of extra enhancements . For forward-looking developer , there are several new object functions and script step . My favorite is the ability to name layout objects , including individual tablet in a Tab Control . This means no more “ unintelligent FileMaker tricks ” are ask to script the display of a special tabloid on a layout . you could now go straight to a check by name . For less experienced users , FileMaker ’s new online Learning Center promises to be a big help . This Web website provide extensive and target help with nearly all of FileMaker 8.5 ’s feature . It is accessible from within FileMaker Pro 8.5 ( in the Help carte ) . last , FileMaker 8.5 include scads of bug fixes .
Macworld’s buying advice
Compared to edition 7 and 8 , FileMaker Pro 8.5 is a lowly upgrade , and I ca n’t say it is a must - have for all user . The new Web Viewer wo n’t matter to everybody , and if you ’ve never felt that FileMaker was dull , then the amphetamine boost in 8.5 wo n’t count to you , either . But if your database can make role of the Web Viewer , it ’s so easy to set up and such a sweet addition to your layouts that you wo n’t be able to refuse it for long . And if you tend to run big database and would like to pass less meter looking at the FileMaker advancement bar , then the upgrade is deserving the money for the speed increment alone . This is specially true if you are favourable enough to have a shiny novel Intel Core Duo Mac . Finally , unlike the last two upgrades of FileMaker Pro , this one is guarantee not to break your old database or make your encephalon overheat , so I do n’t see any reason to wait .
[ William Porter is an independent database applications developer and writer in Dallas . ]
