Read-only recurring import No image import from Bento. Spreadsheet-like ease of use Built-in charts Spotlight-like Quick Find Improved developer workflow. In terms of compatibility, the FP7 format is retained so that older clients can open version 11 files, but there’s now an option to make files require 11. (In Advanced mode you can do the same for script triggers and custom menus.) Layouts can now be grouped into folders, portals filtered via calculations, and script variables used in both find requests and displayed as merged fields. When adding buttons to a layout, you can create new scripts on the fly. Spreadsheets are simple to understand, ‘good enough’ for keeping lists of things, and great for ‘doing graphs’ of most persuasions. You can also select which fields Quick Find searches on a per-layout basis.įor the last few years, the FileMaker application’s biggest competitors have been the spreadsheet applications.
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Object badges identify conditionally formatted elements on a layout, and those indexed fields are searchable via Quick Find. In Layout mode, an Inspector palette offers complete control over fields, portals, and tabs without you needing to resort to contextual menus. Version 11 also has plenty to offer the experienced FileMaker user. Combined with the charting and table input features, casual users are more likely to reach for FileMaker than a spreadsheet when they just need to throw some data together quickly. It could be argued that both of the above features could be achieved in version 10 via the use of scripting, but FileMaker Pro 11 makes it almost childishly simple. (The one catch is that the imported data is read-only, but this is ideal for things like pricing data or exchange rates.) The Easy Way Second, there’s Recurring Import - a way for you to specify a file (of the Excel, CSV or TAB variety) that should be imported every time your database is opened. You can also customise Quick Find to look for a particular term and show matching records only in the fields you specify. First, there’s Quick Find, which gives you a Spotlight-like search field in the toolbar that can be used to seek out all the indexed fields on the current layout. Version 11 of FileMaker Pro offers two more prongs of attack on its spreadsheet rivals. Suppose you have a table of month, year, and sales data - you can sort your data by month and year, and an automatic subtotal row will be added to show a sales subtotal for every year, something that in Excel might require pivot tables. Using the same drop-down menu, it’s possible to add live grouping and sub-summaries to your table. You can rename columns by double-clicking them, and specify their types and options from a drop-down menu. Except that here, columns are really database fields, and rows are database records. With 11, however, creating a new database is done in Table view, with controls for adding columns across the top and rows down the side - just like a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets beware Prior to FileMaker Pro 11, you had to go about creating a database via the Define Database dialog box. It can now create gorgeous 2D and 3D bar, line and pie charts with not a plug-in in sight: charts are straightforward to design and extremely easy to tweak, putting to rest a glaring omission from previous versions.īut charts aside, it’s the overriding ‘ease of use’ theme that’s the real story here.
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Helping IT since 1993 Linksįilemaker Pro 11 Tuesday 20th April, 2010įor the casual user, FileMaker Pro 11 may prove itself a spreadsheet killer. Dyce & Sons | Filemaker Pro 11 Dyce & Sons Ltd.