FileMaker overhauls its line

Two Canadian FileMaker partners say features in the newest version of the workgroup database will help make it a hit among developers.“We’re really excited about FileMaker 8,” said Barney Lawn, CEO of CoreSolutions Develop-ment, a London, Ont. database development firm.
“They’ve made some huge improvements to it, especially in ease of use. Also there’s all kinds of developer features that make life much easier, in particular copying tables from one (FileMaker) solution to another.
“The only way to do that in FileMaker 7 was with third- party software. It will be a huge time saver for us, and that’s going to translate into big benefits for our customers as well because we’ll be able to develop systems for them faster and it will be easier to pull modules from systems we’ve developed in the past.”
Other new features praised by Lawn is the ability to more easily compile e-mail lists from the database.
In the previous version that required creating a script. In version 8 e-mail merge is part of the application’s menu. Using the new tab tool in both the standard and Advanced editions developers can bring multiple tabs together to save space when creating a form or layout.
Andree Blais, president of GTI Canada, a Montreal custom application development firm whose specialities include creating applications around FileMaker, likes the ability to create PDFs from inside the database, thanks to the inclusion of a PDF engine licensed from Adobe Systems.
Another is the ability in FileMaker Advanced (formerly Developer) to create custom menus.
“It will help generate more business,” she said of the new version, in part because these and other new tools will help cut development time.
Released this week was the standard version called FileMaker Pro 8, FileMaker Pro Advanced (formerly Developer) and a Small Business Starter Kit.
FileMaker 8 Server, Server 8 Advanced and Mobile 8 will ship in the fall.
The ability to import tables directly from Microsoft Excel is another feature users have been asking for, said Miller.
FileMaker has found a comfortable niche, says Wayne Kernochan, president of Infrastructure Associates, a Massachusetts-based database analyst.
It doesn’t compete against major relational databases such as Oracle, but fits between Progress Software’s OpenEdge and Pervasive Software’s PSQL, he said. He figures FileMaker’s major competitor is Microsoft Access.