FileMaker 11 Released

Introduction
FileMaker Inc. have just released version 11 of the FileMaker product range. This version provides some impressive new features that users have been after for years. For this reason, we’re calling it the ‘Inbox version’. It looks like someone at FileMaker Inc. finally looked at all the feature requests in their inbox and said, “We should do some of these.” We’ve had a look at the changes and would like to take this opportunity to tell you about the great new features.

FileMaker Charts
Finally! FileMaker 11 introduces native charting support. Creating a chart of summary or related data can now be achieved without having to use 3rd party technologies. Graph formats include bar, line, area and pie charts. We believe that this feature alone justifies an upgrade to FileMaker 11. They haven’t gone overboard with the charting capabilities, but have carefully considered and included the most common charting requirements. There’s more than enough flexibility when it comes to styles, colours, legends, formatting etc. Charts are based on live data, so if you make a change, it will be reflected in the chart immediately.

Layout Folders
FileMaker Pro 10 introduced script folders; FileMaker Pro 11 now extends this functionality to layouts, making it a lot easier to keep a long list of layouts in order. People have been asking for this for years and FileMaker have finally delivered.

Recurring Import
For those who regularly import a set of data from some external source, these imports can now be scheduled to occur automatically. Personally, we’re not aware of anyone who needs to do this, but I’m sure someone out there will find it useful.

Enhanced Table View
Let me begin by explaining some of the background behind this important change. For many years now, FileMaker Inc. have, quite correctly, acknowledged that their biggest competitor is actually Microsoft Excel. This makes perfect sense as many of the enquiries we receive, especially from small businesses, show that they still run their business largely on spreadsheets. Clumsy, poorly structured, confusing spreadsheets. In order to simplify the transition from spreadsheets to a FileMaker database, FileMaker inc. have enhanced the table view.

But this new feature comes with a warning; it needs to be very tightly controlled. The new table view features allow the flexibility that you would expect to only find in a spreadsheet program. You can add fields and records directly in table view. Unfortunately you can also delete fields directly from table view. If this feature isn’t locked down users will inadvertently delete entire fields from your database as easily as they would delete a single record. As professional developers, we can ensure that this isn’t a problem. We’re just a little worried about novice users who won’t fully appreciate the consequences of such actions.
Table view now also includes the ability to create grouped data at the click of a button. We believe that as you learn to use this feature you will become less dependent on dedicated reports.

Portal Filtering
You can now filter a portal to show only related records that meet a set of criteria. There have been ways to achieve similar results in previous versions but the native implementation is a lot more powerful. A great example is filtering a list of names as you type.

Quick Find
Quick Find allows you to search across multiple fields on a layout simultaneously. After using Quick Find we believe you will wonder how you ever did without it. If you have ever been unable to find records because you were searching in the wrong field you will appreciate the simplicity of Quick Find. With Quick Find all you have to do is enter your criteria and click a button. Fields can be set to be specifically excluded from Quick Find functionality.

Snapshot Link
This new features allows you to send a link to the data you are viewing.  Let’s say the boss calls you and says that he wants to see all of the customers who have purchased in the past month. So you print a report and send it to him. A week later, he wants the same information again so you go through the same process. Instead, the new Snapshot link feature allows you to find the data, switch to an appropriate report layout, sort the data and add totals and sub-totals. Now all you have to do is create a snapshot link and e-mail it to him. When he opens the snapshot link, the database opens to that layout with that set of data already sorted just the way it was when you created it. And when he asks for it again next week, you can tell him to simply open the snapshot link again and there’s the data, just like before. The possibilities are endless for creating and saving subsets of data. Because snapshot links are just that, a link, your data is perfectly safe. No data is stored within the snapshot link, just some code for how to find and display the data.

Instant Web Publishing
FileMaker 11 finally makes IWP a viable option. The redesign of IWP gives web users a much more ‘FileMaker-like’ experience. Whether the performance has improved is another matter. Only time will tell.

Layout Inspector
For those of you who love to get lost in layout mode, FileMaker 11 has just made your life a lot easier. The new Layout Inspector is a floating palette which puts all the layout functions at your fingertips. No more fumbling around menus or having to remember keystrokes. A huge time saver.

Useability Features
There are numerous other changes to improve the useability of FileMaker. Too many to go into detail here. Things like a text highlighting function, the ability to use variables in scripted find requests, merge variables on layouts and, wait for it, the ability to edit a script from the define button dialog...YAY!!! No more closing the dialog, opening ScriptMaker, finding the script etc. Other new features include enhanced security, re-designed custom menus, new script triggers and more.

FileMaker Server
At the same time as FileMaker Pro 11 is released, the new versions of FileMaker Server 11 will be released. The new server includes several new features and improved performance.

Availability
The entire range of FileMaker 11 products are available immediately. For those of you on an AVLA or ASLA, you should receive notification with download instructions from FileMaker Inc. fairly soon. For those who aren’t on an AVLA or ASLA, why not? Give us a call for more information.

Conclusion
Overall, we would go as far as to say that this is the best version of FileMaker yet. We can’t wait to get into using all of these new features and look forward to helping you to make the most of FileMaker 11. The FileMaker 11 product family is now available. Data Creations Australia will be fully implementing the new version as soon as possible. If you’d like more information or to see a demo of FileMaker 11 in action, please contact us on (07) 3275 1070. We look forward to helping you take advantage of these brilliant new features.

Marc and Michael Dolley
Data Creations Australia

P.S. Oh yeah, the FileMaker icons are now purple. No big deal, just thought we should mention it.

FileMaker is a registered trademark of FileMaker Inc. The opinions expressed here are those of Data Creations Australia only.