HANDS-ON GUIDE

FileMaker Pro

The QuickStudy Guide for Bento Users

2013 FileMaker, Inc. All rights reserved. FileMaker and Bento are registered trademarks of FileMaker, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. The le folder logo and the Bento logo are trademarks of FileMaker, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. FileMaker documentation is copyrighted. You are not authorized to make additional copies or distribute this documentation without written permission from FileMaker. You may use this documentation solely with a valid licensed copy of FileMaker software. All persons, companies, email addresses, and URLs listed in the examples are purely ctitious and any resemblance to existing persons, companies, email addresses, or URLs is purely coincidental. Credits are listed in the Acknowledgements documents provided with this software. Mention of third-party products and URLs is for informational purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation. FileMaker, Inc. assumes no responsibility with regard to the performance of these products. For more information, visit our website at www.lemaker.com.

Table of Contents The Top Reasons to Read this Guide !..............................................................................................2 Introduction!...................................................................................................................................2 Before You Get Started!...................................................................................................................2 System Requirements for FileMaker Pro 12! .....................................................................................2 Part 1:! Customization & Control in FileMaker Pro! ..........................................................................3 Starting with a FileMaker Pro Starter Solution! ..............................................................3 Starting A New Database From Scratch! ........................................................................3 Starting with an Excel or Text File! ...............................................................................4 Formatting Fields and Text !.........................................................................................5 Changing Layout Backgrounds!....................................................................................6 Inserting Images! .........................................................................................................7 Changing Views!..........................................................................................................8 Adding Tables and Fields! ............................................................................................8 Global Fields! .............................................................................................................12 Modes!......................................................................................................................13 Creating Layouts ! .......................................................................................................13 Working with Records!...............................................................................................15 Adding Scripts !..........................................................................................................16 Part II:! Features & Functions of FileMaker Pro! ..............................................................................20 Importing!.................................................................................................................20 Searching! ..................................................................................................................20 Sorting! ......................................................................................................................21 Reporting! ..................................................................................................................21 Charting!...................................................................................................................22 Web Viewers!.............................................................................................................23 Sharing!.....................................................................................................................26 Relating Data!............................................................................................................27 Auto-Enter Calculations Using Related Data !.............................................................30 Part III:! Power & Performance with FileMaker Pro!.........................................................................31 SecurityPrivilege Sets and Accounts!.......................................................................31 Logging In!................................................................................................................32 Security Options in FileMaker Server!.........................................................................32 Preventing Record Locking and Avoiding Data Overwriting! ........................................32 FileMaker Pro Advanced!............................................................................................33 Running on Windows, Macintosh and iOS!..................................................................33 FileMaker Resources!....................................................................................................................34 About the Author!.........................................................................................................................34

The Top Reasons to Read this Guide

By spending a short time with this informative guide, you will be able to decide if FileMaker Pro is right for you. This guide covers these key areas: Customizing forms, adding elds, changing backgrounds, writing scripts, creating relationships, and more Searching, sorting and reporting Sharing les among multiple users and adding security options

Introduction
This guide shows you the main features of FIleMaker Pro so that you can decide if moving to FileMaker Pro is right for you. FileMaker is an incredibly useful and exible program. One of its hallmarks is multiple options for accessing functions and menus. This guide o"ers at least one way, and sometimes two or three ways, to access basic functions and menus. However, it is not comprehensive. There are many sources of information about using FileMaker which provide additional advice and techniques and greater depth regarding the subjects touched upon here, including books, DVDs and online training.

Before You Get Started

You will need a copy of FileMaker Pro installed on your computer. A 30-day trial version of FileMaker Pro is available at http://info.lemaker.com/US-en-FMP-Trial-Form.html (or at your countrys FileMaker site). FileMaker works on either Windows and Macintosh. The examples in this guide were created with FileMaker Pro 12, the current version at the time of publication. Most of the information here applies to other recent versions of FileMaker as well. The keyboard shortcuts in this le are given in Macintosh format, which uses the Command and Option keys. Windows keyboards use the Control key instead of the Command key, and the Alt key instead of the Option key.

System Requirements for FileMaker Pro 12

Windows For Windows XP, the minimum recommended CPU is a Pentium III 700 Mhz or faster computer with 2 GB of RAM (256 MB minimum). For later versions of Windows, the recommended CPU conguration is 1 GHz or faster with 2 GB of RAM (1 GB minimum). Macintosh The recommended conguration is an Intel-based Mac running 10.7 or greater, with 2 GB of RAM. You can also optionally use Mac OS 10.6, for which the minimum requirement is an Intel-based Mac with 1 GB RAM. For additional details regarding system requirements, see http://www.lemaker.com/products/ lemaker-pro/pro-12-specications.html

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Part 1: !

Customization & Control in FileMaker Pro

Creating a FileMaker Pro le is as straightforward as opening the program and clicking the "Create a New Database..." or "Use a Starter Solution..." links in FileMakers Quick Start Screen. Or as quick and easy as clicking the "Convert an Existing File..." link. Or as simple as dropping an Excel le onto the FileMaker program icon. Starting with an existing Bento library Please see the complete guide for the Bento 4 to FileMaker Pro Migration Tool for details on converting your existing Bento 4 for Mac data to a FileMaker Pro database. Then skip to Page 5 to learn more about further customizing and managing your data in FileMaker Pro. Starting with a FileMaker Pro Starter Solution Like Bentos templates, the FileMaker Pro Starter Solutions provided by FileMaker are ready-made databases designed for common situations such as invoicing, inventory tracking, contact management, etc. To create a Starter Solution on either Windows or Mac, select the Use a Starter Solution... link from the FileMaker Quick Start screen, or select File>New From Starter Solution..., and follow the prompts to name and save the le. The Starter Solution dialog is shown in gure 6.

Figure 6: The Starter Solution dialog

Starting A New Database From Scratch The process of creating a new, empty FileMaker le is as follows: 1. 2. 3. Click the Create a New Database... link at the left of the FileMaker Quick Start Screen, or select File>New Database.... Name the le and navigate to where you would like it to be stored. Click Save.

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Your new le opens in Table view. You may create elds by clicking the plus sign in the rst column heading, or select File>Manage...>Database to add tables and elds. See the section Adding Tables and Fields for more information.

Creating Your Own Customers Database For the purposes of this guide, forge ahead and create a new le from scratch called Customers. Examples later in this guide will be based on a new Customers le, but you could also use your converted Bento le or create a new le from a Starter Solution. Either way, follow the instructions in the Adding Tables and Fields section below.

Starting with an Excel or Text File Excel or delimited (comma- or tab-separated) text data can be turned into FileMaker data in either of two waysby importing the le into an existing FileMaker database, or by creating a new FileMaker database from the le. To import data from an Excel or text le: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Choose File>Import Records>File and navigate to the le you wish to import. If required, change the Show drop-down to the appropriate text or Excel formats, or choose the All Available option. Click Open. If you are importing an Excel le, select a worksheet and click Continue... By default, FileMaker suggests importing into an existing table based on the current layout. a. To import into the table that is associated with the current layout, check that the source elds appear next to the corresponding elds in the current table. If necessary, drag the handle of any elds in the Target Fields column to position them opposite corresponding elds in the Source Fields column. Click on the right arrow button just below the Source Fields list to view records in your source le and to conrm that the appropriate columns or elds are aligned with the FileMaker tables elds. In addition, if the rst row of your le contains eld names, you may elect not to import them into FileMaker by checking the box for Dont import rst record (contains eld names). b. Alternatively, to create a new table for your library, select New Table... from the Target drop-down in the top right corner of the Import Field Mapping dialog. (New Table will be followed by the name of the le you are importing, and the worksheet if you are importing an Excel le.) Click Import.

6.

This takes the place of Bentos procedure for importing Excel data, which is to highlight the information you want to import in the Excel le, then copy and paste it into Bento. The FileMaker process gives you control over where and how the data will appear in your FileMaker le. To create a new FileMaker le from an Excel or text le, drag the le onto the FileMaker Pro icon in the dock on a Mac or in the Applications folder (or wherever the FileMaker program is installed). If you are working with an Excel le, select a worksheet and click Continue... Select a First Row option and click OK. Name the new FileMaker le, choose a location and click Save. The new le is displayed in Table view.

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Formatting Fields and Text FileMaker Pro provides a special mode for editing the appearance of your screen, called Layout Mode. You can access Layout mode by choosing View>Layout Mode. (Note that there are keyboard shortcuts next to many items in FileMaker menus. The keyboard shortcut for Layout mode is Command+L.) In Layout mode, FileMaker gives you very ne control over the placement and formatting of elds, text and objects. You can apply formatting such as font, size and color to a selected object or group of objects. First, look to the Inspector. This is a oating palette with formatting options for position, appearance and data. If the Inspector is not visible, select View>Inspector. (You can open multiple Inspectors at the same time, by selecting View>New Inspector, and select a di"erent tab on each one, as in gure 7.)

Figure 7: Three Inspectors, with the Position, Appearance and Data tabs selected

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When at least one Inspector is available, use the Appearance tab to apply formatting to your selected objects. The Appearance tab allows you to apply and change the: theme defaults ll color and pattern line color and pattern text font, size, color and style paragraph and tab options

In the Positions tab, you can add a Tooltip, which is a message that appears in Browse mode when a user hovers their mouse over an object with a Tooltip applied. And in the Data tab, you can apply control styles such as drop-down list, checkbox set or drop-down calendar. With the exception of the drop-down calendar, the control styles use value lists, which can be created by clicking the pencil icon to the right of the control style, or by selecting File>Manage...>Value Lists.... Many of the attributes managed by the Inspector, as well as other attributes, are also available under the Format menu. Some of the formatting options available in the Format menu and not available in the Inspector, such as conditional formatting, are available in the contextual menu. Access the contextual menu by holding the Control key while clicking on an object, or by right-clicking an object. Many of the text formatting attributes are also available on the Formatting Bar. The Formatting Bar sits below the Status Toolbar in Layout mode and above the rst layout part. If it is not visible, click the Formatting Bar control (a button identied with the text Aa) in the Toolbar. If you have any layouts that already look good and work well, you can copy the style of individual objects by selecting the object and clicking the Copy Object Style button in the Appearance tab of the Inspector (the tooltip for this button reads Copy the objects style). To paste the style, select a di"erent object and click the Paste Object Style button (with a tooltip of Paste a style to one or more objects). Alternatively, you can copy and paste elements such as elds, text objects and graphics. Among the tools in the Status Toolbar in Layout mode, you will nd the Format Painter tool. You can use the Format Painter tool to copy the format of an object and apply it to one or more other objects. And you can keep track of the size and position of layout parts and layout elements, in order to apply the size and position to parts and objects in other layouts. FileMaker has many tools for applying changes to groups of objects at the same time. For instance, to select all of the elements on a layout, select Edit>Select All (Command+A). To select only the elds on a layout, click on one eld, hold the Option key, and select Edit>Select Same (Command+Opt+A). To select multiple objects, drag your cursor across them, and all objects touched by the cursor will be selected. To select objects the old fashioned way, by dragging a rectangle around them, hold the Shift key. To add or remove elds or text objects from a selection, hold the Shift key and click on the object. Repeat to add or remove more items. For more information on working with elements on layouts, search for Selecting and Working with Objects on a Layout in FileMaker Help. Changing Layout Backgrounds FileMaker o"ers a range of pre-designed themes that can be applied to new or existing layouts. You also have the exibility to change background ll colors and images, and to add graphics and images to your layouts. To change the background of a layout, rst enter Layout mode. Note that there are parts to layouts, separated by horizontal dotted lines and indicated by the part labels at the bottom or side of each

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part. You can toggle the placement of the part labels in Layout mode by clicking the part label orientation control at the bottom left of the screen, indicated in gure 8.

Figure 8: The part label orientation control is fth from the left in Layout mode

Most layouts have a header, a body, and a footer part. There could also be a title header or title footer, leading or trailing grand summaries, and one or more sub-summary parts. Each of these parts has a specic, important role to play in displaying data e"ectively. Layouts designed as forms for the computer screen may work as required with only a body, while layouts designed as lists for the computer screen will benet from a header and possibly a footer. Layouts designed to summarize data or to be printed, such as lists and reports, may require other layout parts. For more information, see the Reporting section for sample images, and the Resources section at the end of this guide, as well as FileMaker Help. Fill color, gradients or images can be applied to individual layout parts, using either the Inspector, the contextual menu or the tools on the Formatting Bar. To change the ll color or background image of a layout part: 1. 2. Click on the part label to select it (it will become shaded/highlighted). Select the desired solid color, gradient or image from the Fill drop-down in the Object section of the Inspectors Appearance tab, or select a ll color from the Formatting bar.

To apply or change a theme on a layout, select Layouts>Change Theme.... The Change Theme dialog contains a list of layout themes with a preview for each one. Scroll the list and select a theme, then click OK. The selected theme will be applied to the layout. You may leave the layout as-is, or make adjustments to font sizes, color of text, corner radiuses of objects, gradients on buttons, or just about anything else you see. Inserting Images Using your logo and company colors on a layout is an e"ective visual or branding tool for connecting the system with your business. To add a logo or an image: 1. 2. 3. 4. In Layout mode, select Insert>Picture... Navigate to the location of the le containing your image and select it. Uncheck the checkbox labeled Store only a reference to the le, and click Open. (See Data Independence above for a discussion of storing only a reference.) Depending on the size of your image and the height of your layout, FileMaker may display a dialog warning that the operation will cause objects to extend o" the layout. Select Yes to increase the size of the layout to accommodate the object. If you click No, the image will not be inserted. You can adjust the size of the layout and insert the object again.

Once the image is inserted, you can resize it and move it to the desired position on your layout. When you click and drag an object, FileMaker will display dynamic guides and position information to help you place objects in alignment with other objects. You can also select multiple objects and use the buttons in the Arrange & Align section of the Position tab in the Inspector. A logo or image may also be inserted into a type of FileMaker eld known as a container eld, which is similar to Bentos Media eld type. (To manage the display of images in container elds, the Data Formatting section of the Inspectors Data tab gives you options to crop, reduce or enlarge the image depending on the size of the eld.) The container eld may be placed on any layout based on or related to the table occurrence where the eld is stored. If the container eld is set to be stored globally, its contents can be viewed on any layout in the le.

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Once a container eld has been added to one or more layouts, return to Browse mode to insert a picture into the eld. See the Adding Tables and Fields section for more information on global storage of elds, and Relating Data for a description of table occurrences. Also, see the Resources section for references that discuss displaying elds throughout single-user and multi-user databases. Changing Views After you have created and modied your layouts, you have the option to view them in one of three di"erent views. Views are available in three of the four modes (Browse, Find and Preview). See the Adding Tables and Fields section below for information on modes. The three views are: Form view, which displays the layout for the current record only. List view, which displays a continuous scrolling list of all records in the found set, with the current record indicated by a black bar at the left. Table view, providing a spreadsheet-like grid of rows and columns (where the columns represent elds and the rows represent records in the found set). The current record is indicated by a shaded rectangle to the left of its row.

To change the view of a layout in either Browse, Find or Preview mode, click one of the View As buttons in the Layout Bar, which is located below the Status Toolbar and above the layout. Alternatively, select View>View As Form, View As List or View As Table. FileMaker allows you to open multiple windows of the same le. You might open a new window to perform a nd, without changing the current found set in the original window. You might also want to look at a layout in both Browse and Preview modes, or look at the same layout in Form and Table view simultaneously. To open a new window, select Window>New Window. You can move and resize this new window, navigate to another layout, perform nds, enter a di"erent mode, change the view, close the window, etc. Adding Tables and Fields Whether you create a new le from a Starter Solution, from scratch, or from a Bento, Excel or text le, you can create new tables and elds as needed. Tables are the equivalent of Bentos libraries. To decide when to create new tables, consider the main categories of information to be stored. For instance, people have many di"erent types of contact information, including home, work and cell phone numbers, home and work email addresses, web pages, and social media prole names. And any of these can change, or disappear, or be added to. In this case, a table for contact information, separate from a table for contacts, is a good idea. In addition, a relationship between the two tables is essential for understanding which piece of information goes with which person. (The section called Relating Data below will go into relationships in more detail.)

Your Own Customers Database If you have not already done so, create a new FileMaker database called Customers, as described in the Starting a New Database From Scratch section above. Following are detailed instructions for creating a Customers table with four elds and a CustomerInfo table with four elds. While the Customers database and its tables and elds are used as examples in this guide, the tables and elds can be created in any le including your converted Bento le, a new Starter Solution le or an existing FileMaker database.

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To create two new tables in your Customers le (or any other FileMaker le): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Open the Manage Database dialog by selecting File>Manage>Database... Select the Tables tab. If the Customers table does not exist, enter Customers in Table Name and click Create. (FileMaker automatically creates one table with the name of each new le.) Enter CustomerInfo in Table Name and click Create. As shown in gure 9, you now have at least two tables in your database. If you are not going to create elds at this time, click OK to dismiss the Manage Database dialog.
Figure 9: The Customers and CustomerInfo tables in Manage Database

To add elds to the Customers table: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. In Manage Database (see step 1 above), select the Fields tab. If required, select Customers from the Table drop-down at the top left. Enter CustomerID in Field Name. Select Number from the Type drop-down, if it is not already selected. Click Create. With the CustomerID eld highlighted, click Options, to the right below the eld list area. In the Auto-Enter tab, check the boxes for Serial number and Prohibit modication of value during data entry, and click OK to dismiss the Options dialog. (With these options selected, FileMaker will automatically generate a unique, non-modiable number for each new record, the same as a Bento counter. This eld value can be used to keep track of relationships between Customer records and records in other tables.) Enter FirstName in Field Name. (Because the previous eld name was automatically highlighted, typing will replace it.)

8.

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9. Select Text from the Type drop-down and click Create. 10. Enter LastName in the Field Name eld, leave the Type drop-down as Text, and click Create. 11. Enter Company in Field Name and click Create. Figure 10 shows the elds in Manage Database for the Customers table. 12. Click OK to dismiss Manage Database.
Figure 10: New elds in the Customers table

To create elds in the CustomerInfo table, in the Fields tab in Manage Database, select CustomerInfo from the Table drop-down at the top left. Add the following eldsCustomerInfoID (number, with serial number and prohibit modication options set), CustomerID (number), Data (text) and Type (text). See gure 11 for the elds in the CustomerInfo table. A note on CustomerID in the CustomerInfo table: This eld will be used to store the unique ID from the corresponding Customer record, in order to create a valid a relationship between a Customer record and its CustomerInfo record(s).

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Figure 11: New elds in the CustomerInfo table

Naming Conventions FileMaker Pro leaves it to you to name almost everythingtables, elds, table occurrences on the Relationships Graph, scripts, layouts, etc. For consistency and in order to understand these names at a glance, a standard naming convention is useful. For instance, you might choose to name everything with normal words, no spaces and each word capitalized (for instance, FirstName). This is referred to as camel case. It has the advantage of being easy to write and to read. No matter what approach you choose, maintaining a consistent naming convention across the le is recommended.

Congratulationsyou have now created new tables and new elds! FileMaker has automatically created layouts for your new tables. Before we look at layouts, lets look at elds in more detail. FileMaker elds fall into 8 categories: Text, Number, Date, Time, TimeStamp, Container, Calculation and Summary. Most Bento eld types have corresponding types in FileMaker, some of which are created on conversion from Bento to FileMaker as listed below. Field types can be changed in FileMaker (eg a text eld that used to be a Bento choice eld can be changed to a number eld, a number eld that used to be a Bento checkbox eld can be changed to a text eld, etc).

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Bento Field Type Text Choice Simple List Encrypted Location Address Phone Number Email Address URL IM Account Number Automatic Counter Checkbox Currency Duration Rating Date Time Calculation Media File List Message List Related Data Text Text Text Text Text

FileMaker Field Type

Import and Format Notes

Apply a drop-down list or pop-up list in Layout mode Tabs and returns are inserted to preserve columns and rows See Note below May be populated by auto-enter calculation or script

Text

Multiple elds are created on conversion if there is more than one entry

Number Number Number Number Number Number TimeStamp Time Format as an auto-enter serial number in Manage Database Apply a checkbox in Layout mode Format as currency in Layout mode Can be converted to Date, Time, TimeStamp or Calculation See Note below Converted to FileMakers format, which includes a date and time Converted to FileMakers format, which includes seconds

Text, number, time or timestamp (the Bento Calculation elds can be created in calculation result type) FileMaker Pro Not converted from Bento to FileMaker Pro Container elds function as Bentos Media eld type Related tables can perform a comparable function

Not converted from Bento to FileMaker Pro

Note: After import, Rating and Encrypted elds do not display the same way in FileMaker as they did in Bento, but similar behavior can be created in FileMaker using calculation elds, layout formatting and/or scripts. When you convert an existing Bento le with encrypted elds into a FileMaker le, FileMaker requires you to enter the Bento password. Global Fields Any of FileMakers eld types can be stored as global elds (with the exception of Summary elds). A global eld stores its value only once for the whole table (regardless of how many records are in the table) and the content of globally stored elds is available to all records in the current table and other tables without requiring a relationship, making these elds useful in a variety of ways. For instance, global elds can store values temporarily while a script is running. When a le is shared with multiple users, global elds are specic to the users session, so they can be used by di"erent users for

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di"erent purposes, even at the same time. In hosted les, any changes to the content of global elds made by users connected remotely will be lost when the users le session concludes. Modes FileMaker has four operational modes with specic purposes, as follows: Browse mode! Layout mode ! ! Find mode ! Preview mode! Create, edit and delete records (no moving of elds) Arrange and apply formatting to elds and other elements to create user interfaces or reports Search for records Preview what the printed layout will look like

Note: In all four modes, you can navigate to di"erent layouts using the Layout drop-down in the Status Toolbar, as shown in gure 12, or via the Manage Layouts window under File>Manage>Layouts... (Shift+Command+L).

Figure 12: The Layout drop-down in the Status Toolbar

Creating Layouts As mentioned previously, when you create new tables, FileMaker automatically creates a new layout for each new table. You have the option to delete automatically created layouts, or to create additional layouts manually. To create a new layout in your Customers le: 1. 2. 3. Enter Layout mode by selecting View>Layout Mode (Command+L). Select Layouts>New Layout/Report.... Following the prompts in the New Layout/Report wizard... a. Select Customers from the Show records from: drop-down to select a table context for the new layout (in this case, table actually means table occurrence which is an instance of the table on the Relationships Graph). The layout will then be referred to as based on the selected table occurrence, and the elds in the table will be referred to as local elds when placed on this layout. Fields from other tables are referred to as related elds when placed on this layout. See the section called Relating Data below for more information. b. Enter Customer List in the eld labeled Layout Name. c. Select List view as the layout type d. Click Next. e. In the Specify Fields screen, click on FirstName and click Move to move it into the Fields shown on layout/report area. f. Double-click rst on LastName and then on Company to move them into the same area (this is an alternative method for moving elds rather than using the Move All or Move buttons). g. Drag the handle next to Company up, so that the eld moves above FirstName. h. Click Next. i. In the Sort Records screen, double-click on Company, LastName and FirstName, in that order, in Report elds. This creates the sort order for records displayed on the layout. j. Click Next.

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k. In the Select a Theme screen, browse through the list of available di"erent themes to see what is available and select a theme. Cool Gray is the default. l. Click Next. m. In the Header and Footer Information screen, select Large Custom Text from the Top Left drop-down in the Header area, and enter Customer List in the Custom Text dialog. n. In the Footer area, select Current Date from the Bottom left drop-down, and Page Number from the Bottom right drop-down. o. Click Next. p. In the Create a Script for this Report screen, leave the selection as is (Do not create a script) and click Next to go to the nal screen. q. Select View in Layout mode, and click Finish. If you followed the steps above, your layout will look like the one shown in gure 13 (this layout has the Cool Gray theme applied).

Figure 13: A section of the new Customer List layout

The New Layout/Report wizard o"ers di"erent options depending on the type of layout you choose to create. If you choose to create a report, the wizard gives you the opportunity to add subtotals and grand totals, and to group your data into sub-summaries. See the section on Sub-Summaries in Reporting below for more information. Note: Some of the Starter Solutions may show sample data in Layout mode. In this case, you will not see the name of the eld on the eld itself. To turn o" Sample Data and see the names of elds, in Layout mode select View>Show> and deselect Sample Data. Once a layout is created, you can add, move, format or delete any elds or objects (including text labels). You can also change the size of the layout parts and the color, gradient or image of the background. This is covered in the section called Changing Layout Backgrounds above. To add another eld to the layout: 1. 2. 3. In Layout mode, select Insert>Field.... In the Specify Field dialog click on CustomerID, as in gure 14. Leave the Create Label checkbox selected.

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4.

Click OK.

Figure 14: The Specify Field dialog

The new eld and its title will be displayed on the layout, and you can move, resize and format them. If either the eld or the title do not align exactly where you would like them to, you can select them and use your mouse to drag them or, for ner control, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move them one point at a time to the desired location. As noted in the Changing Layout Backgrounds section above, when you click and drag an object, FileMaker will display dynamic guides and position information to help you place objects in alignment with other objects. You can also select multiple objects and use the buttons in the Arrange & Align section of the Position tab in the Inspector. Working with Records With tables, elds and layouts in place, you and other users can add, edit and delete records. To work with the data in your le, enter Browse mode by selecting View>Browse Mode (Command+B). Once in Browse mode, to add a record in the Customers le: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Navigate to the Customers List layout. Select Records>New Record (Command+N). If the cursor is not already in the Company eld, click into the Company eld. Enter information in the Company eld, and press the tab key to move to the next eld. Enter information in the FirstName eld, press the tab key to move to the LastName eld and enter information there. Repeat steps 2 through 5 to add more records and data.

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To edit a record in the Customer List, click into the eld you would like to modify and change the existing value. To exit the eld and save your changes, commit the record by clicking into a blank area of the layout, or by using the Enter key (not the Return key, which will add a carriage return) on your keyboard. The Enter key is on the number pad on full keyboards, and may or may not be present on laptop keyboards (although key combinations are generally available to perform the Enter keys function). A record will also be committed when you move to a di"erent record or to another layout. To delete a record, select Records>Delete Record... (Command+E) and click Delete in the conrmation dialog (you can also click Cancel to abort the delete). There is also a Delete Record button in the default Status Toolbar (the Status Toolbar is customizable by each user, and the Delete Record button may be removed). You can delete the found set of records by selecting Records>Delete All Records... and clicking Delete All in the conrmation dialog. Deleted records are really deleted--unless you include a routine for storing deleted records elsewhere, deleting them is permanent. Adding Scripts One of the most powerful features of FileMaker Pro is scripting. A script is a collection of steps which a user could take (and some a user could not!). Instead of asking the user to take the same steps every time they want to accomplish a task, you can store the steps in a script, assign the script to a button on a layout, and ask the user to click the button instead. (Scripts can also be run from the Scripts menu or assigned to script triggers or custom menussee notes below for more information.) For instance, to save a sales report as a PDF and email it to a manager, you could create a button on the Orders List layout and attach a script that performs the correct sequence of actions each time. A script can perform the steps much more quickly than a user can. Some of the most common functions for scripts are to perform nds, sort records and print reports. But scripts can do more complex tasks, including: Taking the user to the appropriate layout depending on their monitor size or whether they are working with a computer (FileMaker Pro) or an iPad or an iPhone (FileMaker Go) Creating or deleting records depending on specied criteria Opening new windows to allow users to see detail or enter information while the current window remains visible in the background Opening other les, saving a copy of the current le, or exporting records in a number or formats, including Excel or PDF format Sending an email or opening a URL in the users web browser Applying changes throughout a set of records based on data in each record Performing an external script (AppleScript or VBScript, as applicable) Sending a call to run a script in a hosted FileMaker le, or to open a le or run a script in a FileMaker Go le (when sent from a FileMaker Go le on the same device)

While FileMaker scripts can be quite sophisticated, writing them is actually easy. FileMaker provides the Manage Scripts window for you to create and manage scripts, and an Edit Script window with all the available steps listed in a scrolling panel at the left. Both the Manage Scripts and Edit Script windows are non-modal, meaning that you can leave them open in the background while you work in other windows. Figure 15 shows the Manage Scripts window from a Contacts Starter Solution.

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Figure 15: The Manage Scripts window

The basic process for writing a script is to: 1. 2. 3. 4. Decide what you need the script to do. Create a new script by clicking the New button at the lower left of the Manage Scripts window. Move steps from the step list on the left of the Edit Script window to the script area on the right, to assemble a sequence of actions for your script. Save the script by selecting Scripts>Save Script (Command+S) and close the Edit Script window by selecting File>Close (Command+W).

Once youve created your script, you can run it from the Scripts menu, attach it to a button on a layout, attach it to a script trigger, or assign it to a Custom Menu Item using FileMaker Pro Advanced.

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Script Triggers Script triggers cause a specied script to run when a particular event occurs. Supported events include navigating to a layout, moving to a di"erent record, entering a eld, modifying a eld, entering a di"erent mode, and many other actions. Script triggers are enabled in individual layouts, on individual layout objects and in File Options. See FileMaker help for information on script triggers.

Custom Menus Custom Menus are modied menu sets created in FileMaker Pro Advanced. Many of the standard menus visible in Browse, Find and Preview modes may be renamed, modied or removed, and additional menus and commands may be added. See FileMaker Help, the FileMaker Pro Advanced section and the Resources section for more information.

To get a feel for how easy it is to write and understand scripts: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. In your Customers database, select Scripts>Manage Scripts.... Click the New button at the bottom left of the dialog. Enter Go to Customer List in Script Name. From the list of script steps on the left side of the Edit Script dialog, double-click on the Go to Layout step, just below Navigation (the step will appear in the script area at the right). With Go to Layout [original layout] selected in the script area, click the Specify drop-down arrow in the options panel below the script area. Choose Layout..., select Customer List and click OK (your script should now look like gure 16). Save the script by selecting Scripts>Save Script or using Command+S. Close the Edit Script window, and close the Manage Scripts window.

Figure 16: The Edit Script dialog for Go to Customer List

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You have just written a simple script! To run the script, navigate to the Customers layout by selecting it from the Layout drop-down below the status area, then select your script from the Scripts menu. If the layout switches to the Customer List layout, your script worked as expected. Most script steps have descriptive names, so you will recognize what most of them do without knowing much about FileMaker. Feel free to explore the script steps back in your script, in a new script or in any of the scripts automatically created in a Starter Solution. Scripting in FileMaker is a deep and fascinating topic. See the Resources section for additional information and guidance.

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Part II: !

Features & Functions of FileMaker Pro

Importing Importing from Bento into FileMaker is covered in the rst section. Following a similar process to importing Bento libraries into new or existing FileMaker tables, FileMaker also has the ability to import from: Tables from the same or other FileMaker les Tab-separated or comma-separated text les and Merge les Excel les (.xls and .xlsx) and dBase les

FileMaker can also import les (such as documents, images and movies) from a folder and images from a digital camera (both of which are stored in Container elds), and data from XML or ODBC data sources. See FileMaker Help for information on these topics. Searching Searching in FileMaker is referred to as nding or performing a nd. There are two methods available: Quick Find Quick Find is very similar to Bentos Search eld. The Quick Find eld is in the Status Toolbar, at the top of the FileMaker window, and is available only in Browse mode. If the Status Toolbar is not visible, turn it on by selecting View>Status Toolbar (Command+Option+S). If the Quick Find eld is not visible on the Toolbar, rst expand the window (if the window is too narrow, some of the items on the Toolbar will not be displayed). If Quick Find is still not visible, select View>Customize Status Toolbar... and drag the Quick Find eld onto the Toolbar. To use Quick Find, enter a value into the Quick Find eld and hit Enter on your keyboard. If any records contain the value in any searchable eld on the layout, they will be displayed. The set of records resulting from a nd is called the found set. To view the records that didnt match the nd criteria (the omitted set), click the pie icon on the Status Toolbar. A drop-down in the Quick Find eld shows a list of recent Quick Find searches. Quick Find searches can be saved and edited with the Saved Finds button in the Status Toolbar. Saved Quick Find searches are specic to the user who saves them, and are not visible to other users. To disable Quick Find for any of the elds on a layout, enter Layout mode, select a eld or elds, and uncheck the option Include eld for Quick Find in the Data tab of the Inspector. To turn o" Quick Find for the entire layout, select Layout>Layout Setup... and deselect the Enable Quick Find option. Find mode Find mode presents the current layout in a similar conguration to Browse mode, with blank elds, allowing you to enter search criteria. You can enter criteria into more than one eld a time. For example, to nd customers (in a FileMaker le containing customers) whose last name is (or includes) Smith and who live in California, enter Find mode (Command+F), type smith in the Last Name eld and ca in the State eld, then click the Perform Find icon in the Status Toolbar (or hit Enternot Returnon your keyboard). If any records match the Find request (the set of values you entered in Find mode), they will be displayed in Browse mode. If no records match the Find request, FileMaker will display a dialog giving you the option to modify the Find request or cancel. When a nd is successful, the resulting set of records is called the found set. To view the omitted set, click the pie icon on the Status Toolbar. By default, all elds allow entry in both Browse and Find modes. You can manage this by entering Layout mode, selecting one or more elds, and editing the Browse Mode or Find Mode controls in the Field entry options of the Behavior section on the Data tab in the Inspector.

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Performing a nd with either Quick Find and Find mode can be scripted. For instance, if you would like your script to nd all contacts who live in California, you could use the Perform Find script step with ca stored as search criteria for the State eld. Sorting To sort records in FileMaker, in Browse or Preview mode, select Records>Sort Records... (Command +S). By default, the current layout and its elds are displayed at the top left of the Sort Records dialog. Move a eld or elds from this list to the Sort Order column by selecting a eld and clicking Move, or by double-clicking on a eld. You can also select the current table or a related table from the drop-down to add other elds to the sort order. Click Sort to view the results. Once you have performed a sort on a layout, it will re-sort itself automatically if you add any records or change the value of a eld included in the sort order. If you prefer that the found set not be resorted automatically, open the Sort Records dialog again and deselect the Keep records in sorted order option, and click Sort again. If you perform a Find, the found set will not be sorted until you perform a sort. Using the Sort Records[ ] script step, sorts can be attached directly to buttons or custom menus (using FileMaker Pro Advanced) or used in scripts as part of a sequence of steps. Reporting FileMaker o"ers many options for generating reports from your data, from simple lists to sorted groups with summaries of data. You can create a report layout by selecting Layouts>New Layout/ Report... in Layout mode, or by modifying an existing layout. Sub-summary parts enable you to present summarized groups of records. A sub-summary part creates a break between groups of records, based on the sort order. For instance, gure 17 shows a sub-summary report of companies by state from a sample le.

Figure 17: A sub-summarized report with records sorted by State

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The report shown in gure 17 is created using a layout that has a header, body, sub-summary set to sort and break on the State eld, and a trailing grand summary, as seen in gure 18:

Figure 18: Layout parts on the Companies by State report layout

To make the elds and text objects on the layout easier to see, it is useful to toggle the orientation of the layout part labels by clicking the layout part orientation control at the very bottom of the FileMaker window, just to the right of the mode drop-down or by holding the Command key and click on any part label. Figure 19 shows the same layout with the part labels in the vertical position.

Figure 19: Layout parts in vertical orientation on the Companies by State report layout

In this report, the sCount eld is a Summary eld set to return a count of the Company eld. When it is placed in the sub-summary part, the CompanyCount eld counts the number of companies within the sub-summary group. When a copy of the same eld is located within the trailing grand summary part, it returns the number of companies in the entire found set. Layouts with sub-summary parts display their results in Browse and Preview modes when sorted by the elds specied in the sub-summary part(s). See the Resources section for more in-depth information about reporting and layout parts. Charting One of the most exciting recent features of FileMaker Pro is charting. FileMaker can dynamically display data in these chart types: column, positive/negative column, bar, pie, line, area, scatter or bubble. The same data shown in the Companies by State report above are represented in gure 20 as a vertical bar chart and a pie chart.

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Figure 20: Two types of FileMaker charts, formatted with the Shaded - 3D chart style and Earth color scheme

Charts are layout objects, and thus are added to layouts and formatted in Layout mode. To add a chart, select the Chart Tool in the Status Toolbar and drag a rectangle on the layout. The options in the Chart Setup dialog allow you to choose a chart style and the axis values for the chart. Charts can also be created on the y from a layout in Table view. Click on the drop-down arrow next to any eld, select Chart... and an option from the available topics. Format the chart in the Chart Setup dialog, then choose Save as Layout..., name the layout and click OK. The new chart will be displayed on a new layout (FileMaker automatically places the new layout in a layout folder called Charts, making it easy to nd the layout from the Layout drop-down). The chart will be updated automatically if any of its data points are changed on any layout. You can modify the chart by entering Layout mode and double-clicking on the chart to bring up its Chart Setup dialog. Charting is a broad topic which is covered in detail in sources listed in the Resources section. Web Viewers FileMaker includes a layout object called a Web Viewer which can be used to display Web pages, Webformatted data and even FileMaker data within your FileMaker databases. Web viewers can display Web data based on a static URL, a URL from a eld in your database or a URL produced by a calculation from data in your records. To see a web viewer in action, create a new FileMaker database from the Contacts Starter Solution (see the section Starting with a FileMaker Pro Starter Solution above for instructions). Create a new record and enter a company, a website address and a physical work address in the Contact Details layout. When you enter the address, the Web Viewer at the bottom right of the layout will display a Google Maps page (shown in gure 21).

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Figure 21: This web viewer uses the address elds on the Work Address tab to display a map website

Web viewers are congured in Layout mode. To see the conguration for the web viewer on the Map tab in the above example, enter Layout mode and click on the web viewer object at the bottom right of the layout. The web viewer in this example is formatted with a solid color ll, a solid line with a color, and a radius of 5 on all four corners., as shown in gure 22. (For additional information about tab controls, see FileMaker Help.)

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Figure 22: The web viewer on the Contact Details layout in Layout mode

Double-click the web viewer to see its conguration options, shown in gure 23. A number of options are available to congure URLs for popular websites, or you can enter your own URL details.

Figure 23: The Web Viewer Setup for the Map tab

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To add a web viewer to a layout, in Layout mode select the web viewer tool in the Status Toolbar and drag a rectangle on your layout. In the Web Viewer Setup dialog, select Custom Web Address and enter a eld name or calculation in the Web Address area (click Specify to display and use FileMakers calculation dialog), or select a pre-determined option and enter the associated values. Click OK to dismiss the dialog. The web viewer can be resized, moved and formatted with the options in the Appearance tab of the Inspector. Sharing One of the signicant di"erences between Bento and FileMaker is that FileMaker les can be shared with multiple users on Macintosh, Windows, iPad, iPhone and the Web, simultaneously. The options for sharing a FileMaker database with multiple users are: FileMaker Pro hosts the le In this scenario, the FileMaker le is opened on a single users computer and sharing is turned on (in File>Sharing...>FileMaker Network..., turn Network Sharing on and select which les should have what kind of access). Up to 9 other FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Go users can access the le at the host computers IP address. To open a shared le, other FileMaker Pro users select File>Open Remote..., choose Local Host if they are on the local network or Favorite Hosts to view favorites or add an IP address, then select the le and click Open. FileMaker Go users open the le using FileMaker Gos File Browser. FileMaker Server hosts the le FileMaker Server is a separate program from FileMaker Pro, and acts as a host for one or many FileMaker les, allowing up to 250 FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Go users to access the same le (FileMaker Server Advanced can host an unlimited number of FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go users). FileMaker Server o"ers enhanced performance and stability, along with automated backups and performance monitoring, secure connection options and numerous other features. FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go users open les hosted on FileMaker Server the same way they open les hosted by a copy of FileMaker Pro. Instant Web Publishing FileMaker Pro les can be published to the Web using Instant Web Publishing (IWP), which creates a website that looks and acts very much like FileMaker Pro. FileMaker Pro can share les via IWP with up to 5 users, while FileMaker Server Advanced can host up to 100 IWP users. IWP is not a feature of FileMaker Server (ie FileMaker Server Advanced is required). To turn on IWP in FileMaker Pro, select File>Sharing...>Instant Web Publishing..., select On, choose a currently open le, specify the access settings, then click OK. Networked or internet users can access the le(s) using a browser pointing at the URL displayed in the Instant Web Publishing dialog, or at the IP address of the server if the le is hosted on FileMaker Server Advanced. Custom Web Publishing Using PHP, your FileMaker data can be integrated into a custom PHP website. FileMaker Server and FileMaker Server Advanced can host the FileMaker Pro les, while the PHP pages are hosted to the Internet on the same computer or another computer. With Custom Web Publishing, an unlimited number of browser users can access the pages and the data supplied by FileMaker Pro les.

In addition to these options for sharing your FileMaker database, you can export your data in a number of ways, such as Excel, tab- or comma-separated text, DBF, HTML, XML and other FileMaker les. You can also print FileMaker layouts to PDF, using FileMakers built-in PDF writer. Another way to share your data is to send a snapshot link to other FileMaker users. Snapshot links are small les which store the le name and location, the current layout, the found set (or the current record if you choose), and the current sort order. When you create a snapshot link, by selecting File>Save/Send Records As...>Snapshot Link..., you have the option to save the le and/or to create an email with the le as an attachment.

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When a user opens a snapshot link, it will open the FileMaker le (if it is available), go to the layout, nd the records, and sort them as they were sorted when you created the snapshot link. Snapshot links are a convenient way to ensure that another FileMaker user sees a specic layout with a specic set of records, sorted in a specic order. Relating Data Another di"erence between Bento and FileMaker is FileMakers Relationships Graph, which gives you control over the connections between data sets. The Relationships Graph is the third tab in the Manage Database dialog (File>Manage...>Database...). The Relationships Graph contains table occurrences (TOs) for tables in the database, and may contain multiple occurrences for each table. The magic of the Relationships Graph is the way it allows you to make connections between TOs. Before you create any relationships in the Relationships Graph in the Customers le, the Relationships Graph looks like gure 24. Your Graph may have other TOs if you are using a di"erent le.

Figure 24: TOs for Customers and CustomerInfo in the Customers le

By default, TOs inherit the name of the table they represent. You are free to change the name, as long as it is unique. The TOs in gure 24 are not related. To add a relationship: 1. 2. 3. In the Relationships Graph tab in Manage Database, click and drag between the CustomerID eld in the Customers TO and the CustomerID eld in the CustomerInfo TO. When you release the mouse, a line with an equals sign will appear between the two TOs. Double-click this line to bring up the Edit Relationship dialog, shown in gure 25. In the bottom section, under the CustomerInfo eld list, check the box Allow creation of records in this table via this relationship. ! FileMaker Pro QuickStudy Guide for Bento Users! page 27

4. 5.

Click OK to dismiss the Edit Relationship dialog. Click OK to dismiss the Manage Database dialog.

When a relationship is created between TOs, the elds in each TO can be placed on layouts based on either TO. (There can be more than one TO connected to one another, and the elds in the related TOs are also available.) Remember that layouts are based on TOs. When you place a eld from a related TO on a layout, it is called a related eld.

Figure 25: The Edit Relationship dialog for the relationship between Customers and CustomerInfo

Related elds, on their own, can be placed on layouts to display the rst related record, or they can be placed in portals to display a list of related records. Portals are doorways that use relationships to display values from multiple related records. To add a portal to the Customers layout: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Navigate to the Customers layout (not Customer List). Change the view to Form by selecting View>View As Form or clicking the Form button next to View As in the Layout Bar. Enter Layout mode by selecting View>Layout Mode (Command+L). If the Company, FirstName and LastName elds are not already on the layout, add them by dragging the eld tool from the Status Toolbar into the Body part of the layout, one at a time, or by duplicating an existing eld. Select the Portal tool in the Status Toolbar, as shown in gure 26.

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Figure 26: The portal tool selected in Layout Tools

6. 7. 8. 9.

In the body part of the layout, drag a rectangle near the elds. The Portal Setup dialog will appear. In the Show related records from drop-down, select CustomerInfo, check the box for Show vertical scroll bar, enter 5 in the Number of Rows eld, then click OK to dismiss the dialog. In the next dialog, Add Fields to Portal, double-click on the Data and Type elds to add them to the Included elds column, then click OK to dismiss the dialog. Add other formatting to the layout as you prefer. Figure 27 shows the Customers layout with additional formatting. Note that the names of the elds showing in the portal are preceded by ::this indicates that they are related elds. Click on either eld and select the Data tab in the Inspector to see the fully qualied name of the eld, which includes the TO it is related to.

Figure 27: The formatted Customers layout with elds and a portal

In the earlier steps for creating a relationship between Customers and CustomerInfo, the relationship was set to allow creation of records in CustomerInfo. To add CustomerInfo records directly from Customers: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Enter Browse mode (Command+B). If there are no records in Customers, create at least one record (Command+N), and enter data into Company, FirstName and LastName. Click into the Data eld in the rst row of the portal, and enter a phone number or email address or other contact information. Tab or click into the Type eld and enter a type, such as O#ce phone or Email. Click into (or tab to) the Data eld in the second row, add some further contact information, then tab to the Type eld and enter a type. Commit the record by clicking outside any elds or pressing the Enter key. ! FileMaker Pro QuickStudy Guide for Bento Users! page 29

You have just created two records in the CustomerInfo table via the portal on the Customers layout. If you create another Customer record, or navigate to another existing record, you will not see the ContactInfo records you just created. This is because the relationship is based on the CustomerID eld in Customers, which is unique to each Customer record, and the CustomerID eld in CustomerInfo (so each customer record has a separate set of related CustomerInfo records). Navigate to the CustomerInfo layout, which shows records from the CustomerInfo table, to view the records you just created. Without a portal, related elds display values from only the rst related record. As an example, consider an Invoices solution, with customers, products, orders and order line items. A good use of a related eld (without a portal) is on an order: Fields from the Customers TO can be used to display the customers name and address on a layout showing records based on the Order TO (if there is a valid relationship between Customers and Orders). Since the order can be expected to have only one customer, related elds alone can be used as there is no need for a portal to display multiple customers. Auto-Enter Calculations Using Related Data Related elds can also be used in the auto-enter calculation and lookup options for data elds in FileMaker. For example, in the Invoices solution described above, the Amount eld in line items should display the result of the quantity ordered multiplied by the related product cost. If you update the product cost, it would be inappropriate for the value in the line item Amount eld to change on line items created earlier. In order to have an accurate record of the amount charged at the time of the order, the Cost eld should be dened as a number eld with an auto-enter calculation using the formula Quantity * Products::Cost and the Do not replace existing value of eld (if any) option should be disabled so that the calculation result will automatically update if the Quantity value is changed.

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Part III:!

Power & Performance with FileMaker Pro

FileMaker Pro is a exible and extendable program. Each les size is limited only by disk space and can have up to 1 million tables per le, 64 quadrillion total records over the life of a le and an unlimited numbers of layouts, relationships and scripts. Each le also has the ability to interact with other environments such as SQL, the Macintosh operating system and the Windows operating system. For more intensive development, there is a version of FileMaker Pro called FileMaker Pro Advanced. Yet as you can see from the examples in this guide, FileMaker is simple and friendly enough to support single-user databases and smaller work groups. As part of its support for sharing databases with multiple users, FileMaker provides advanced infrastructure and safeguards. These address a number of considerations for multi-user databases, including security, record locking, overwriting data and the use of global elds. SecurityPrivilege Sets and Accounts To protect your database and data from unwanted changes and/or prying eyes, FileMaker provides you the ability to create privilege sets to manage di"erent types of access, and to create user accounts and assign them to a given privilege set. Privilege sets and accounts are specic to each le and cannot be moved from one le to another (eg you must create privilege sets and accounts separately for each le). The combination of privilege sets and accounts allows you to manage whether users can view, edit, create or delete data, as well as which elements each user will have access to. These controls can be applied to the entire le, to individual records and/or to individual elds. By default, new FileMaker les are created with three privilege sets[Full Access], [Data Entry Only], and [Read-Only Access] (the square brackets are used to signify that these privilege sets are created by FileMaker and cannot be modied). Privilege sets store groups of security settings. A privilege set must be associated with one or more user accounts in order to be available for use. Two accounts are also created by default in new FileMaker lesAdmin (attached to the Full Access privilege set) and an inactive [Guest] account (attached to the [Read-Only Access] privilege set). New les are set to log in automatically with the Admin account. The password for the default Admin account is blank in a newly created le. You have the option to add a password to the Admin account, to activate the [Read-Only Access] account, and/or to add other privilege sets and accounts. To manage accounts and privilege sets, select File>Manage...>Security.... If you add privilege sets and accounts to a FileMaker database (or if you simply want to limit access), be sure to secure the le by specifying a password for the Admin account. You may also change the Admin account name, or delete the Admin account and create a di"erent full access account. However, a le must have at least one full access account. FileMaker will alert you (when you click OK in the Manage Security dialog) if there are no [Full Access] accounts. Note: With FileMaker Pro Advanced, you can remove admin access from a le permanently. You may want to do this to protect a solution, beyond normal Account and Privileges security, from modication by other FileMaker users. In multi-user databases with accounts for di"erent users, disable the Log in using: option (known as automatic login) under File>File Options.... Otherwise, all users will be logged in with a default login account, rather than their own accounts. For added security, you should also disable automatic login in single-user les. If you do leave automatic login enabled and change the password for the default account, be sure you also change the automatic login credentials in File Options. Otherwise automatic login will fail and you will be presented with the login prompt when you try to open the le.

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The combination of privilege sets and accounts creates strong security for your databases. Only users with an account and password can log in, and you control what they can view, create, edit and delete. FileMaker security is powerful and the range of options is a complex topic in itself. Logging In After accounts have been created for users, they will be able to log in. Assuming you have deselected the automatic login option in the File Options dialog (File>File Options...), users will be presented with a login prompt requiring that they enter their account name and password when they attempt to open the le, as shown in gure 30.

Figure 30: FileMakers login dialog

If the user enters a valid account name and associated password, the le will open and other settings in the File Options dialog (switch to a layout and/or perform a script, if specied) will be applied. If the account or password is not valid (or if the account is inactive), the le will not open and FileMaker will prompt the user to try again or cancel. Security Options in FileMaker Server FileMaker Server o"ers additional security options, such as the ability to authenticate specic accounts against an external server (using Active Directory or Open Directory protocols). In addition, FileMaker Server can be set to display a list of all of the les it is hosting, or only the databases a user is authorized to use, and to log users out after a specied period of inactivity. FileMaker Server can also create secure connections (SSL encrypted) to FIleMaker clients and to the FileMaker Web Publishing Engine. FileMaker Server is a separate product from FileMaker Pro. Learn more about FileMaker Server at http://www.lemaker.com/products/lemaker-server/ Preventing Record Locking and Avoiding Data Overwriting Sharing a le with other users opens the possibility that more than one user will attempt to access the same record at the same time. FileMaker allows multiple users to view the same record, but only one to modify it at one time. The system that prevents second or subsequent users from editing a record is known as record locking. It ensures that changes to data wont mash-up multiple users input.

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If a user attempts to modify a record that is already being modied by another user, FileMaker will display a warning dialog with the account name and workstation name of the user who is editing the record, and o"er the option to send a message to that user. Record locking has implications for scripts that modify records. If a user is modifying a record when a script attempts to modify it, the script will return an error and the locked record will not be changed. There are a few measures you can take to handle error trapping and record locking with scripts, and these are covered in depth among the resources referenced at the end of this guide. When a le is single-user, it may be convenient to use a eld formatted as a checkbox to mark records. In a multi-user database, this will be problematic, as di"erent users may overwrite each others marks. It is advisable to avoid using record-marking in multi-user databases, instead using a technique such as global eld storage of user-specic record selections. In addition, in a multi-user database, the use of privilege sets and accounts will help you manage which users may change data. FileMaker Pro Advanced FileMaker Pro Advanced is the developer-oriented version of FileMaker Pro. It includes all of the features of FileMaker Pro, and a number of additional features such as custom menus, custom functions, a Data Viewer for monitoring the results of calculations without creating new elds, a Script Debugger for stepping through scripts one line at a time, the ability to copy and paste schema (elds, and tables), plus utilities to create stand-alone and kiosk les. While you can create completely functional databases with FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Pro Advanced is a more e#cient development environment and enables you to build more powerful and exible databases. Running on Windows, Macintosh and iOS Users on the Windows and Macintosh platforms, and also users of iOS devices running FileMaker Go, can access a multi-user FileMaker database simultaneously. Each platform can also run les stored locally. With a few exceptions, the database will function similarly on each platform. Keyboard shortcuts use the Control key (in combination with another key) on Windows, compared to the Command key on Macintosh, and the Alt key is the Windows equivalent of the Option key on Macintosh. On iOS, menus and navigation operate according to the standards on that platform, but the appearance and functionality of FileMaker Go layouts is otherwise similar to the desktop platforms (FileMaker Go is for working with data only, and has no design features such as Layout mode, Manage Database, Manage Scripts, etc). Because Windows and Macintosh computers use a di"erent pixel density to render their screens, there is a di"erence in the size and appearance of fonts between the two platforms. In general, it is a good idea to add an extra 10% to the width of text objects you create in FileMaker on a Macintosh, to ensure they will be wide enough to display properly on Windows. Also, some fonts appear similar on both platforms, while others are more noticeably di"erent. You should check that your layouts look good on all platforms if the database will be used (or may someday be used) in a mixed platform environment. An additional di"erence in the appearance and behavior of FileMaker on di"erent platforms is that on Microsoft Windows, all windows for open databases are contained within an application window, with FileMakers menu bar appearing along the top. There is no application window on the Macintosh, so any window may be moved to any area of the screen, and FileMakers menus form part of the menu bar across the top of the screen. On mobile devices running iOS, FileMaker Go displays only one window at a time, has a limited set of menu commands that can be accessed from the bottom of the screen, and has a smaller screen size. You should consider platform-specic window sizing and behavior when deciding on the appearance and design of your FileMaker databases. In the Formatting bar in Layout mode, you may apply stencils for di"erent screen sizes to help size and organize layouts appropriately.

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FileMaker Resources
As you can see from this guide, FileMaker o"ers many possibilities for customizing your database and managing and reporting your data. FileMaker wraps its power in a friendly package, designed to help you work quickly and easily, however the program is also deep and warrants further exploration. Following is a brief selection of the resources that are available to help you get the most out of your work with FileMaker. FileMaker Pro Software and Product Information http://www.lemaker.com/ FileMaker Trial Software http://info.lemaker.com/US-en-FMP-Trial-Form.html FileMaker Pro System Requirements http://www.lemaker.com/products/lemaker-pro/pro-12-specications.html Technical Support FileMaker Forum Options: http://www.lemaker.com/support/forum_selection.html FileMakers TechNet: http://www.lemaker.com/technet/

About the Author

Katherine Russell is senior consultant and team leader with NightWing Enterprises in Melbourne, Australia. Learn more about Katherine at: https://fmdev.lemaker.com/people/katherinerussell

FileMaker Pro QuickStudy Guide for Bento Users!

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