FileMaker Pro 13: The Missing Manual

Chapter 13. Applying Developer Utilities

Work with FileMaker for a while, and it becomes clear that this friendly, rather unassuming software lets you achieve awesome feats. When others in your organization start seeing and using your databases, requests for new features, possibly whole new databases, will start coming your way. That’s when you graduate from an advanced user of FileMaker Pro to a developer. A developer isn’t simply a user who knows a lot about creating databases. Developers design and build database systems that other people use in the greater world. As a FileMaker developer, you need to do a range of things:

• Construct tables and relationships that organize information while avoiding duplication and creating flexibility.

• Wield layout tools to create a display that’s intuitive, attractive, and easy to use.

• Apply FileMaker’s lexicon of functions in the calculations that can literally touch every part of a complex database.

• Write scripts that spare your users from repetitive work and let them work intuitively.

• Provide access to the database by employing peer-to-peer database sharing, database hosting with FileMaker Server, and web publishing.

• Secure your database to prevent unauthorized access or manipulation of the information within.

You’ll develop these skills over time, but the first thing every power developer needs is the right toolbox. You don’t show up at the Tour de France with a tricycle. And you don’t become a power developer without FileMaker Pro Advanced. This ...