Re: FM8 - Banishing the Sharing/No-Sharing Box ?

What you were basically doing is running the FileMaker application and its
database files off a *file* sharing server. This is possible but not optimal
because FileMaker would have to make all "disk" access to the file over the
LAN. This makes it slow, especially if more than one person were to access
the file at one time. It's also questionable whether this kind of use is
allowed under the FileMaker license.

Your original question was about the file sharing checkboxes. If you turn
OFF file sharing then you should not see those boxes anymore. File access
speed will still not be optimal.

Clearly FM8 has become unsuited for our needs. The
'custom' networking/sharing - why not just use the
ordinary mechanisms availible in Windows environments
like others do ? This 'host/client' 'remote/local open'
and such scheme is klunky and proprietary.

Because you are using file sharing, which does not provide record locking
and true multi-user database access. The *scheme* is not "proprietary or
klunky." You will find the same approach in any database system. Windows
networking simply does not provide database-style multiuser management.
Ergo, the database system -- no matter what that happens to be -- must
provide these services.

If it seems counter-intuitive to disable sharing for these files, just
realize that in truth, you've never actually used FileMaker in a bona-fide
multi-user fashion. Your approach was one step above passing around a floppy
disk with the database on it.

We will be going back to FM6 - until we finish switching
everything over to Access/SQL-Server. We can program in
that environment too, VB & C++ .... it's a more open box,
so to speak (although a tad more expensive).

And will probably take you 10x as long to develop solutions of comparable
functionality. If you are under the impression that bare Windows file
sharing will provide multiuser database access, it might take you 20x as
long :)

Too bad really, FM had been a pretty good database for a
small company ...

Thanks for the input however. I'm sure FM will continue to
take care of many peoples database needs. It's an OK "in
between" product - between spreadsheets and a heavier-duty
RDBMS.

Good luck. Whereas FileMaker let you get away with sharing the application
AND data on a file share, the Access/SQL solution will force you to dedicate
a machine as a database server. You'll be right back where you started from.


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