Re: Will FM do what I need to replace old FoxBase+/Mac app?

Kew
I think your biggest issue will be the need for "fairly complex layer of programming in between the screens and the table data itself"

As the risk of raising the ire of FM devotees...

Filemaker "programming" is scripting - mainly assigned to objects on the layout/form. This scripting is very limited compared with, say, Visual Basic for Access (or even my ancient DOS Open Access Programmer). In effect you can only have one "view" (dynaset) on the data at any time, which makes jumping between tables tedious.

You create the script by selecting functions and commands from lists and then specify parameters - this can be very tedious and is difficult to debug. FM8 has the ability to create global variables that can be used for programming but again it is rather limited. FM8 developers tend to be very good at creating workarounds to overcome some of these limitations. I have tried to document a few techniques at:
http://users.tpgi.com.au/aoaug/mac_osx.html#filemaker

Having said that, I took the plunge last year and switched a fairly complicated MS Access application to FM8 (I run Mac OS X). I only managed to transfer the data - all programming was redone. However, once you get the programming (scripting) right, FM8 is very user friendly.


Regards
Michael Paine




KEW wrote:
Thanks, Howard.

Based on the specs on the FileMaker site, it looks like I'd need FM Pro
Advanced to develop the app and FM Server to serve the data. The current app
supports 7 clients, and we will be adding more, although the app itself
won't be web-based, a point which implies that we won't need FM Server
Advanced. Does that sound right?

And now a little bit about the project, and one additional question.

The current app is basically a set of interactive screens, code, and shared
tables that process, store, and update information about printing clients
and their jobs. Printing company employees can view client info, add new
clients, enter and modify orders, specify the printing jobs themselves
(including line-by-line production instructions and pricing for each step of
a job), and generate printed versions of those instructions and a receipt
when the job is done. Other components of the app handle daily accounting
procedures, monthly account billing, estimating, job scheduling, etc. The
app provides general-user access to the data as well as administrative-level
access.

The current app relies heavily on the use of variables and arrays--there is
a fairly complex layer of programming in between the screens and the table
data itself. According to a comparison chart on the 4D site, FM doesn't
support arrays. Is this true?

Thanks,
KEW









"Howard Schlossberg" <howard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:127gvegigq7gtca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There is FileMaker Pro Advanced, which is the developers' version of FM
Pro. Then there is also FM Server Advanced, which is strictly an
advanced version of FM Server that additionally provides web serving of
your data.


KEW wrote:

Over 10 years ago, I wrote a multi-user database application (POS, job
tracking, sales receipts, customer billing, etc.) in FoxBase+/Mac for my
then employer, now client, that continues to run well today. However,

since

it only runs on Classic, and suffers from a few other limitations, it's
moribund. We are looking to redesign it for OSX, and while it seems that
FileMaker Advanced (presumably Server) will work fine as a replacement
development environment, I'd like to make sure I'm headed in the right
direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg (818) 883-2846
FM Professional Solutions, Inc. Los Angeles

FileMaker 8 Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance



.

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