FileMaker 16 Launches With Enhancements to Mobility, Scalability, Security and More

[watakoola]

The elephant in the room is the price for upgrades - AUD$264 to upgrade the standard version! Getting stung that amount each year is hard to swallow. Version 14 to 15 was a case in point as there wasn't' that great a change to the software.
I have used Filemaker for (gasp!) 20 years, so will continue to do so, but worry the yearly upgrade cycle is a cash grab.

 

[loby]

I was thinking the same thing. Crazy. When I was little I played with it a bit (I'm a nerd) and it was flat file back then.

edit: does anyone here actually use it? are you only using it for legacy applications that haven't justified replacement yet or is there actually new development taking place on this?

I wonder why Apple does not promote FM or even mention it as one of their apps. I did not know it was a subsideary company.

Why does Apple not showcase this great app? Wouldn't more people buy it?

 

[comajama]

I'm a developer who's been working with FileMaker since version 9. I've branched into Javascript, iOS, and C#/Java (Let's face it, they're basically the same). FileMaker still remains my favorite tool for prototyping, pulling data, mining, reporting, interacting with, and organizing any kind of data. I can sit down with a person who's having a problem, and in some cases even while we're still sitting there together I can give them something functional immediately. I can even then write some scripts to perform the tedious parts of their tasks and free them up to make decisions on their data instead of spending all of their time managing it. With any other platform, it's hours and days at best.

We're excited about the new changes to FileMaker in our shop. I still wish that we could add transition and animation css to objects to take advantage of the very exciting things are being done with CSS these days, but one thing at a time I suppose.

On the Data API. We've been using Goya's RESTfm open source project to provide data integration with web, Android, and iOS apps. People can manage aspects of their business out in the field and come back to their desks to pull reports and make decisions on what's been collected. They love it. The only thing that gets me down is that the new Rest Data API is only good until Sept 27, 2018. This is a strategy by FileMaker to get more feedback and make the product stronger. It's hard to tell if they'll just continue using the same structure, or if they'll refactor and make it something else. So using it in production would be a mistake for now. Even still, you can bet we'll be experimenting like crazy. Using the REST methodology has been the best way to extend FileMaker to other platforms and it's been a great way for us to show the power of using FileMaker in tandem with a knowledgable development team. As a result, other affiliated organizations have taken notice of our work and are getting excited.

-Aside, on Bento-
Bento is basically a collection of predesigned FileMaker apps that don't get enough credit in my opinion. They provided a lot of really great starter solutions, which I think have been improved and are now mostly included with FileMaker. I haven't checked in a while, but I was able to open my sisters old Bento files using FileMaker without any problems back in 2012.

 

[synergy46]

I too develop in Filemaker Advanced. Until recently, I have been able to create a runtime folder, zip it, and upload it to Google Drive. (Being on Google Drive allows me to embed a URL to the file on my 'not for profit' organization web site. Users just click the link and download the .zip file. Unzip it and run the program. )

At least that is how it 'used to be'. Now? Not so much. Following this procedure produces Gatekeeper errors.

Apple's solution: I should become a 'Developer', pay $95 / year for the privilege and use PKG or DMG instead of Zip files.
Apparently they have a problem with 'malware' and put me through this so that I can "protect me from me" and "you will be protected from me." Never mind that we each know that my zip file is not affected.
-----------------------------
This is from Apple Tech Support:
Note: As of 10.12, macOS does not support using zip files to distribute apps in this form. They must be distributed via signed dmg or pkg.

When a zip of this form is uploaded to GoogleDrive or OneDrive that is treated as a new download from the internet and the zip and its contents are quarantined and Gatekeeper Path Randomization rules are applied.
-----------------------------

 

[sittnick]

For most purposes there are no meaningful limits to database size and the server version supports hundreds of simultaneous users. I could go on for several more paragraphs and barely scratch the surface of what FM can do now.

Thank you for your concise overview. I use FileMaker Pro Advanced 15 on VERY large government databases with millions of records and dozens of fields (all text and numbers, thankfully) with relations to three other smaller databases and lots of calc fields. It isn't the fastest, but with an SSD and 12GB RAM on Windows or MacOS it doesn't crash very often, certainly compared to Access.

One question: is there an add-on for non programmers that will allow a double dimensioned rank function? Basically, I have to rank institutions against other institutions within a subset (e.g. same census tract, similar institutions). Excel has the RANK function and for now I have been using frequently crashing Excel on a flat file version of the FM Pro Adv database. Not really Excel's fault, it isn't really built for that scale. I understand that Microsoft's SQL implementation also has such a feature in some way. I'd love to see that implemented in FM Pro, even if by a third party add in. I am NOT a SQL programmer/developer.

Any ideas?