Customer Reviews

Database Design and Publishing With Filemaker Pro 4: For Mac and Windows

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book would be a good reference for beginning users of FileMaker Pro. Although I learned a few tricks from the book, it is definitely not for intermediate or advanced users. One of the things I bought the book for was the web publishing chapter - essentially a rehash of the user guide that comes with FileMaker and there are no companion files on the CD for any of the web capabilities. The companion CD is an absolute waste of time. It would serve you better by using it as a coaster for your coffee mug. The trial software is all old versions - some almost 2 years old. Just about all of the FileMaker expample files are locked with a password so you can't dissect the file to see how it was built. There is an offer to send you either the password or an un-passworded file for a $10 fee - EACH. The CD is more of a solicitation for business for the authors rather than a useful companion tool for the book. The reason people buy reference books for FileMaker is to initially or further learn about FileMaker to develop their own database solutions, not to find out how to purchase someone else's solutions.

It is not often that I find good writing, i.e., clear and to the point, in books about software. This book is devoid of the cutsy and empty witticisms that infest this genre. Instead it provides clear explanations of just about everything related to Filemaker, done thoughtfully. It has one of the most lucid discussions on the design of relational databases that I have seen. I look forward to these authors' next offering. How about a bit more about using Applescript with Filemaker next time, guys?

Great book...it's the only FileMaker Pro book that deals with the issues of database design and planning. Awesome resource!

One of the key reasons I purchased this book was to get more information about publishing FileMaker databases on the web. One of the first things the Synopsis mentioned was publishing to the web without CGI's. I was disappointed to discover it only covered the Web Companion plug-in and only barely more in depth than the manual. The bulk of the book covers database design, and does that well. It includes dealing with relational design which I found insightful. But without getting in depth with web applications, I found it to lack the scope which it made itself out to have.

Good: Wonderful explanation of functions and scripting. I have created some neat stuff with the help of this book. Bad: Several typos; a few errors in functions (which caused me 45 minutes to figure out why a fn wasn't being recognized by FMP); too much stuff on layout design. Thin discussion of FMP servers/cross platform issues (FMP server for NT mixed with Mac clients). Useless info covering WEB function of FMP (kinda thrown in at the end, and a rehash of an FMP manual).

Conclusion:

I use this book constantly as a reference for scripting and functions. Excellent! Don't expect too much more than that... but then again, no book can cover it all and do it well.

Although the authors got right to the heart of the matter and didn't dilly-dally with the basics of Filemaker, I found the exceptional amount of typos in this book to be very distracting. In particular, if you're going to write about scripting, it would be very beneficial for the authors to confirm that the scripts and their functions are written correctly and proofread prior to printing.

If you're new to Filemaker, I don't suggest this book, but if your fairly familiar with Filemaker, and, in particular, with the scripting commands, it is worth the price for the fresh insights.

I read the more than 500 pages the first day I purchased it. This book can make you go from a file maker dev. to a professionnal one. Examples are great. Unlike with other books, you do not lose time with what is obvious. Instead, you'll spend more time with the more important concepts. I feel more comfortable now with FMPro.

If, like me, you like a lot of nurturing hand-holding when learning how to use a feature-filled tool like Filemaker, then get this book.

What sets it apart from the rest is that it spells out in glorious detail every scripting command and has a working example for each one.

Finally, one can "feel" the presence of Don Crabb, who has been writing clearly and concisely on the Mac for years.

Finally, a book about FileMaker Pro for the Mac AND Windows. The great examples and logical progression of the chapters made this book easy to read and understand. I highly recommend it.

I was hoping to get some background on CDML and putting my databases on the web.

However, the web is barely scratched and looks like it was thrown in haphazardly as an afterthought. Even the flimsy manual that ships with Filemaker 4 itself is a better web reference than this book.

Advertising the Web on the cover of this book is very deceitful.