FileMaker Pro Business Applications: For versions 8 and 8.5 [Paperback]

Arthur Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1598220144 | ISBN-13: 978-1598220148

The ability to manage information is the key to businesses thriving in an increasingly competitive market. With FileMaker® Pro Business Applications, small business owners and workgroup managers can find out how to write custom database applications in order to add value to critical business information. After demonstrating how easily a database can be written using FileMaker Pro, this book presents a set of 11 business database case studies, all of which can be easily adapted by readers for their own data management requirements. The final section of the book offers ideas on deploying database solutions over a network and the web. Learn how to: Build a database and design layouts. Create relationships between tables. Automate tasks using scripts and buttons. Secure data through the use of accounts and privileges. Exchange data with other applications.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arthur W. Evans has been designing database solutions for business, government, education, and charity sector clients using FileMaker for over 16 years, having first used FileMaker to analyze coastal erosion rates around the UK for his doctoral thesis. He has helped clients ranging in size from one-person bands to the United Nations add value to business information using FileMaker Pro, and has also written training materials and technical papers for FileMaker, Apple, and Claris. His professional practice, AWE Consultancy, is a member of the FileMaker Solutions Alliance and has offices in London and Northern Ireland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Publishers (July 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598220144
• ISBN-13: 978-1598220148
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,047,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Missing Information in this Information Book, December 1, 2006

By 

Eric Gross "www.liberationfromthelie.com" (Philadelphia Suburbs) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: FileMaker Pro Business Applications: For versions 8 and 8.5 (Paperback)

This book gets great reviews from enthusiastic readers. I need to wonder how carefully they read it. I have gone through several of the teaching examples in the first section of the book and there are so many editing errors that this book might be a contender for the Guiness Book of World Records. Consistently the author neglects to inform the reader of key details and before you know it, you're lost.
Warning! This book is so poorly written that you need to have very advanced knowledge of the software to get through it. In that case, I would skip the whole first section and start with the second part of this book where the author explores some interesting examples of Filemaker solutions. Were I the publisher, I would just cut out the whole first section (pages 1-141). Start at page 143.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm Buying Another Book, May 5, 2007

By 

Rob G. - See all my reviews

This review is from: FileMaker Pro Business Applications: For versions 8 and 8.5 (Paperback)

Just popped on to Amazon to see what other books are for Filemaker Pro and thought I would check the rating of the book I am currently using.

Lets me describe the book by chapters:
1: Describing a DDB
2: Other Filemaker products you can buy
3: Installing the program and viewing existing DDB records.
4: Starting to build a DDB, making fields, adding tables, and lists
5: Different types of fields; text, number, date, calculation....
6: Layout types, standard, columnar, table, label
7: Relational Database Design. How to make relationships
8: Calculation fields
9 Using script maker
10: Planning a business solution

11-22: Part two (starting at page 143), each chapter describes one of the authors DDB's and how he made it. The problem is he says, `put a portal here' but does not tell you how, or how to actually get the data to pop into the windows the way you need it to. He leaves out critical details that prevent you from creating something.

Part III (have not read this part yet)
Deployment options
Server 8
Security issues
Getting Data into and out of
FM with other applications
Web publishing

Ch. 7 was the only chapter that was of any use to me!
The book:
Does not describe very well when or why to use various things (portals, look-ups),
I can not figure out how to make a Portal that works properly
I can not figure out how to make a Look-up that works properly
I had to download one of the authors DDB's and dissect it to figure out how to make a relationship work properly.

I'm buying another book!
Rob

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific - packed with ideas you can use in your business, September 24, 2007

By 

Guido - See all my reviews

This review is from: FileMaker Pro Business Applications: For versions 8 and 8.5 (Paperback)

I was going to give this book a very enthusiastic five star review, but having read other people's reviews, I can see their point. However, this book has already saved me thousands of dollars simply with its CRM solution (all tutorial files are downloadable unlocked from the author's website). Applications are included for just about every conceivable business need. You can just steal them, or follow along and your FileMaker abilities will take a quantum leap.

This book is aimed at the Filemaker user who has gotten beyond the VERY basic, but who is definitely not a developer. (By "very basic", I can just about use a portal and I know what a global field is, but that's about it.) I often do things in FileMaker that I don't really understand how I did them, or why they work! Plus, I know that I am probably going to run into problems down the road, due to the improvised nature of my "development." (which is, of course, the beauty of FileMaker.)

Simply following along with the author as he shows you how to develop a database correctly, will have you adapting and building complex custom programs for your business in no time. The 15 or so real world solutionsincluded are MUCH more useful than the freebies that FileMaker gives away. They are not as pretty, but once you go into Layout mode you can style them as your heart desires. This is definitely not a book for someone who has never used FileMaker or a database before, but it is a terrific next step, and much more approachable than some of the other "advanced" Filemaker books which were way too advanced for me. Four and a half stars!