Learn FileMaker® Pro 8.5 presents the fundamentals of the award-winning FileMaker Pro database program and distills the complexity of the program into a logical hands-on approach for both beginners and those who have experience with previous versions of FileMaker Pro. With this version, FileMaker Pro enhances the dramatically new and efficient approach to database management introduced in FileMaker Pro 7, giving the user even greater flexibility. Learn how to: Use the alignment tools to quickly align objects on your layout. Set up fields for auto-complete and create tooltips to assist users. Attach a calendar to a date field to efficiently enter dates. Import tables and their data in a single step. Save and send your reports as PDF or Excel files. Organize information in different layers on a single layout using the Tab Control feature. Export the contents of a field and attach it to an e-mail. Use the Web Viewer to display information from the web inside your database.
In my previous life, I was an award-winning singer, songwriter, and comedian. I got the FileMaker (database) bug in 1986 when I started using it to keep track of my entertainment business. My book, Learn FileMaker Pro 10, (Wordware Publishing ISBN 1-59822-071-3) is now in its seventh edition.
When I was in school I dreaded writing. It was the days before computers. I wasn't a very good typist and always hated it when I had to revise something I'd written since it required starting over. Writing on the computer was a Godsend! I could type as fast as the ideas flowed out of my brain and then organize and spellcheck them later. After I'd written a number of articles about computer software and other more personal pieces, my plan was to write about ten articles on FileMaker and then pull them together and do a book on the software. That was my plan. It turns out writing a book is not the same thing as writing ten articles. In fact...
Writing my first FileMaker book was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life - and I've been divorced twice! As I finished up the last chapter, a writer friend of mine said, "Uh, oh. Now you have to write the foreword." I said, "Are you kidding? I've been saving that for dessert. It doesn't have to be in a step-by-step format. I can just write anything I want - what I think and feel." And it really was a treat. I still like to write that way and hope I can write a memoir or a novel sometime in the near future. (Hmmm... But then there are things like outlines and arcs and emotional high points.)
Among my many non-writing projects, I've developed databases for The State of Michigan governmental agencies, CRG Regional Telephone Directories, ICT Cable, various international associations, Marco Music Publishing in Nashville, TN, and Yale University's NARCOMS database. My company, Data Design Pros, LLC, is a member of the FileMaker Business Alliance and I have my own column in FileMaker Pro Advisor magazine online. I've also written for EQ Magazine, Apple COREspondent and numerous association newsletters. Musical projects include a CD for the MSU Jazz Octet, Ray Kamalay's Jazz Improvisation instructional CD and audio engineering on the Boogie Stomp documentary featuring boogie woogie piano wizards Bob Baldori and Bob Seeley due out in the fall of 2010.
I have a number of websites I'm in charge of including: www.DataDesignPros.com (my database business website), MoviTraX.com (a site devoted to software I've developed for movie editors) and TheTechnoGrouch.com (a site where I act out my love-hate relationship with technology). I'll be starting a writing website soon at www.JonathanStars.com, but right now that address points to my business site.
