Customer Reviews

Learn FileMaker Pro 7 (Wordware Library for FileMaker)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have taken advanced filemaker pro 7 classes and I wish I had read this book prior to taking them, as it would have given me a much better foundation to build on. The book is easy to read, simple to undrestand, and loaded with important data and tricks on filemaker pro 7.0.

I do not know of very many authors that can deliver such a complex subject in such an easy to understand way. After the information is presented, and practice example is given that puts it all together. If you follow them, you are sure to be able to use filemaker pro 7.0 to create your own databases by the time you are finished.

There are obviusly different levels of knowledge, however this give you a good solid base to expand upon. I would reccommend this book to anyone who wants to use filemaker pro 7.0.

And the most important thing about the book? It is fun to read and esay to follow.

This is a very good--but not excellent--workbook to master FileMaker Pro 7. It is not suitable for beginners because the screen shots are way too small and because the many mistakes in the book would frustrate them. It is also not for advanced programmers because there are no chapters on FileMaker Developer, FileMaker Server, or third-party Plug-Ins (although they are discussed on the authors' Web site); also, although the problems, index, and glossary are great, there is no categorized reference section tabulating all the functions and script steps with examples.

For intermediate-level programmers, the book is a must have, despite the mistakes--because they can be instructive to correct. For example, Script 10 in Chapter 17 is missing (the one on p. 261 is inapplicable and the one from the authors' Web site needs work). Various steps in Scripts 14 and 19 are omitted, etc. I was able to fix them, though, without too much difficulty, and get everything to work properly.

Other nuisances include the authors' spelling of Web site as web site; missing the "100" factor in the round function on p. 303, an incorrect answer (p. 466) given to problem 11 on p. 264; p. 302 has a spurious quote mark ("); on p. 146 the authors use the obsolete "status" function and then tell us on p. 223 that the "old status functions are now the Get functions" (which is true); and others--you get the point that the editing could have been better.

The principal author (Jonathan Stars) is a singer cum data base programmer, with 15 years experience with FileMaker. He does provide plenty of useful, real-world tips. I've been programming for over 28 years, using 17 different computer languages. My company, Transpower Corporation, located in metropolitan Philadelphia, is a commercial and custom software manufacturing and systems engineering company. We first tried FileMaker Pro 5 back in 1999 but decided that it wasn't powerful enough for us or our clients. But FileMaker Pro 7 definitely is (although it is still missing field event trapping, a contains function, and an array or matrix field type and the associated matrix math functions). A nice feature of the book is that it highlights (with a superscript 7) the changes made in version 7.

To sum up, this is a four star book, not a five star book. Perhaps the authors and the editors can improve it for the next edition so that it will deserve five stars.

If you are new to FileMaker Pro, you may go through the included tutorial and find that you need more! This book takes you further without rehashing what you can find in the help files. It's written by people who use FileMaker Pro, so you get included insights not found when you read the User Guides.
If you are familiar with previous versions of FileMaker Pro, you may have found that you need to switch gears for FileMaker Pro 7! The reviews and questions at the end of each chapter challenge you to think about how you would use what you've learned.
As with every new product, there may be errors and omissions. The book is no exception, so the authors have decided to post corrections. What other books can do that?

This one not only tells you what you need to do, it also shows you. If you are familiar with previous versions of FileMaker, you can read it and only do the exercises that teach you the new features of FileMaker 7. (Files for each chapter that pick up where the previous chapter leaves off are on the publisher's website.)
I noticed another reviewer criticized the book because it occasionally refers to the Help files. But it seemed to me that was during the chapters on functions. He gave good examples of the most common ones and leaves it up to the math geeks to dig around elsewhere. If he had put in more detail, I would have skipped it.
I also found a few errors, but Jonathan (et. al) has posted the corrections on his website.
This version of the software is very different from previous versions in the way it operates behind the curtains. I should know - I've been using FileMaker for 10 years. I was struggling with 7 until I worked my way through this book. Now I feel ready to tackle some real work. Bravo!

I was glad I read a copy of this informative book. I am a professional FileMaker Pro developer and needed to get up to speed on the changes that were made to Filemaker Pro from version 6 to 7.

This book takes the novice through basic concepts of databases to the expert in the major changes that are necessary to understanding the new features added as well as understanding and using the new relational graph.

The accompanying files allow you to learn at your own pace !

The writing is clear, easy to understand and, along with the files, make learning a pleasure.

This is like reading an instruction diagram when openning a "new" product. I found it extremely refreshing. I'm sure it will save me hundred of hour of developement. It also pointed out the "traps" I likely would have fallen into. Excellant review of all of Filemaker. Easy and quick reading for those already familair with Filemaker. Thank you.

I found this book spotty in its development.
As another reviewer wrote, you'll need to buy a magnifying glass to see the computer screen images in this book-No Joke!

This is the best Computer tutotial book that I ever bought, and I buy quite a few. This is the kind of book you read & work with from cover to cover and come back to all the time.

Jonathan Stars, Janice Child and Nonie Bernard have written the very aptly named Learn FileMaker Pro 7. The title is actually a verb - learn - FileMaker Pro 7. And the trio does a very credible job of involving the reader in learning FileMaker Pro 7.  Whether your learning style is audio, visual or tactile, this book engages you every step along the way. You can simply read the chapters, look at the sample screenshots or actually do the exercises in every chapter. I've been working with FileMaker Pro 7 since 2002 and even I found a lot of features and functions that I hadn't yet discovered. And I found that I wanted to do the exercises just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Also, I love the fact that Jonathan had his mother test each of the exercises to make sure anyone could do them! From an instructional point of view, this makes the book very useful to anyone who wants to Learn FileMaker Pro 7.

The author takes you by the hand from the beginning of the book to the very end. Sometimes he stops and start discussing about some trivial facts, e.g "Why it is better to sort a contact list by last name rather than by first name ...".

Well, I didn't really appreciate the book because you can hardly use it as a handbook wich you can refer to in the phase of devlopping an application.

The book is good to begin vhen you bearly don't know what is a database and how to operate a soft like File Maker. But for more curious or for more advanced users I'm afraid it's no the book to have.