Special Edition Using FileMaker 8 (Paperback)

by Scott Love (Author), Steve Lane (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If you’re looking for the inside scoop on the latest version of FileMaker, you’ve come to the right place. Authors Scott Love and Steve Lane are FileMaker experts who were involved in the development of FileMaker 8, and they bring that knowledge to you in Special Edition Using FileMaker 8. Frequent tips, case studies, and thorough examples show you how to avoid mistakes and save time in developing databases with FileMaker 8. This is the comprehensive reference that every database developer needs on their shelf.

About the Author

Scott Love is Vice President and manager of Soliant Consulting's California office. He co-authored Que Publishing's Special Edition Using FileMaker Pro 7 and is an authorized Professional Training Foundation Series instructor.

Steve Lane is Vice President and manager of one of Soliant Consulting's Chicago area development teams. He has written for FileMaker Advisor magazine, and co-authored Advanced FileMaker Pro 6 Web Development and Que's Special Edition Using FileMaker Pro 7. He was awarded the FileMaker Fellowship Award in 2003 for "pushing the boundaries of FileMaker Pro."

Product Details

• Paperback: 912 pages
• Publisher: Que (May 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789735121
• ISBN-13: 978-0789735126
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,095 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Once - A Book That Delivers More Than What It Promises!, July 5, 2006

By	Bradley Horn (Havertown, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book talks about everything imaginable in detail and with deep intent to enlighten the reader on every topic. They achieve it! In short - BUY IT!

I've been developing FileMaker Pro systems since version 3 and have made use of many books. Unfortunately, and as is the case with most technical books these days, all those books fell way short of my technical needs and wishes - at all levels. One book, for example, while being the only useful resource for CDML (custom web enabling of FileMaker databases), was actually frustrating to read and utilize (examples and text content). The 'Bible' series provided some depth to understanding FileMaker but I always felt that they weren't covering something that needed to be said - like the sort of motivation for turning to the book in the first place. Somewhat useful but insufficient.

This book, I'm very happy to declare, IS WORTH IT'S WEIGHT IN GOLD! Even though its a big, thick, heavy book, I can't seem to put it down for wanting more of its enlightenment (its so useful). Their writing style makes it easy to understand the material while providing a sense that you can actually achieve more than you might have attempted otherwise. Its a definite confidence builder (for real this time). I've read chapters in preparation for visiting clients in order to be better prepared. I'm very glad (and so are my clients) that I did.

I've glanced through many of the current books out there and simply returned them to the shelf. They helped somewhat but didn't really go out of their way to sufficiently illuminate the bigger picture or penetrate deeply enough into the details to provide enough insight for real world problems, solutions, or even theory. Most books seem written like they are some sort of cookbook or extended sales brochure. (Click here, read the obvious label and press this button in order to do this topic - yawn!!! - what a waste of paper, time and potential). This book goes all out to prepare any reader for developing anything in Filemaker.

Upon reading this book, it dawned on me that the authors might have developed a Filemaker database (I'm making an educated guess here) for compiling all the information and their associated thoughts. Its so well organized. The consistent delivery of truly useful detailed information, tips, caveats, related material page links, and even general database development theory at all the right spots (without having to revert to the index all the time; actually I've hardly needed to use the index at all) speaks to me of their efforts brilliantly prepared and executed. Its more like they're mentoring their readers than just a book about some topic.

Whatever methodology employed to write this book they sure got it right! I wish other authors would do something similar.

And there's more. The (optional) companion book "FileMaker 8 Functions and Scripts Desk Reference" is a 'next step' kind of reference book I'd also recommend highly. I was so impressed with the "Special Edition Using FileMaker 8" that I went out and bought the companion book. Excellent!

Since joining the Yahoo FileMaker user groups I've read postings from way too many people in way over their heads trying to accomplish things they simply aren't trained for (through no fault of their own). And for each posting it occurred to me that they would all greatly benefit reading from "Special Edition Using FileMaker 8". What they were seeking and were greatly in need of is readily available in this book. If only...

Oh, and one more thing - I apologize for understating things!

And in case you're wondering, I've never worked for, met, or even conversed with any of the authors. I'm finally satisfied to have these two great books to assist me in developing more FileMaker systems. YA HOO!

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as it claims: The Only FileMaker 8 Book You Need, June 2, 2006

By	C. Pang (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While it is not the first book on the market on the new version of FileMaker Pro, Special Edition Using FileMaker 8 is definitely the best on the market for intermediate and advanced users. Written with great clarity, it shows not only the basics of FileMaker Pro, but it progresses to the more advanced topics such as XML/XSLT, FileMaker Server, ODBC/JDBC as well as web publishing. I specially enjoy the chapters on relational database design and data modeling, which many other books do a very poor job, if any at all. Two important areas of developing Filemaker Solution, Scripting and Function, are not only clearly explained, but extensive examples are used to show how they can be combined to make FileMaker Pro not only easy and fun to use, but also capable to tackle complex problems. All the example files are included in a cd, together will a pdf version of the book. I own FileMaker: The Missing Manual, which is great for beginner user to learn the basic; however, if you want to MASTER FileMaker Pro, this is the book to get.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Extensive FileMaker 8 Book, November 26, 2006

By	Richard M. Geiger (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Special Edition Using FileMaker 8," is 890-page book packed with extensive information on FileMaker Pro 8. The book was well written and is well laid out. The publisher makes good uses of icons, colored text, and text boxes to draw your attention to important items throughout the book.

The authors of the book gave the reader a quick introduction to FileMaker and quickly moved on to more advanced features. I highly recommend that beginning users look at a different book if they are not experienced in using FileMaker. The focus of the book is for people who are going to be developing FileMaker Pro databases. A more beginning user might look at the book "FileMaker Pro 8: The Missing Manual" by Geoff Coffey & Susan Prosser.

The book is written for both Mac and Windows users of FileMaker. The authors give short cuts for both operating systems. They also discuss some of the differences between the two platforms and how to make FileMaker cross platform compatible.

Throughout the book the authors point out the difference between FileMaker 7 qne FileMaker 8.0. It is easy to spot the differences because the information usually has icons next to it, in text boxes or in color. The book does not cover the new feature of FileMaker 8.5 which came out the summer of 2006. Some of the additional features of version 8.5 are additional web viewer and Universal Binary for Intel Macs.

On the DVD that is included with the book there is a PDF file of the book. PDF is great if you have a laptop and want to take the book on a trip or if you want to search the book by keywords. The PDF is protected so you cannot cut and past or print the document. The DVD also has projects examples the authors discuss in the book. I was able to view the projects with any problems.

I found the disk instructions for the DVD that came with the book did not work on the Mac. The instructions stated there would be a program that would install something but it did not work. I was able to copy the files to my hard-drive and use them. I did not test the DVD on a Microsoft Windows machine.

In order to do development work you will need a second book for the scripts. According to the authors they decided to split the book into two books for FileMaker 8. One book on FileMaker and the other book is on FileMaker scripts. The title of the script book is "FileMaker 8 Functions and Scripts Desk Reference" by Steve Lane, Scott Love and Bob Bowers published by Que. I did not review this book but I am planning on purchasing it.

If you are going to be performing FileMaker Pro development work this book is for you. If you are trying to learn the basics of FileMaker or will be an end user of a database, I would recommend that you look at another book.