Upgrading & Migration

Our homegrown v6 application has a dozen files, most with several thousand records, and the larger files are 200Mb+. It extensively uses the "tunneling" method to pass data between the current records of multiple open files by running external scripts, setting globals and then using look-ups. I believe this was the standard (only?) method to pass data between (artificially) related files in v6. I realise that the v7/8 relationship model totally supersedes this old kludgy way of getting data between files/tables, and that re-architecting the whole application is the ideal. However that is a monumental piece of work for us. Will the v6 "tunneling" method still w…

FileMaker Advanced makes standalone programs that does not need FileMaker, but does the PC version only make PC programs and the Mac version make programs that wil run an a Mac (PPC)?

Hi, I migrated from FM6 to FM8 on Windows 2000 platform, The databases were succesfully converted into fm8 version. The issue is I am unable to open the same using the same login credintials that of FM6. Can anyone help as to how should I go about accessing the converted databases in FM8. Thanks & Regards, Satish

I had to create a database for a class I am taking. The database was saved as fp7, but the instructor notified me he only had version 6. Is there anything I can do to convert my database from version 7 to version 6?

Hi, We are using FM 7. I have use for the mobile addition on my PDA. I see from the FM website that Mobile 8 is supposed to work with FM 7 on Mac and soon on Windows as well. I'd like to hear from people who have actually used FM Mobile 8 with FM 7 desktop. Does it work? Can I go back and forth syncing it between mac and windows desktop? Thanks for any info you can share. Susan

Hi. I am upgrading a system from FM 5 to 8. I want to deny access to the files for all clients that are are not using FM 8. Some users have FM 7 installed and i do not want them to access the files created in FM 8 (since some of the functions are not supported). What is the best method to do this?

Hey guys, We have 32 files all in Filemaker 5.5 being hosted on a server by Filemaker server 5.5. All clients are using 5.5 - 6.0. We are considering upgrading to Filemaker 8. I have converted some files over using a trial version and don't seem to see any problems. Other than the password issue which threw me for a loop at first. I do like some of the new features I see but am not quite sure it is worth us upgrading to version 8. I'm kinda concerned about the "Fixing what isn't broke" aspect. What we are using now works fine and has for 3 years. Since a lot of you already have migrated over I wanted to ask your opinions. What are the main benefits we w…

Hi guys. My company have been using FM 1.0 since 1992 (now on an iMac G3/OS 8.6)and we have never needed to upgrade. We have now bought a G4 imac with FM 8.0, and have just found out that things have moved on and the files are no longer compatible. This is a major headache, as we use FM not only for database duties, but also for reports, test certificates, diagrams, invoices, in fact everything a small business needs to output. We have developed hundreds of layouts over the years and cannot afford to lose them. As we need to move on, can anyone suggest how we can move forward from here? Is it possible to run this v1.0 in Classic, or would this be a stop-gap solution?…

I have just been trying to migrate my own 30 file solution from FM6 to 8Adv. While it has been tedious fixing up the file references, there are some broken scripts which are more tedious to deal with, and I'm not sure why they broke. I have a global nav script which is the same in every file and it seems to be the main culprit, but breaking in different places in different files. It also seems strange that in a short script of the form "If the named database is open, do this script but if not do this other script" both scripts are in the same file but one may be identified where the other line has been replaced by something like "file missing" and/or "script miss…

I have a client who's website was being run by FileMaker 6. It is currently disabled due to the size of one of the files, which keeps crashing the ISP's server. The file needs all of the data it contains, but will not grow much more over time. I created a subset of the offending file and am running it on my server to eliminate any other problems. Therefore, we decided to upgrade as a solution. I have one problem: my test server is too old to upgrade and we'll need to test for stability before the ISP will allow us to put the website back online. Is there anyone out there willing to let us test our website on their server for a few hours?

I’ve had the luxury of starting with FM7 and therefore have done everything in one file and not really known any different. Now I’m upgrading some existing FM6 solutions that are anywhere from 10 to 30 separate files. I’m wondering if there is any logic to keeping some of the files separate, so that I can begin to build a master template for each key area, which should be able to be added or removed 'easily' , depending on future needs and re-purposing for new clients. The other idea I had was to keep everything in one file, and simple not reference Table Occurrence that are not required for new clients. The final idea was to move to a separation mode…

Hi all, I'm just trying my hand at converting a FM6 solution into FM8 on a Mac (Tiger) and I'm discovering the file reference issues. After conversion, FM8 has renamed the files with the .fp7 extension. Do I need to add this extension into the file references that I'm keeping - it has left them with the old name without the extension? Cheers, Muzz

Hi there! I have some very old tables done in FileMaker long ago -- somewhere between 1986 and 1990. Unfortunately, I no longer even possess a Macintosh and am trying to recover the data contained in these files. There's no schema to speak of -- just a few two- or three-column tables, one per file as I recall. What's the best way to get at this data?

I just upgraded to FM8 Adv. from FM7 Dev. None of the databases I was using in FM7 were password protected. Now when some of them are opened, a password dialog box comes up with my Mac User name as the Account name and none of my favorite passwords work. In some of the other files, I'm allowed to open as a guest. And in still others no dialog box comes up. All of the files are linked by relationships. HELP! I need my data!

In FM Pro 8, it looks like all files are created/converted with the option "Indicate questionable words with special underline" set to ON. Is there any way to set this to OFF for all future file creations/conversions (and not have to create my own special template, etc.)? I couldn't find any way to do it from the standard documentation... (By the way, FMI: 1) they're NOT questionable words, they're French words!!! 2) Why don't you just fire the turkey who dreamed this up before he does more damage???) Thanks!

Hello- I am working on a solution to redesign a FM 5 system to an upgraded FM 8 system. It is in a corporate environment. I am unclear on the best approaches to setting up a Dev, Test, Training environment. Since FM is kind of an all-in-one package, how are multiple developers handled? How can solutions be migrated from Dev to test. Can different environments be set up on the same server? Basically, any help or guidance is appreciated! Thanks

I need to move my Filemaker 7.0 Server installation to new hardware, the server OS will change from W2K to W2K3. Is this straightforward to do and is there anything that I should look out for when doing this. Is any reconfiguration of the Filemaker Pro clients involved? I'm a FM novice so any halp or advice is most welcome. Thanks.

I recently upgraded to 8 advanced. Is there any need to keep 8 active on the same harddrive? I've noticed some erratic behavior, but can't put my finger on it.

I've been able to upgrade an old database (Ver 4) to work in 7 Pro. Is there any way now, to save, revert or export a copy of the database back to version 4? Thanks in adavance!

Version 8.0v3 has been released: http://www.filemaker.com/support/downloads/index.html

Hello all, I would like to know if there's some site (even the official filemaker web site) where I can find a list of current known bugs. could you help me or give me informations? thank you! PS: IMHO it would be very useful to create a forum or open a permanent thread about known bugs. thank you very much in advance! :)

Does anyone have any suggestion on the best path to convert a fairly complicated MS ACCESS application (numerous forms, reports, queries, table and macros) to FM PRO 8? I know there are tools to convert the tables. Is there anything available to convert the forms ro anything else?

Hello Gang, I'm migrating from FM5 to FM8 and rebuilding the solution from scratch (ugghhh - don't get me started). Does anyone know a way that I can transfer the extensive set of value lists that I have into the new solution? thanks in advance.

I need to move FM server 5 from the current server it is on to a different server. I have installed FM server 5 on the 2nd server but the client's can not see it to access files. For example from the client(FM Pro 6)normally they choose open file, use existing, then HOSTS button and the servername and mainmenu.fp5 appear and they are choose. However the new server name does not appear. Also where would the .fp5 files be stored because I am sure I would need to move them, should they be on the orginal server or is it possible they could be stored somewhere else. Any help would be appreciated the existing server is having major windows issue and I need to rehost the FM…

Can I upgrade file maker 5.5 pro to 7 pro by using the Filemaker 7 pro CD? How can I convert our filemaker 5.5 pro documents to 7 pro without losing data or getting errors? Is there a way to automate the process? What would be the best way to upgrade our department’s Filemaker 5.5 pro software? Thanks!

I have a hundred runtime users I have to update from FM6 to FM8 version. Can't import their client data directly. Only XML seems to work as an intermediary format. The problem is that on some folks data I get an parsing (whatever that is) error messsage regarding inappropriate character 0x4. Detective work learnt me that 0x4 is Ascii for Control-D which in the XML world apparently means EOT (end of transmission) and thus dies on attempted import... How do I avoid getting that in my Exported File or how do I extract it from the xml file? HELP?!?

I've got a solution that I developed years ago in 5.5, and am trying to change it over to 8. I'm not sure of exactly how to proceed. I've dabbled in one of the provided solutions and am finding that it's not all that different. I've got a solution that has 4 related files. Orders, suppliers, customers, and Misc. POs. I'd like to be able to just sort of "slide over" all of my forms into version 8, but am not sure how to do so. What I do understand, or at least I think I understand, that we want it all to be in one file, with 4 separate tables. Does anyone have any suggestions to get me started, or maybe can you direct me to another post that might have the same e…

Hi, I am using FM5 and I would like to upgrade to v8. I have downloaded the trial version from the internet... to try it. All I've done was to open the fp5 file from the v8 trial version, a fp7 file was created and it worked perfectly (although I had to get rid of the passwords first). I could use version 8 without any apparent big problem. I am convinced v8 is for us, so I wish to purchase a 5 pack version. Filemaker.com says that the update works from version 6 and 7 only, so I'm not sure what to do. Shall I buy an upgrade package or a full version??? Has anyone used an upgrade to go from v5 to v8??? Many thanks!

Can files that are created in FileMaker on a Mac be opened, modified, and saved in FileMaker on a Windows XP ? And vice versa? THANKS!

In FM 6 to reduce file size when I use graphics to decorate a layout I insert a picture but tick the "store only a reference to the file". As long as I leave the graphics e.g. image.jpg in the FileMaker folder they show up. Now I have upgraded to FM 8 where the graphics showed on the layouts is an empty box which states "file cannot be found:image.jpg" Is there a place where I can put these "store only a reference to the file" graphics in my OSX where they will again all show up in the layouts or do I have to insert them and reference them all again.

Hi All, Has anyone migrated off MS Access onto FMPro 7 or 8 ? Is there a simple way, or a tool I should know about ? The dbase isn't that complicated, but it has quite a few records (10k +) in each of 3 tables. Any help would be great. Thanks, Ted

I have a database that has been migrated from 3 to 6 to 8 and I am running into a strange issue with this individual database I have not encountered with the other forty odd databases I have converted. Originally, this database did not have a real account associated with it, when one wished to modify it, they would enter the password, otherwise they viewed it as a read-only guest. When it is shared over the network from FileMaker 8 Server, one can still view the database, and one can still login using just the password (leaving the username blank) however the database can not be modified in this state. Fair enough, I go into Define Accounts and Privil…

I need to use a file that was created in filemaker 6 on a different computer with filemaker 8 installed. I think it transfered ok, because it now has the fm7 extension but when I try to change any data it tells me the file is not modifiable. Do I need to correct this problem on the original computer with permissions of the file, or can it be fixed on the second computer in the newer version? The file was transfered by email. Does that make any difference? Thanks for any suggestions...

Hi, I have a basic-ish point of sale FM7 solution, that I put into Run-time and then put into our 3 stores. Now, one of our stores has requested a second computer, so they can enter data onto either computer. Can I, and/or how do I work a run time solution onto 2 computers? Thanks for your help. Dave ???

I'm looking at a file that was converted from FMP 5.5 to FM8. A typical date, as entered, might read "07/12/1962" - that is shown formatted as entered. The same field with date formatted as "Jul-12" style will not display that date, instead it returns the "?" If I remove the leading "0" the date format resolves to "Jul-12". It certainly doesn't seem to violate the M/D or D/M laws. I can also re-enter the date or copy/paste, exactly as is, and the date now formats correctly. There are 12K of them to do - it there a better way? Is this "known" - eg. that a date can be a date yet not be a date. The field takes great exception if I enter 13/12/2005 when the expected f…