FileMaker Pro v7 – v11

When using the Save Send Records (PDF) to export a report with images (JPEG, 24 bit) the images will intermittently not appear in the resulting PDF file. I can handle the PDFs being a bit larger but I need them to accurately reflect the date i am saving. Has anyone else seen this problem or know what might cause it?

Please help! I've recently upgraded to FMP 7 and am having difficulty with look-ups. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I've converted my old databases that had look-ups that worked successfully before conversion. In the converted files the look-up info only comes in after you close the file and reopen it. Okay...so I took a step back and tried to trouble shoot what I was doing wrong.....I tried to set up new simple related databases with look-ups and the look-up info appears inconsistently. Sometimes I can enter the key info and the related info will come in and sometimes I enter the key info and no info comes in. Sometimes this happens in the same record w…

Sorry, I know this is off-topic..but there is a slight chance I might be able to do something about this in Filemaker so I'm going to ask it here. Also.. this is for a mean boss so you will be doing a HUGE favor if you can help me :-) I have a Filemaker system that has a portal with file references to PDFs on a network path. My user (on a mac) has configured his machine to open all PDF files with Acrobat Reader, however, some of the files he opens from the filemaker system are opening in Preview. I /think/ most of these PDF files that are opening in Preview were scanned on a machine that is also set to open all PDF file with Acrobat. Can any of you sugg…

Hi, I have 2 fields with 3 repetitions each one. One field is called Product and the other is Price. I have created a Calculated field that tells me the lowest price, but I would like that it tells me the name of the lowest priced product instead. Is there a solution for this? I know it should be easy. Also, is it posible to sort the records within the same layout? I have uploaded my file minimun.fp7 as a sample. Thanks for your help. Minimun.zip

Has anyone had any problems with dictionaries on FM8 or 7? Every time I open the application I have to re-select the dictionary. Thanks, Kieron

I can't seem to find any posts on this subject but... Is it possible to import a microsoft word dictionary into a filemaker one? Kieron.

I purchased FileMaker 7 so that it would work on my Mac and PC. I've been using it on the Mac and wanted to set it up on the PC for a contact manager on both system. It won't install on the PC. Is this normal? Cheers, Bambi :

Hi again, another question: Lately, people have been saying that records they delete reappear later on. These are records that are displaying in a portal, but they are being deleted from their own layout. If the "allow deletion of portal records" box is not ticked, does that prevent them being deleted from within the portal only, of from anywhere? Again, in the hope of anyone's helpful insights into our woes, I have attached a screen grab of the relationships graph (clone file is too big to upload, even zipped up). I didn't design this database, and am still a learner - so it's proving very hard to go back and figure out problems. Really grateful for any h…

Hi there, I'm new to the forums. We are having a few problems with portals in our database, and would be really grateful for anyone making any suggestions to help. Our clone file was too big to upload, even zipped up (I'll look into getting it smaller) so hopefully a description will do for now... We have portals set up to display (amongst other things) advertising bookings, each booking on a new record. A few months ago, *some" of the records stopped showing up in the portal. If you do a search in one of the portal fields, it finds the records, but they don't show up in the portal - the record with the portal on it dispays with an empty portal (or a portal wit…

We have a couple of strange problems here that I wanted to mention, and see if anyone else is experiencing the same. In Windows 2000, FMP 8, Large text fields (8.5 x 11 or larger) seem to cause a major slow down when typing. So much so that you can type a sentence in the time that it takes it to display the first word. This problem does not seem to effect OSX from the same layout / file. In OS X 10.4, we have a few font problems. Times seems to cause FMP 8 to slow down, especially when entering preview mode, changing layouts, or records. Also we seem to have some trouble getting Helvetica to print at all. I have test this out on a fresh install of 10.4.2 (trying…

I had an odd adventure today and thought someone at Filemaker might need to check it out but I don't know how to attract their attention. I was pleased that you could save to excel spreadsheets since I use the subtotal feature there. I did my work in 8 Advanced then saved directly to an excel file. That was okay and I liked being able to do that but then when I went to the subtotal feature, excel would not sum. It would count but not sum. I tried all sorts of fixes but nothing (or I should say zero) worked. The formulas were stated correctly and the cells that were to be added were the right ones but the answers was incorrectly Zero. I finally exported the file in…

A client accidentally installed all copies of Filemaker with the same license key. I can't seem to remove the old license and replace it with the correct one - I don't see a preferences file and trashing the application hasn't done it either. How do I do this? All the machines are MacOS X 10.3 using FMP 7.

Hi all, Before I get too far into things and potentially destroy a good database, I wanted to check to see if there are any known issues around opening a v7 fmp db in v8, then re-opening it in v7? We are unfortunately running both versions at the moment. I've tested this and it appears to be fine, but would love to get confirmation around this from other users. many thanks, julia talley

Has anyone else noticed that FM8 leaves a hidden process hanging around after you close & quit on MS Windows Server 2003 & XP? It causes problems the next time you try to do anything since the app won't launch or if it does, it kicks you out when you attempt access a db because the app is "already in use".

First off the ability to create tables on import is a HUGE improvement and makes me glad we've been dragging our feet about migrating from 5 to 7. However unless I'm missing something there doesn't appear to be a way to simply move a set relationship from the migrated external file table to the newly created internal table. The table dropdowns are grayed out in the Edit Relationship dialog box. So you're stuck with having to delete then recreate each relationship from scratch. Why can't you just change the table in the currently set relationship (and better yet have it highlight the foreign key with presumably the same field ID)? On more of a nice to have n…

Ok, I have a simple 2-layout, single table database that consist of an invoicing layout, and an order entry layout (using FM Pro 8 Advanced) The way it works is when an order comes in, all the information is entered and a unique order number is generated for that particular job. The invoice then reflects that order number for each invoice that is generated against that particular job as well as an invoice number. What I want to do is add a list at the bottom of the order entry page that shows each invoice generated against that order number – usually 1-8 invoices before the job is finally out the door. My problem is, I can’t figure out how to isolate o…

Im trying to get a forumal calculated but the problem is that if a student dosent have a SAT score then I must use an ACT score, Also if the student doesn't have Letter Grade point average I must you an hundred point system. I want for people who use the database to get a popup or something that asks what does the student have; like if the user is at the field for SAT score before they get to fill the field in, I want something that asks did they have an SAT score and if yes they can fill in the field, if no the field can become grey out and there instructed to fill out the ACT Field.) I will probably need to do this for many field. is it possible?

Hi all, This question is for those who sell FM licenses along with their solutions to clients. The company that I work for has been using FM6 to seel their application to their clients. Since the next release will be on 8, and most of our clients will have to upgrade, I am wondering what would happen when installing the software. In other words, with FM6, the Product Key was not based off an algorithm embedding the name of the company. However, in 7 and 8 either the company name or the User name has to match the product sheet FileMaker gives you. If this is the case, whever you redistribute another copy of fileMaker 7 /8 to the client, is it based off …

I'd like to build a letter module that includes a handwritten signature to be stuck onto the end of the letter. Here's the catch.. the same clients will receive several letters and I'd rather each letter have a unique version of the same signature. One thing I was thinking was.. Scan 30 signatures, and choose which one to use randomly per letter generated. That would be a big step toward making each signature unique.. is there any other way ?

I would like to restrict access via passwords to certain layouts in my solution. Is there a quick and easy way to do this? Thanks. Dave

"English Help Files are missing. Please use installer to install the language package" is the message. I have almost six hours on the problem including FM8, but the help files remain "missing." I have removed all, reinstalled all and I am getting results. [color:red]Can anyone PLEASE help me?Fred

So I've got this great HTML Marketing Letter all ready to go at: http://www.theempiregroup.net/emarketing/1stletter.htm But no matter what I do, I can't get FileMaker to send it. I've tried saving it as an HTM file and then having it compose an eMail and use the HTM as an attachment, but some eMail clients will only show it as an attachment and not embed the HTML into the window. The best way that I have been able to do it is in Safari, you can go to the File menu and select: "Mail Contents of this page" and you get a PERFECTLY formatted HTML eMail that isn't sent as an attachment and is ready perfectly by every mail client I've come across. Any idea how I…

Having a little trouble, don't think it's possible but maybe I'm missing something: doing a database for a private investigations company, and for their surveillance reports they have entries by time, which are of varying length. Sometimes they want to include a digital photo for the entry. I can't seem to figure out a layout that will accomodate some entries with just text, and some with just images - for entries with just text, say one line, and no photo, the next record will not slide up to the text, but just to the boundary of where the container field is, even though it is empty. Any one with any ideas?

I have downloaded the Free Email Campaign Management from the FileMaker web site but instead of it opening up as the screen shot shows the first form layout has so many overlapping fields looking like all of the forms have been dumped on top of each other in the first. So has anyone found this also and has anyone got a cleaned up version by chance. I have spent a little time trying to clean it up but without screen shots of the various forms showing their contents I am just making a mess of it. :idunno:

I'm hosting a filemaker 8 database on fm 7 server and I'm getting very strange behaviour. When I print to my HP i get an error message the says "out of memory" this has happened on every mac that i have installed fm8 on??? anyone else have problems printing with fm8? Also, when i print a multiple record report in "view by list mode" I get it to print ok (to a different color printer) but it prints as many copies as there are records??? it prints the page as it is supposed to be, with all of found recordes on the print but it also prints onecomplete page for every record in the found set. is 8 buggy? How can ALL of the computers that I have put…

I am looking for a good filemaker pdf plugin that will allow me to control the name and other important characteristics of the pdf. I would like to: Name the pdf based on data from fields. Control the resolution of the pdf. Control the number of copies to print. What drawer to draw the pdf from. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I found this one. http://www.schubec.com/en_pdfplugin.php Does anyone have any feedback for this plugin or any others? Jason

I wasn't sure where to start this thread. Since I'm working in Adv 8, I figured this is as good a place as any: My old 6 solutions had a pretty arduous change log scripted into it. Each field on the layout that we wanted to track changes for had a global field masquerading as the data field, and a "save" button would compare the data in the global field to it's "parent" data field. If the data was no the same, it would append the OLD data to a global field (with a 4-ltr field identifier), then write the contents of a global field into a related field in a changelog database. This way, rollbacks could be scripted pretty easily for the system administrator (me). After …

How do I get fields to hyperlink, like in the case of an URL or an email address?

Is there a way within FileMaker to only allow a certain number of copies to be transferred? Or if you copy the file to a CD it can only be downloaded x amount of times? I have protection software, but was wondering if I could also do it in FM? Thanks

I ignored version 7 and try to step over from 6 to 8. Version 8 is much faster with calculating results on heavy reports I made. But: 8 is also giving wrong results, knowing I calculate over 4 different tables... Every time I start FM8, the first report is right! But the second (with different calculating parameters) gives the same results as the first report.... No wonder that FM8 is much faster! Who has the same experiance and more important: who has any idea for a right solution?? Here you can download a small example: http://www.eenvoudigg.nl/afbeeldingenextern/filemaker/TestDatabaseEN.zip

I have a database longtime ago converted from FM5pro to FM7. I have global fields, set up as text, and with auto enter data text, allow override. I use these globals for print heads on certain lay-outs, when not filled out by the user the auto enter text is something like "Welcome to L.A.P." to avoid an empty line, to avoid the absence of a header. Always ok in FM5. In FM7.0v1 (I know, not the newest, that's v3) when I create a new record, the content of the global is overwritten by it's auto enter content! Anyone familiar with this?

The Windows version of FileMaker Pro 7 does not support OpenType, PostScript Type 1, bitmap, raster, or vector fonts. Has that been resolved in FM8, or can I still not use my favourite fonds when I upgrade?

I'd like to pose a question to the user when he logs out of the filemaker database I've made. I'd like the question to show in a dialog box or a new layout, and then have the default choice selected after 7 seconds if the user does not make a choice.. it would be great to show a countdown of the seconds as well. Is this possible ? -)

I have a table of job candidates, which will need to be assigned to committees for review. There are 6 committees. In general, the assignments can be completely arbitrary. candidate 1--committee 1 candidate 2--committee 2 3 - 3 4 - 4 5 - 5 6 - 6 7 - 1 8 - 2 9 - 3 . . . etc. That would be easy enough I guess.. but, here's the monkey wrench. My boss will need to predesignate some of the candidates in one way or another. He may say, designate candidate 23 to committee 4 or he may say, do NOT give candidate 24 to committee 5 So, I'd like a way to allow for these manual per-candidate rules to be allowed for, WHILE at the same …

Hello, I have recently upgraded several Mac OSX clients to FMP 7 from v. 5.5. My server is running FM Server 3, I can not see any of the files hosted on the server, is it possible to view hosted files on server v 3 from client version 7? I have converted the hosted files to version 7. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I've created a layout with a very simple button, where I've attached a script and a parameter to it. The script calls a subscript, can I pass the parameter to this? At present I haven't managed to figure it out, but im hoping they can be passed to different files unlike variables. Jalz

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - OCT 3, 2005 WHITE PAPER FOR FMP NOVICES - VERSION 1.04 RELEASE Salt Lake City, UT--OCTOBER 3, 2005--David Kachel/Codemasters Workshop -- publishers of AutoNavigator for FileMaker Pro--Today announced the first release, version 1.04 of their free WHITE PAPER FOR FMP NOVICES. WHITE PAPER FOR FMP NOVICES is a compilation of important advice not available anywhere else. No newcomer to FileMaker Pro should be without it. Currently covering 52 important topics concerning the proper design of a database solution in FileMaker Pro and mistakes to be avoided, this is a must-have for any FileMaker newcomer. It is free to download. Don't pu…

Here's the scenario: One table with a container field that holds either a file or a file reference, a text field that contains the file path to the file, and a text field called publish that returns the values "Yes" or "No". If this last field has the value "Yes", then that record will be accessible through IWP and must contain the actual file in order to allow file downloads. If "No", then just a reference is stored. The stumbling block I'm running into is being able to insert the file (or replace it with a reference) without the user having to do much more than change the value in the publish field. So far I've tried by making the container an auto-ente…

I have noticed that when entering a field with a drop list, I hit the first letter or use the arrow keys to jump to entry, the first value in the list is skipped. I can come back to it, but it is skipped first time around. Has anyone else noticed this?

I've noticed that when setting the value to a script variable, the calculation want the results as text. It doens't appear that one can set the variable to any other type. Has anyone attempted to set a variable to other than text? I've done whole numbers as part of a loop counter with no problem, but nothing else. I'm just curious if assigning it as a decimal number , date, container, etc... other than text could/has been a problem for anyone. I don't have any reason (now) to do so, but wanted to gear up if at any future point in time I do. I could just try it myself, but I'm too lazy ;)

Just received our copy of server 8, but just wanted to know if those people still on v7 professional will be able to connect. Thanks

I'm getting a very strange bug in FMP8A. In browse mode, I see tool tips. No big deal right? Except these tool tips I didn't create, and its not over anything but a color background. These tool tips say things like "Queen of Hearts" "Jack of Spades" "Eight of Spades" I'm not doing ANYTHING with cards, about 6 months ago I built a little 21 application with FM7D, but I haven't opened it in at least 3 months. Sometimes, my mouse even turns into a hand, like when you mouse over a button. But nothing is on my layout! This still didn't bug me that much, made me laugh really, but those same tool tips are now showing up in Browse mode!

I'd like to know if filemaker could handle groupware activity (email, contacts, forums, file management, etc.) through the web publishing? Are there any pre-built groupware applications for Filemaker?

Well I downloaded the 30 trial and I can say HOLY ****. Sorry for the language. What can I say, FINALLY mouse wheel movement. That alone is enough for me. The tabbed tool is awesome. I can totally see myself consolidating layouts now. Finally Align is now in the tool bar or a tear off window. Autofill is awesome, and no work to set it up. Email support ABOUT TIME! Calendar pop up is cool. Auto spell check is nice. NO Flash improvements BUMMER! I have only had this for an hour so I'm still going through it. I can't wait to download FM Pro 8 Advanced Demo so I can play with tooltips. Anybody else download the demo. If so what do you think?

I just recentely found out that if you copy text from a AS400 session and paste it into a FM7 database it doesnt paste correctly it works fine in FM6 is there any fix for this? It pastes something like this 1234[][][][] ... Help please!!

O.k. I'm new to this whole Filemake pro thing so bear with me. I got a copy of FMP 7 from an old boss of mine when he changed to FMP 8 and I'm muddeling through as best I can and so far so good. I've put together a Database with just about everything that I or anyone else in the family may need so it is all in one place and have run into a portal issue. I got it put together and all of that through so major web searching and a lot of quick learning and now it is saying that I need to have a "Valid Value" in a specific field. The field is what I'm trying to make modifiable with the portal in the first place and is just a number based field. I can still enter all the …

I wrote a simple "Save as PDF" script that works fine in Pro 8, but does not function at all in the Runtime version of the same file. I also noticed that if you use the "Save/Send Records As" menu item, the PDF choice is not available in the Runtime. Any suggestions? PS This is my first attempt at a forum, I'll do my best to grasp the protocol, language, concept. Input welcome.

Hi Folks, I've got what should bee an old and resolved problem, except I am having a heck of a time solving it. I have two tables: Jobs:: and Contacts:: I am trying to set up an intuitive contact entry in the Jobs:: table where I have three fields, Jobs::cName Jobs::cBusiness and Jobs::cID All three of these fields have a match field in each record in Contacts:: Here's the hitch, I am trying to use the new FM8 autofill function to have a layout where a user can set the various contacts by filling either the Jobs::cBusiness field or the Jobs::cName field, if either one changes then the other should change by a calculated autofill. I MUST at…

I'm trying to install FM Pro7 trial on a potential client/customer's DELL Laptop running WinXP Pro and have uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times and I still get the error: "FileMaker cannot share or be a client of a file because the networking stack could not be initialized" Anyone else ever see this problem? I've had no trouble using the trial ware on a dozen other potential customer's machines.

hello everyone, i'm updating our database and i'd like to combine several fields into one field. we have several fields like "notes" "comments" etc. and i'd like all of the data of these fields to go into one field, and then delete the fields we no longer use. can someone let me know how to do this? maybe there's a script, or is it a built-in function of fmpro? i couldn't find anything like this in the help files. thanks very much in advance alexandra

I have written numerous emails to FileMaker about their lack of support for Linux. I work for a government housing authority, but my family own a substance abuse counseling facility, whos network systems I also manage. We have been a FileMaker Pro-based shop since the days of FM 3.x. I run a Linux Firewall, a FreeBSD file server/print/DNS/etc. server. We have 1 Windows Server for FileMaker, and Windows desktops because of FileMaker. FileMaker is the only thing hindering us from becoming a 100% Windows-free environment. Even with as busy as I am, I am getting close to getting rid of FileMaker throughout the network and dumping it to a PostgreSQL database with a web-b…

I'm thinking of upgradeing to 8, I was thinking of taking the step from Pro to Advanced. I've read you can do all kinds of things wiht Advanced, my question is though, can someone running Pro open the file you developed with Advanced and see all the things you can only develop with Advanced. Also, In 8 is that bug with Print Setup fixed. http://www.fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/131528/post/138185/hl/+Salesman0Gil/#138185

I would like to install Filemaker 8 and begin familiarizing myself with the new features. But we still use Filemaker 7 and can not risk full implementation until Filemaker 8 is battle tested in our scenario. How does Filemaker 8 install with Filemaker Developer 7? Do both installs run without conflict? How you deal with Filemaker 8 take over the *.fm7 files? Let me know if you have any suggestions migrating solutions to Filemaker 8. It does not seem complex since Filemaker 8 uses the *.fm7 format. But you never know.

I deployed a small database yesterday. A purpose of this db is to record notes of a phone calls made by select clients. These notes are kept in a text field in a portal record. In its first test a user entered two records in portal record. This was fine until the report was processed at the end of the day. The report, which is run by a script that looks at the system date, generated a report that only showed the first recorded note, but not the second. Why did this happen? I can not seem to figure it out. John

Hello All, I am perplexed. What I want is to use the pop-up or drop down field to look up a record on a layout. I have tried this without tabbed layout and with tabbed layouts. When I find the record in the list the FM thinks I am wanting to change the Primary Key for the contact. The lookup is in a value list. Is this my problem? Does it need to be a different way? John

My windows xp installation has recently become borked and I need to reinstall windows. I just realized that I cannot find the original cd and do not have any copies. I've torn my house apart looking for it. I was just about to finish a project. I have my original serial #. Any ideas? I know I can probably contact filemaker but don't want to wait or pay. I noticed the updates for version 7 weigh in at about 100 meg, are these complete installations? Could I just input my serial with the updater? Thanks in advance

http://www.filemaker.com/company/newsroom/releases/130326.html Benchmark results show speeds up to "100% faster" (which I think makes more sense expressed as a fraction, i.e up to 2x as fast). Anyone know when Server 8 Advanced will ship?

Unless I am completely misunderstanding the reason for the "File Maintenance" utilities on FM 8 Advanced, I would have thought that these would have been much better placed in the standard version of the program. At present, to compact a file in the standard version one needs to resort to an ungainly scripted process. With the propensity of FM files to increase in size due to the way it stores all amendments it surely makes sense to have a simple menu selection in the Standard cersion as we have in Advanced. Or is that just too simple?

Have been using a database where a referenced file is entered onto the database by a 'insert calculated result" that being a filename/location allready dtermined via another script. this used to work but now is saying it can not find the file needed to complete script. Ideas anyone?

I have a problem with FM8 advanced when using across platforms. In FM7 both win and mac behaved the same way... an object that was partially in the header and partially in the footer was chopped at the dividing line. It was sometimes a pain but also had its uses at times, but at least both platforms behaved in the same way. When I got FM8 the first thing I installed on the mac and immediately noticed that in browse mode the entire object was visible no cropping. I guess its my own fault but I assumed it was deliberate and redesigned my layouts taking this into account, but once I finished I ran the files on windows... and there it still works the old way s…

icky... It still appears the bug where if window 1. is maximised, and a new window is created (aka a little pop-up window i.e say 200x200) the bug whereby it restores window 1 is not fixed. (i.e adjust window is global to all windows) Does everyone concur or have I lost the plot? lol

I currently have a large database running on Q&A on DOS. I am looking to migrate this over to FM but I'm not sure how to transfer the programming and whether FM will understand it. Any ideas? ...or do I have to start from scratch with just the data?

Is it possible open a FMP file via a windows command prompt? I am trying to schedule an export by having a file that fires the export script upon opening the file & then it closes the application. I was hoping to have a batch file that would open the FMP file. I am not sure if this is possible. Any input would be appreciated! Thanks! John

Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone had an answer for why in FileMaker 7 if you press the ESC key on the keyboard to cancel and operation, it's take so long, but running our 5.5 System, pressing the ESC key cancels the operation almost immediately. Both systems are exactly the same as the FileMaker 7 Database is a conversion of the 5.5 Database. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

During our migration to FM7 i require a method to allow users to seamlessly open files. I do not wish for users to wonder if the file they want is in Fm6 or Fm7. I can maintain a master database of file locations that the launcher application can reference. I am in the process of trying to get a FM7 file launcher to work in order to open both FM6 and FM7 files. I am attempting to use "open url" script step with the following parameters. for an FM6 file: FMP5://serveripnumber/filename.fp5 for an FM7 file: fmp7://:)@serveripnumber/filename.fp7 Of course the FM7 one works fine. the Fm6 one will open filemaker but not open the file.

Hi I recently purchased another client copy of FMP which is now version 7 - all the other FMP licences we have for clients are other v6 or v5.5 - we are running FMP Server on v6 too. I found the following 'help' file on filemaker.com but don't understand it. filemaker help page Does anyone know if I can use a v7 client to access v6 files without having to make any changes to the rest of my setup. Alternatively, how do I use the FMP7 which I've purchased with a copy of FMP6? Any/all help gratefully received. Graeme

Can FileMaker Pro 7 files that have been edited in FileMaker 8 Advanced still be run with Filemaker Pro 7 if none of the FileMaker Pro 8 features have been used?

Here's an interesting file, showing a peculiar behavior of related value lists in version 7. It's a good thing I checked if this is true in v.8 also. Goes to show how risky it can be to rely on undocumented "features". RelatedValueList7vs8.fp7.zip

our company recently purchased 2 licenses of FM-8 advanced(both unique). I have the pleasure of being a recipient of one of the copies. For the first few days everything was going fine and the new features are great. However i have encountered a problem. We have two servers which host our files. Both are live Mon-Fri with many users interacting. When i log into one of the servers i receive a message that my licensing code is in use by myself?!?!?! this just came out of the blue one morning... i have had no problems with the application not responding or anything like that. after i receive that message FM automatically quits. However, on the se…

The new Tabs Facility is really useful in cutting down the number of layouts and navigation scripts. Does anyone have a clue to determine which tab the user is on? I could find no function anywhere that has anything to do with the tabs. I tried putting an invisible box around each tab and passing a script the tab name, but that didn't work. Steve

I've been having server crashing issues (related to Apple Remote Desktop crashing, but that's another topic) that have left me with a big corrupted file. This file would crash FM7 using the "Recover" command. However, under FM8 the recover command worked successfully. So, if you have a corrupted data file that can't be recovered FM7, you may want to try FM8.

I use FileMaker Pro 7 extensively to import data from external Oracle databases. I have a demo copy of FileMaker Pro 8. I like it a lot. It seems faster, the new tab control is great, and the ability to create a new table from an import is a real time saver. But, I can't get the ODBC connection with Oracle to work! I've read the FM user's guide and downloaded a few new drivers, but to no avail. I wonder if the problem could either be the fact that I'm using a demo version or that I need FileMaker Pro 8 Advanced. I seem to remember reading about a recent change to ODBC connections. I know it could easily be a configuration error on my part, but if anyone knows if it i…

FileMaker now suports script variables $local $$global These are going to save a ton of time!

My company is running FMP 6 with 5.5 server, I have been working on a proposal for a few months now to buy a new server and go to 7. Now that 8 came out I tried to tack on 8 to my proposal but management is saying they would rather work 1 version behind the latest. The fear is that 8 will not be stable and require updates that could hinder productivity. I really feel if we are going to upgrade then 8 is our best option. It has many of the features built in that they have been asking me to include in the new/old system. Can anyone help me make an argument? I have already showed them how we would save money by doing it now, and how the new features are …

I was hoping that Menu Sets could be assigned to Privilege Sets; apparently not - and if I missed it, please someone point me to it! It IS possible to use a startup script to set the custom menu for a Privilege Set, for example, a basic set for Users, an edit set for Privileged Users, and filemaker default for Admins. The script command is- Install Menu Set [specified menu set name] But, you can't directly specify a set in Define Accounts and Privileges; the choice there remain the same as in 7 (All, Editing only, Minimum). Given that the new Menu Set feature is so cool and so incredibly customizable- I can't figure why FM made this omission to the Privilege…

Since I seem to be a magnet for finding bugs, and since I was unable to find a way to report them to FMI, I contacted someone on another forum who is an FMI techie. He gave me the web page to report problems: Link One that I stumbled across yesterday: If you try to concatenate a file path in a calc: "c:FolderName" & filename. You'll get an error. Solution is to add a space after the 2nd "" above and use TRIM to remove it. Steve

I am testing trial of FMP8, and can't seem to find how to set a tooltip to pop up over a certain field. Any ideas?

I'm not sure where this belongs but posted it here as it affects FM in general. Came back to my computer one day after it had been in general use by the family. Found all the icons for FM files were different. All but one changed from the familiar blue file to a plain white box with black outline and in the lower left corner was the miniature version of the blue file. Another FM file (the only one on the desk top but closed) had the icon of one of my kids games. It still worked as the FM solution I expected but the icon is different. What happened? Any ideas about how to undo this?

I must be missing something obvious but... where is the place in the FMP8 help file where it lists all the stuff that's new in this release and walks you through how to use it? If it's in there I'm not having much luck finding it... is there such a document elsewhere?

My Filemaker 8 pack arrived, with a note informing that some new features in Filemaker 8 are 'not' supported with Server 7 . . . It didn't mention which features, although the guys at Pointinspace have published the following list : http://www.pointinspace.com/filemaker8/ I thought others might find this link helpful. Darrin

Background: I am in charge of maintaining a database of product spec sheets which contain a technical detail drawing. The drawings are created in Freehand MX and cut & pasted into the FM container field. The database (FM ver. 5.5) is currently running in OS9 classic mode with no printing quality or pdf export quality issues. The issue: When I run the database in OSX (either FM 5.5 or 7) the drawings pasted into the container fields will not print with the same quality that they do from OS9. Instead of crisp vector graphics I get distorted bitmap images. The same issue occurs when exporting a pdf of the spec sheet. I've experimented with a variety of gr…

We need to import data from an Excel document that has First and Last Name and some with middle initial, in the same field. Each name is on a separate line, but as I said, "John Doe" or "John B. Doe" is in one field. My FileMaker solution has two separate fields of "FirstName" and "LastName". How do I get the names in their respective fields? Thanks for your help, James

i think, it is important to know the past... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileMaker#History [[**]]

Has anyone had much experience with the tab control feature yet? I'm working on a database that tracks editing information (e.g. shot numbers / shot details / lighting / clip length / etc...) and I want to use the tabs to display various categories of info. In layout mode, the content of one tab disappears when clicking on another tab. However, in browse mode, the content from all the tabs is displayed on top of each other. So...after adding the control and defining tabs, how do I enter the fields onto the tabs so that their content is only displayed when their corresponding tab is selected? Thanks for any insight you can provide. - - Jeff

Need the maxium size of information I can put in 1 field. I Know in version six it was 32K but I can't seem to find that information for fmp7 Tahnks Stu

I have just written some scripts making use of the new $$ global script variables to pass parameters between scripts and I was getting some odd results. On monitoring the values of the script variables I discovered that the variables were not passing and it turns out the reason is that I was using a script in one file to call a script in another file. The significance of the comment in the help file "global until the file closes" has now hit me. The scripts may be "global" in the file but they are also "local" to the file. The values are NOT passed from one script to another if the scripts are in different files (even though the files are related). No doubt I wa…

848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 848 NightWing Enterprises is pleased to announce **Eight for 8!** Available immediately, are eight demonstration files which showcase a selection of the new features of FileMaker Pro 8. The 848 downloads can be accessed online at: http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/#fmp8 These are free downloads, provided as a courtesy to fellow developers and prospective clients. Full access is provided to all eight of the demonstration files, which include an array handler, a multi-window record selection system and a dynamic sub-summary data generator. The eight files in this release focus on areas …

Am I correct in thinking that right now you can download a 30-day trial version of FM 8, but not of FM 8 Advanced? Have any Volume Licensing Agreement (VLA) folks received either FM8 or FM8 advanced yet?

The "save as pdf" feature is great... (even if the resulting files are bloated). I have it working beautifully (via scipting) on both Mac & Windows in FMP8 and FMP8A. However, when I create a runtime for either platform, the script(s) fail and there is not "save file as PDF"... on "excel". I even tried a custom menu set and put the PDF in the File menu... works fine in "real" versions, but isn't there in runtimes. Any ideas? (I can use OSX's printing for Mac, but would like a one button solutions for Windows as well)

I think I have found a bug in FM8 during Find mode and I need some of you to confirm it. Steps to Replicate: 1. Enter Find mode on one of your layouts. 2. Make sure the status area is displayed, so you can see the request counts, etc. 3. Create 3 find requests, total. ( the number of requests is not important) 4. Now go to any one of those requests (let us use the 3rd one). 5. Delete the 3rd request. 6. Notice that the request total count did not decrement. It still says you have the same total number of requests and that you are still on the 3rd request. You if you set any request pref. (such as omit) and delete the request it will no…

Hi, i'm just, finally, porting my solution to from FMP 6 to FMP 7 (8 server is unreleased, and I use FMP 7 server). Is there any obvious optimization tricks in FMP 7 that can make the database faster than 6 ? For instance I'm thinking about the variables for string maniuplation where before I had to repeat many times in the same calculation all the Right(, Left(, Middle to process one tiny chunk of string. Any good FMP 7 pratices ? Thanks

No field, no record, no button, no script ... no flashing screen. But only with an 8 new feature... Catch_the_Mouse.zip

Greetings... Well...the issue I posted in this thread earlier http://www.fmforums.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/169669/ has returned. When I enter content into the new tab, all displays well in layout mode. However, in browse mode, the content from the new tab spills over on the first tab. I recorded a little movie to show you what I'm talking about. Check it out here... http://homepage.mac.com/nursedad/iMovieTheater14.html Any Insight is appreciated. - - Jeff

when I open FM in either version 7 or 8 I get a pop up that says FileMaker sharing is off, etc... Thus forcing me to turn sharing on. Now I know that if I turn it on I can specify "no users", hence no sharing. My question is, does this message always come up by default or can it be disabled somehow, or do we just have to share the files and select no users if we dont want to share.

Well - I installed FM 8 on about 10 users machines with no difficulty ... but as soon as I stepped away, one user complained that "highlighted text" was no longer blue, but now black. this is only true on Windows - I couldn't immediately find anyway to change that. Any ideas?

Any "word on the street" predictions of when FM Server 8 and FM Server 8 Advanced will ship? Since the file format between 7 and 8 is supposedly compatible, could you host a file with FM Server 7, and begin development of FM 8 features using FM 8 on your desktop with the file hosted in Server 7?

Hiya, I've developed an intricate solution in FM7 that has been successfully running off FMS7 for quite some time without a problem. The file is 100% operational via FMP8 and FMP8A when being openned locally. However, when attempting to access most parts of the file remotely with any version of FM8 as the client, FM8 hangs and the server stops responding. Under windows, the FM8 client just hangs. Under OS X, it crashes with the error message: "Communication with the host was interrupted and could not be re-established. All affected windows will be closed." The problem occurs when hosted from FMS7, FMS7A, FMP8 or FMP8A, and occurs on Windows as well…

Has anyone found out if there is a way to access the Symbols menu in Browse mode with FM8? Of course it can be accessed via the Status area button and the right click in Find mode, but if you lock the status area, you can not access the menus. Also they do not want the end user to directly input data in find mode, rather use globals and then find as per a find button. With 7, I had to use an EventScript plugin with a popup menu to simulate it, however, the EventScript plugin is not suported on FM8 on windows as of yet. It would be great to access this and put it in a custom menu.

Come on FileMaker! I have not seen any indication of Server Advanced 8 for Linux. Anyone have an inside scoop? I was not at DevCon.

My client has FM Pro 7 setup on his home PC (PC1 running winxp home). It is networked to another PC (PC2 also running winxp home) and I've shown him how to share his databases across the network. The Database is stored on PC1. He needs to get some sort of remote access happening as he travels a lot. The problem is, his home internet connection is barely faster than dialup speeds (128kbs max) and is producing unacceptable results when trying to publish the database to the web. Getting a faster connection is impossible at this time. As a backup solution, I may install Windows XP Pro on PC1 so he can remote desktop to it when he travels and work directly with …