LiveOak

One of the higher end group fax solutions is 4SightFax http://4sightfax.com. It's a little pricey, but will handle many fax lines/modems and a lot of users. I'm not sure how you would distribute it with your solutions as it requires its own server and licenses. I've used it in a 4 fax line solution with 20 users and 2000 faxes a day with good success. I've done one solution with WinFax, but is was so buggy as to not be worth the effort. Another approach might be to use an online fax service. HTH, Brent

Here is some data on the subject that was found online by one of my associates: ======================================= Apr. 12, 2005 Data Loss And Corruption Peter Trist In your followup Kim Kohen mentioned experiencing problems with FMS 5.5 under OS X. As a FileMaker developer who shares responsibility for the smooth and reliable running of ~20 FMS [5.5] units around the country (Australia) we have found the following to be the best an most reliable setup. The Filemaker Server folder / application should 'live' in the default 'Application' Folder - no where else. Regardless of this, its priviledges must be set to drwxrwxrwx (777) or in layman's terms read/write/execute for Owner/ & Group & Others. The 'data' folder can 'live' in the FMS Folder or anywhere on the SAME computer. If not in the FMS folder place an alias to the data files [NOT a symbolic link] in the FMS folder. Again, privledges are very important for this folder - they should be the same as those detailed above for the server folder. The 1st level 'backup' folder should live on the SAME computer, preferably on a 2nd hard drive, but at the very least on a different partition to that of the OS and or data folder. Privledges on this folder MUST be set as above or you WILL get intermittent FMS server run auto-backup results. From this 1st level backup folder make additional backups anywhere else you like using the backup software of your choice. Notes: I don't know why not doing it this way sometimes 'breaks' the backups, but it does, sooner or later. If for some reason you have to reset the backups; DELETE them ALL from within the FileMaker Server Schedule window. Quit FileMaker Server. Remove & Delete the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.filemaker.filemakerpro.plist Restart FileMaker Server Recreate the backup schedule Once again I am not sure why, or even if, ALL these steps are required, but I do know that if they are followed I have yet to fail to have reliable backups via FMS. Hope this is of help to others - we spent a LOT of hours of trial & error working this out. ======================================= HTH -bd

The export feature in FM allows you to export a summarized set of records. I would export a summarized set of records by course in the format of your choice and reimport into FM. -bd

First, recognize that a database is NOT a spreadsheet. Beyond some limited things that can be made to look the same, you will not be able to gain much of a spreasheet's functionality. For example, in a spreadsheet "records" can be made to flow up/down or right/left. In a database list view, records flow down the page only. Other work arounds can display records across the page, but these can require one field or related field per data item. Functions such as fill across, fill down, or insert rows or columns are the stuff of spreadsheets, not databases. In general, be prepared to complete revise the way you think about your data and organize the user interface, if you intend to use a database. If this sort of a change is not acceptable to your users, stick with a spreadsheet program. It would be like trying to turn a tank into an airplane, what's the point? -bd

What exactly do you mean by "reset" the case number? -bd

I'm afraid that's way to little information to answer your question. The devil is in the details and we'll need a few more. The general approach is to import data and use whatever native information is available to make temporary links between the tables and use these relationship with lookups to populate the final keys. -bd

Oops! I went back and read the original post. There is NO KNOWN PROBLEM with automatic backup corrupting files under OS 9. We have 20 server years experience with this approach and have never had a problem. I'd look at the general integrity of the machine by running Disk Warrior first then Norton Utilities (7 or 8). ==================== I'll post the following relative to question about automatic backup file corruption under OS X....... I'll qualify this response with the comment that I'm not sure how much of this applies to Server 7, but this is a post with credit to MacInTouch and Peter Trist on the situation with FM Server 5.5 and OS X. ------- Apr. 12, 2005 Data Loss And Corruption Peter Trist In your followup Kim Kohen mentioned experiencing problems with FMS 5.5 under OS X. As a FileMaker developer who shares responsibility for the smooth and reliable running of ~20 FMS [5.5] units around the country (Australia) we have found the following to be the best an most reliable setup. The Filemaker Server folder / application should 'live' in the default 'Application' Folder - no where else. Regardless of this, its priviledges must be set to drwxrwxrwx (777) or in layman's terms read/write/execute for Owner/ & Group & Others. The 'data' folder can 'live' in the FMS Folder or anywhere on the SAME computer. If not in the FMS folder place an alias to the data files [NOT a symbolic link] in the FMS folder. Again, privledges are very important for this folder - they should be the same as those detailed above for the server folder. The 1st level 'backup' folder should live on the SAME computer, preferably on a 2nd hard drive, but at the very least on a different partition to that of the OS and or data folder. Privledges on this folder MUST be set as above or you WILL get intermittent FMS server run auto-backup results. From this 1st level backup folder make additional backups anywhere else you like using the backup software of your choice. Notes: I don't know why not doing it this way sometimes 'breaks' the backups, but it does, sooner or later. If for some reason you have to reset the backups; DELETE them ALL from within the FileMaker Server Schedule window. Quit FileMaker Server. Remove & Delete the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.filemaker.filemakerpro.plist Restart FileMaker Server Recreate the backup schedule Once again I am not sure why, or even if, ALL these steps are required, but I do know that if they are followed I have yet to fail to have reliable backups via FMS. Hope this is of help to others - we spent a LOT of hours of trial & error working this out. ------------- I've alway believed that the problem is at the interface between FMS and OS X, so a lot of the above makes sense. -bd

What you need is some concept of a room, either in a separate table with relationships to the people in the room or by marking the individuals as both in "Room 1". In the first case you can print the rooms needed list from the "Rooms" table. In the second case, you could print the list of rooms needed as a subsummary by room. This would eliminate the duplicated entries on the room list. -bd

In reviewing the whitepapers,don't feel that everything has been said. The creators of a software package most often don't have any idea of the best ways to use it. It will take years for the developer community to try a whole bunch of stuff and come to some sort of collective understanding on the best ways to use this new tool called FM7. Myself and my associates are still having this discussion and probably will be for years! -bd

First, the Categories and Subcategories need to be in a table (not just entered into a value list). The Category field is setup to display as a dropdown list or menu using values from the Category field in your new table. A relationship is setup between your Category field and the Category field in the new table of values. Next setup the field display for Subcategory. In this case the value list for Subcategory is setup to restrict the displayed values to those related to the Category. Perhaps and example is better, one is attached. -bd Example.zip

You've picked a topic for which about 500 pages of whitepapers have been written. There are many reasons you might what to break your solution into multiple files (and many reasons you might not). Some of these include: - Separating the user interface and the data into separate files to facilitate interface upgrades - Breaking a shrink wrapped solution into modules for independent sale - Enhancing security by only giving user the part of the UI they need You can download many informative whitepapers from the FileMaker Inc. web site which discuss this topic in much greater depth. -bd

The usual solution to showing only one record in preview is to isolate that record in a one record found set. The easiest sequence of script steps to do this is: Show All Records Omit Record Show Omitted You can also use the Go to Related Record (show) script step, as appropriate. IMHO, the best FileMaker 7 book is Special Edition Using FileMaker Pro 7 by Steve Lane, et al. -bd

How about setting a calculated field equal to the field and displaying the calculated field: cDisplayField (calculation, text) = Field The display field can be set to allow entry and use of the scroll bar, but since it is a calculated field, you really can't change the contents. -bd

In FM6 & FM7 you can perform a find and establish a found set, enter find mode again and then perform a second find that will "constrain" the current found set. This can be done manually using the Requests Menu to execute the "Constrain Found Set" operation or scripted in ScriptMaker. In FM5, you must build the composite find request equivalent to the find + constrained find. The duplicate part on names gets tricky. The "!" character will find duplicate entries within a single field. As to names, are Rob Smith/Robert Smith/Bob Smith duplicates? If you create a composite field, say FirstName & LastName, you can peform a "!" search for EXACT duplicates within this composite field. -bd

I'd have to second that motion. Having owned FM books since Singer's book on FM2, I'd say this is the best I've seen. -bd

I'd have to second that motion. Having owned FM books since Singer's book on FM2, I'd say this is the best I've seen. -bd

You can do this without a second table using and auto entered calculation an one relationship. The reationship matches Subject code to Subject code. The serial number part of the ultimate code (AC001) is an auto entered value by calculation defined as Max (Relationship::Serial No.) + 1, set to always evaluate. Example is attached. -bd

You can do this without a second table using and auto entered calculation an one relationship. The reationship matches Subject code to Subject code. The serial number part of the ultimate code (AC001) is an auto entered value by calculation defined as Max (Relationship::Serial No.) + 1, set to always evaluate. Example is attached. -bd

You can do this without a second table using and auto entered calculation an one relationship. The reationship matches Subject code to Subject code. The serial number part of the ultimate code (AC001) is an auto entered value by calculation defined as Max (Relationship::Serial No.) + 1, set to always evaluate. Example is attached. -bd

There is a trial of FM 5.5 (Mac OS X) that shows up searching on "FileMaker" at www.download.com. You guys didn't specify which platform you are on. -bd

Which calculation will be fastest??? -) -bd

Try this: RoundedNumber (calculation, number) = Int (number) + Case ( Mod (number, 1) < .25, 0, Mod (number, 1) < .75, .5, 1) -bd

Two options are: 1) to make Total Cost a summary field and display the total in a "Subsummary" layout part. The total by category will only be visible when the records are sorted by category and when the report is viewed in Preview Mode or printed. 2) You can create another table (file) in which each record is a category. This second table (file) would be related to the first by category. A calculated field in this second file would be defined as Sum(YourRelationship::Unit Cost). In a list view of records in this new file, this field will display a total by category. -bd

You didn't mention which version of FM you are using, but since you have two tables and two files I'll assume you are using FM 6 or a previous version. In FM 6 the "Open" script step will open a file. In FM 7, it's "Open File" script step. -bd

That is correct. The records in Timelog can be summarized by week, month, employee, project, or an arbitrary date range. -bd