Upgrade (?) to 6.0

[EasyEdE]

Am I off track or is the "upgrade" to 6.0 a step back in some areas? For an example:

Grouping and Ungrouping now uses "R" with modifier keys instead of "G" like virtually every other program, including FM5.5. Can't tell you how much time I spent trying to figure out why my key combo's weren't working.

I can no longer Option-click-drag to create a copy of an object.

I can no longer click on an object to select it then Shift-drag-click to add other objects to the selection. You can do the selection of multiple objects first then Shift click for an additional item.

Still no tool bar for Mac users.

While these are only working tools and do not impact the performance of FM it sure impacts MY performance!

Now that I'm done bitchin' here are a couple of questions:

Does the upgrade to FMPro 6.0 also apply to the "FM" part of FMPro Unlimited 6.0?

While I'm sure I know the answer to this I'll ask anyway - can the size of the font used for the Layout Menu dropdown be increased? Yeah, I know - change the resolution of my monitor. but I need all the real estate I can get. Just the same my old eyes have to work extra hard to read the small print - just changing the Layout Menu font size would help a lot.

[BobWeaver]

The 'G' key has two very traditional meanings. One is Group, and the other is Find Again. Filemaker has introduced Find/Replace and Find again in version 6, so something had to give. Since the end user likely has less access to layout mode, he will use Find again more often. Hence command/ctrl-G is used for Find Again. At least that's my guess

Regarding the problems with Shift dragging to extend selections, and option clicking to duplicate layout objects, these work just fine in my copy of FM6 (Mac OS9). Are you running on OSX by any chance?

[EasyEdE]

Bob,

Thanks for the insight on the "G" key - to be honest I've never seen it used in the Find again mode - not that it isn't in some programs I use, just that I never used/noticed it. the idea of focusing on the user rather than the developer certainly makes sense.

Yes, I'm running OS 10.2, but the "problem" did not exist with FM 5.5 in OS 10.1. I'm not sure if it occurs with 5.5 in 10.2 - I'll try that later since I have both versions on my Mac.

OT - we had a very close family friend who passed away about a year ago - a doctor well known in the US in his area of expertise. His name was Maurice Victor. Maurice told wonderful stories of his childhood and his father (also a doctor) in Saskatoon. I judge this would have been back in the 1920's. I don't recall if he still had family in Saskatoon. I've been "surfin" since 1981 or so via Compuserve and others and still wonder at how it brings people from so many distant places and different cultures together. Maybe the politicians should surf more often and we'd have less trouble in the world!!!!

[CobaltSky]

Running v6.0 in Mac Classic, Option-click-drag to create a copy of an object and Shift-drag-click to add objects to selection both work - as does the toolbar. If these are features you use a lot, then it sounds like you might be happier doing your heavy "layout editing" sessions in classic mode - at least until FMP get their act together with the toolbar for OS-X.

To change the font size on the status bar layout menu, you'd need to make some modifications to the application with a resource editor - but I can't say I'd recommend it

What you might like to consider instead (especially as you are keen to maximize screen real estate, is placing custom layout menus on your layouts using a pop-up list field (in a font/size of your choosing!). There are various ways of doing this, but if you're after an automated menu which works much like the one in the status bar (from a user's perspective) there's a demo file showing a technique for doing this available for download from my website.

The demo is free and unlocked. If you're interested, the URL for the download is:

http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos/LayoutMenu.hqx

[CobaltSky]

Or - if you'd prefer a stuffit archive, try: http://www.nightwing.com.au/FileMaker/demos/LayoutMenu.sit

[EasyEdE]

Thanks for the post and the links. I took a quick look at the rest of your site - quite interesting - I'll return as soon as time allows.

I took the liberty of downloading a couple of other demos as well and will give them a good inspection.

Your suggestion to use OS 9 is quite valid - I do a lot of traveling and use a Dell laptop on the road. It has FM 5.5 on it and all the features I'm "missing" work fine there, albeit the 6.0 features are missing. As to my Mac - I'm one program away from eliminating 9 altogether, although I am having second thoughts as I may find a need to access some legacy document that I'd forgotten about.

Actually the "problems" are really quite small- more of an annoyance than a real problem. Hopefully there will be an update in the near future that will fix the small stuff.

Thanks for you input, demos and URL's (including the links on your site.

Ed DiTomas

[falkaholic]

Well, in theory, the menus could still both be Cmd-G since the 2 menus never exisit at the same time. One in Find/Browse mode the other in layout mode.