Simular Setup

[Robert Schaub]

The new relationship and Table setup is very simular to our old foe.

See Snap shot. This is not intended to drag out the Access vs FM arguement

[CobaltSky]

Hi Chopper,

Yes and no. In fact I'm not sure how valid the comparison is.

In fact, almost all high end database programs provide a graphical view of relationships and most permit the editing of relationships via the graphical relationship display (dragging lines around etc). In this respect Access has long conformed to a stereotype - while FileMaker has stood out apart from the mainsteam until now. In including a graphical relationship editor - as far as it goes - FileMaker is becoming more like Oracle, Inges, Informix... the list is long - and yes, as it happens, Access is also on that list.

What is stricking, however, is that the implementation of graphical relationship display and editing in FileMaker is in *stark* contrast to the implementation in all of the other database programs I am aware of including those I've just mentioned. I am referring to the fact that FileMaker supports multiple occurrences of each table within the graph, and treats each as an 'alias' - one among many - of the table, rather than a virtual representation of the table itself. The significance of this is that whereas the graphs in other db environments broadly resemble an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD), FileMaker provides an open-ended environment within which multiple ERDs can co-exist and overlap. Whereas an ERD is a two dimensional construct, FileMakers modelling system attempts to break out of this mold.

As a result, folks who are familiar with Access (and/or other dbs that implement a quasi-ERD modelling editor) and who think they are on home turf in FileMaker 7 are in for a series of big shocks. After they have fallen on their face a few times, some of them will doubtless leave, discouraged. The others will likely realize that FileMaker's graphical relationship editor is operating on fundamentally different principles which, when properly understood and used have enormous potential. The scope in fact reaches well beyond the two dimensional modelling constraints that are customary in ERD-based schema editing environments.

So, in short, you are seeing the similarities and are saying FileMaker is like Access now, whereas I take the view that the graphical relationship editor in FileMaker throws the differences between them into sharper relief than ever.