Hello.

What is the best technique to develop one FM6 solution by several developers simultaneously.

For example:

first developer will work on Customers module;

second developer will work on Products module;

third developer will work on Orders and Invoices module

Thanks.

Vasilek:

Oof, this can be a problem. Especially with relationships. When you think about it, advanced functionality depends on relating between the files, so unless you are going in sequence (i.e., the first developer delivers a customers module, the second developer delivers a products module, and the third developer does the rest, and makes them all talk to each other) you'd find this hard to do at all...

You may want to do a bit of reading on how software developers deal with this kind of thing, as it is a real issue for them to get teams to work together toward common goals with common standards, which is what you're really talking about...

-Stanley

That's what I thought. Can you point me to where I can look for some usefull readings on this topic?

Thanks.

Vasilek:

I <had> a great book on this topic, but now that I look, it has disappeared from my office shelf. I'm going to try to track down the name of it, and if I do, I'll post it here.

-Stanley

FileMaker does not lend itself well to multiple developers working on the same project. The main thing is constant communication between the developers as to what they are doing. If the developers are working on the files simultaneously they pretty much need to be sitting in the same room so they can talk back and forth. In this instance you're best off hosting the files on FM Server.

In another scenario I worked on a project with a developer in L.A. As our work day finished in London I would package up the files with documentation on my revisions andput them onto a shared server. He would download the files, we would talk on the phone about the plan for the next day, and he would start on his changes. At the end of his day he would do the same thing except it would be email instead of phone. In essence we were getting two shifts of development each day on the solution.

Ian