FMD6 to FMD7 migration help

[Tony59]

Hello Everyone

I have just received FMD7 and after reading all the relevant migration docs and many posts here I have a couple of questions the "masters" might assist a "grasshopper" with

I have a small solution in FMD6, five files, potentially 2000 records not particularly complex but some interesting text manipulation. I have decided to do a straight convert and fix up before going to a rewrite using 7's new capabilities.

Change of focus,

the solution moves from one file to others and back and the scripts fail "cannot change record as it is being used in another table/ file" or words to this effect. I think this is the issue of commit record - Do I have to insert script step "commit record" whenever I change focus to data in another window? Are there any traps for young players with this issue.

The last question is the issue of data / design separation. I am interested in this when I do the rewrite to full FMD7. I like the idea of having one file capability in FM7 (multiple files confuses some of my clients at backup time) and we all know the issue of design updates and data importing. Does data / design separation require two files or can tables be updated within a distributed solution via scripting etc.

Thanks IA for your assistance

Tony

[Ken Newell]

You can use mutliple tables rather than multiple files for this data seperation model. However saying that, you might NOT want to do that because one of the advantages of the model is the ability to roll out upgrades by replacing the interface file and leaving the data file in place. At this time there is no easy way to move or replace tables within files. If you plan on distribution of upgrades via this model than I believe a 2 file setup is the way to proceed. I have created FM7 files where I have a table that contains only 1 record and shows data from other tables in the same file and it indeed works for me because as an in-house developer upgrade distribution is not up there on my list of concerns. FMI has a brief that talks about the data seperation model that was authored by Coleen Hammersley & Wendy King. It is part of the "Mega" brief put out by FMI. If you have not all ready done so I would recommend that as a very good resource. Pages 112 through 127. If coming to DEVCON I think they are scheduled speakers.

[Tony59]

Hi Ken

Thanks for your response. I suspected as much ie need two files. I had read the FM doc you referred to. I needed to get a bit of confirmation that I had understood what i had read from some of the more experienced developers.

At least two files is better than many and if I name them accordingly some of my clients may be able to follow which one contains the data and which one contains the design and pay attention to the important one before they start importing / replacing or any of the other high risk activities

Now all I have to do is think about how to do this

Thanks again