I'm working on my first ERD. I've developed FM databases in the past, but it was about 10 years ago, so things have changed. And at that time, I was flying by the seat of my pants.

This time around I want to learn how to do it right, and I'm struggling a bit. I mean, I understand the mechanics of it, but I don't have the wisdom to be able to look at my structure and see the problems and/or solutions.

Any suggestions? I'm reading Using Filemaker Pro, and it's a huge help, but I think I need someone to take a look at it and give me some tips.

Edited June 11, 200718 yr by Guest

Hi David,

ERD design is essentially the same no matter which DBMS you're using. The Entity-Relationship Diagram is the higher level design of the tables and their primary relationships.

You can probably find a generic source for ERD design, either a book, web site, or a course. If you'd like help with the design, we can probably give you a start, but you'd have to describe the situation, listing the types of things you want to track (and how many of each). Some models are pretty common and are easy to find examples of, others are more complex and require intimate knowledge of the business.

Once you have the ERD mapped out, translating that into FileMaker's relationship graph is the next step (the ERD and the relationship graph are not the same). This actually isn't too hard. You just use multiple occurrences of some of the tables to make it all work.

BTW: I like the photo gallery. You have a good eye for the candids.