Filemaker Server or Java?

[pyap]

Hello all,

I hope I am posting in the right forum, there are so many here. :

I am looking for second opinions on my companies decision to use (or not) Filemaker.

My company currently uses Filemaker 9 Advanced to handle some of our internal data, client information, and production tracking.

My boss has asked me to develop a new Filemaker application that does all of that (better) and more...including some things that Filemaker doesn't natively do (well in my opinion / needs a plug-in). Like: Exchange Server Integration, Active Directory Integration, Event Driven Task Management, and Production Scheduling.

I understand the benefits of using Filemaker to develop small business applications. I am pretty new to Filemaker (2 months) but I can put together some pretty advanced stuff already. The problem is that I have already run into many situations where I just wished Filemaker handled more traditional SQL statements.

I am really urging my Boss to choose Java over Filemaker at this point, but he is reluctant because he is comfortable with Filemaker (and perhaps doesn't understand it's capabilities and limitations).

I am a Java programmer and I am biased in this matter. I would really appreciate any second opinions on this matter.

Should I take the time to master Filemaker? or should I go with Java/SQL and build a custom app?

Thanks for your help. :

[Richard Rönnbäck]

No matter which set of tools you choose you will face limitations.

But you should be very careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water.

No doubt that SQL-driven platforms offer benefits, but I doubt they are important enough to change platform.

The reason your boss prefer FM is probably not only because he is familiar with it, but because it has proven to be a valuable business tool to the company.

What I would think your boss is concerned about is that assuming you go SQL/Java and then decide to quit, or for any other reason becomes unavailable, they would be left in a very nasty situation.

I can not count the number of customers I have been called in to try to figure out someone else's howe-brewed mess (which may be immensly clever, but still almost inpenetrable to an outsider)

Worse still is that such a solution is likely to be very hard for your company to integrate their existing FileMaker solutions into.

So, I guess what I am saying is that before you decide you should systematically evaluate the options.

In today's world, with FileMaker's / FileMaker server Advanced's possibilities to interact with SQL-DB it's not really an either-or situation, you can continue to use FileMaker, but go SQL if you have to